Joy Adler: Joy's retirement gift to herself was to enroll in the Master Gardener Program in 2004, after 30 years of being in the classroom each fall. In Montgomery County high schools Joy has taught literature, writing, and critical thinking. She edited the old Washington Theatre Guide Magazine, and now attempts to edit - without destroying - several too-tall birches, misplaced maples, and myriad shrubs at home in Bethesda.

Dara Ballow-Giffen: Dara is a gardener, beekeeper, chicken keeper and baker. She is passionate about growing food crops, both in raised beds in her outside garden and hydroponically in her inside garden. Her mission is to grow food year round. She has been a Master Gardener since 2014 and currently co-chairs Grow It Eat It. She is also the editor for the Montgomery County Beekeeping Association newsletter. She lives in Darnestown with her husband, daughter, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 5 chickens and thousands of bees.

Susan Bell: In 2002, Susan Bell followed a life-long passion for gardening to become a licensed landscape contractor. She has helped hundreds of homeowners envision, create and install the gardens they always wanted. Additionally she helps by providing hand pruning and seasonal maintenance services to keep gardens healthy and in tip-top shape. As a Master Gardener speaker, Susan develops design and garden maintenance presentations to pass on knowledge gained through years of hands on experience.

Gary Cahn: Gary became a Master Gardener in 2003. He is past president of Montgomery County Master Gardeners and has been gardening since he was 18. Most of his garden is devoted to vegetables. His two happiest days in the garden year are June 27, when his first tomato generally ripens and November 1, when the first seed catalog generally arrives in the mail. His wife, Chris, helps in the garden. Her happiest garden day is when the first killing frost occurs, because she knows her work is over for the year.

Bonita Condon: Bonita became a Master Gardener in 2014 after retiring from the National Institutes of Health. She is an avid vegetable gardener, love perennials, and combats non-native invasive species in our parks and grasslands. Her special interests include working with individuals with mobility limitations, raised garden beds, and tools that accommodate special needs. She is a certified Weed Warrior, and an advisor on the Town of Kensington GreenScape committee.

Susan Eisendrath: I am passionate about making and using compost to improve soil health and I like teaching others composting. I'm the leader of the Demo Composting Site at the Derwood Agricultural Park Master Gardener Demonstration Garden. I work with a team of volunteers, producing "black gold" to enrich the soil. I also have a 3,000 square foot organic vegetable Farmette in Rockville, where I tend a native plant pollinator garden, a deer resistant shade garden and a low water xeriscape rock garden. Compost powers and sustains all my gardens. I compost all our garden and kitchen waste.

Irene Eckstrand: Irene became a Master Gardener in 2017 after she retired from the National Institutes of Health. She is delighted to have more time to focus on some of her major interests such as storm water management, ecology and evolution applied to gardens, and native plants. She has also begun experimenting with container gardening to protect her vegetables from deer.

Patricia Eng: Patricia is a retired nuclear engineer who discovered gardening during a vacation to England. She became a Master Gardener in 2014, is interested in low maintenance ornamental gardening and engaged in the never ending project of renovating her lawn. Patricia serves as a member of the Speakers Group TechTeam and furthers her gardening knowledge by taking courses in Montgomery College’s Landscape Technology program.

Lynn Furrow: Lynn has had a lifelong passion for plants and natural history. She not only works outside in her gardens, but also in her hobby greenhouse and in the basement growing plants from cuttings and seeds. She became a Master Gardener in 1982 volunteering at plant clinics and answering the hot line, but left in 1986 to teach. In 2006 she returned to the program, where she again found herself volunteering at plant clinics and answering the hot line and co-chairs SWAT.

LeeAnne Gelletly: LeeAnne is a former editor and writer of nonfiction children’s books for the school library market. A Master Gardener since 2014, she enjoys working in the MG Demonstration Garden, mostly in the children’s and vegetable gardens. At home, she explores ways to incorporate more native plants into her woodland garden. She always looks forward to digging in the dirt with her five grandchildren.

Joe Ginther: Joe is a retired engineer and a Master Gardener, class of 1992. Joe has participated in a wide variety of Master Gardener activities over the years. He especially enjoys working in our Demonstration Gardens and providing maintenance for our tools and machinery.

Mary Hagedorn: Mary has been a Montgomery County resident since the age of 4 and a Master Gardener since 2011. Mary is a relatively recent gardener, having started her first home garden in 1997. She focuses primarily on ornamentals, but also keeps tomatoes and basil on her deck, within easy reach of the kitchen.

Paula Jean Hallberg: Paula served four years as chair of the speakers’ bureau and currently helps organize the annual Close Encounters educational program. Besides herding cats, she has a particular interest in conservation, native & invasive species, and the protection of nature. She has been a Master Gardener since 1999.

Robin Hammer: Robin has been speaking for a long time! She joined Master Gardeners in 2013 and is an active member of three DC garden clubs. She worked as a lawyer and is active in community service.

Larry Himelfarb: Larry Himelfarb, who resides in Takoma Park, is a certified Master Gardener and Master Composter. He is a co-lead for the compost operation at the Derwood Demonstration Garden and uses his own compost for a kitchen garden at home and for a community garden plot in Montgomery County. He also volunteers for Montgomery County Parks as a "weed warrior.

Pam Hosimer: Pam Hosimer is a 2008 University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener from Montgomery County with a unique blend of skills as an educator, librarian, and gardener. Building on her years of experience in environmental education working with kids K-12 she has reconnected with her childhood love of being outdoors. With her newly minted Master of Library and Information Science degree she is using her knowledge of garden books to inspire teachers to get kids outdoors and grow healthy food. Her passions as a Master Gardener are supporting food gardening in Maryland as part of the state Grow It Eat It team, developing youth gardening programs, providing resources to help people successfully grow their own food and of course growing her own garden.

Pat Kenny: Pat Kenny has been learning about and growing herbs and vegetables since 1973 when she realized that's where better health begins. Now a retired medical illustrator and a 35-yr. member of The Herb Society of America, she has been learning to be a Master Gardener for 20 yrs. Inspired by The National Herb Garden, Pat Kenny has been gardening, cultivating herbs and giving illustrated herb talks to county recreation classes, garden clubs, senior centers, and master gardener trainings for years. She is devoted to giving Under The Arbor programs in the National Herb Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum, supporting Dr. Jim Duke's Green Farmacy Garden in Fulton MD and assists those giving MG programs about herbal plants when possible.

Kathy Kircher: Kathy is a 2011 Master Gardener. Her gardening interests include perennials and shade gardening. She has been gardening on her deck it pots for over 20 years. She started with sunny annuals and vegetables but has completely switched to shade loving annuals and perennials as trees grew and created shade. She also volunteers in the Master Gardener Therapeutic Horticulture Program.

Sue Kuklewicz: Sue became a Master Gardener in 2008 after retiring from teaching high school math for 36 years. She has been a mentor to new Master Gardeners and is currently chair of the Plant Clinic Committee. In addition, she volunteers at SWAT events, GIEI groups, and works as a MG advisor to a community garden. At home, Sue has a 1000 sq. ft. vegetable garden and also loves growing ornamentals.

Meipo Martin: A transplant from Hong Kong, Meipo started to garden after she moved into her house in 1999. The transition from growing plants in tiny planters on the 36th floor to gardening on the ground was no easy matter. Highly motivated by the vision of lots of vegetables from the backyard and a lovely sight in the garden, Meipo learns to garden through reading books and lots of experimentation. The many gardening questions from neighbors during block parties motivated Meipo to become a Master Gardener in 2015. When she is not gardening, Meipo is a wife, an Aikido instructor and a woodcarver.

Mary McKnight: Mary has been a Master Gardener since 2004 and has gardened in several states for a combined total of more than 50 years. She enjoys growing plants from seeds and trying new cultivars and techniques. Prior to her retirement, she was a chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She leads the volunteers at Black Hill Regional Park who plant, care for, and sale native plants.

Denny May: Denny taught English at Northern Virginia Community College for 30 years before embarking on a new career as an urban gardener/composter in 2013. He became a Montgomery County Master Gardener in 2013 and a Master Composter this year. He’s part of the composting crew at the Derwood demonstration garden site. Denny also is very involved with the management of the Blair Road Community Garden in Washington, D.C., the oldest and largest National Park Service community garden in the District. Denny and his wife have five vegetable garden plots scattered around the Takoma Park community.

Karen Mills: A 2011 Master Gardener, Karen is editor of her civic association's newsletter, where she sneaks in green gardening articles. A Distinguished Toastmaster, Karen enjoys mentoring and encouraging speakers. She is a former demographer and project manager with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Maro Nalabandian: Maro is a Master Gardener and a professional chef and instructor. She has cooked alongside many celebrity chefs. She has also worked at Michel Richard Citronelle and The Ritz Carlton, and has taught at L’Academie de Cuisine. She volunteers for Martha’s Table, DC Central Kitchen and Manna Foods. She has an 800 sq ft. garden plot at Montgomery County Community Gardens and uses her organically grown harvest in her creative cooking and recipe testing.

Joan O’Rourke: Joan has been a Master Gardener for nearly 20 years and is among our most popular and active speakers. Her philosophy is that anything can grow in containers, so she's become an expert on magically expanding the limits of container gardening. Her philanthropy within the gardening community is much appreciated and admired.

Sam Patsy: Sam was raised on a small farm and has been gardening all his life. For his own company he was a certified instructor for the major technology companies. His teaching experience spans 40 years and includes college teaching at the graduate level.

Terri Pitts: Terri's love for gardening began 30 years ago when she grew her first herb garden. The herb garden quickly expanded into several perennial borders, a large vegetable garden and learning to start her vegetables and annuals from seeds. Terri has been a Master Gardener for 8 years where she enjoys speaking to groups in Montgomery County, educating them on the benefits of practicing Integrated Pest Management and starting plants from seeds. Recently, she has utilized her love of photography by documenting many MG events and working as a photo editor for the MG Newsletter, The Seed.

Susan Plaeger: Susan became a Master Gardener in 2014, having retired from the NIH as a Director in the AIDS Program in 2012. She’s a Ph.D. microbiologist originally from New Orleans, then living for 16 years in Los Angeles, and now 16 years in the Crestwood area of Washington, DC – and gardening in all three places. Her interests are home gardens and landscaping, especially perennials and interesting specimen trees. She’s also a member of the Kenwood Garden Club. She is pictured in the garden at Dromoland Castle in Ireland.

Robin Ritterhoff: Robin became a Master Gardener in 2012, having spent a quarter-century obsessing in the best possible way over her vegetable gardens when living in Capitol Hill, Tunisia, and Bethesda. Robin is co-leader for the vegetable beds in Montgomery County’s Derwood Demonstration Garden, whose bounty has provided over 1200 pounds of fresh vegetables and herbs as donations to Montgomery County’s food bank Manna for 2016 (as of mid-September 2016).

Steve Robinson: Steve became a Master Gardener in 2012. He retired after an almost 50 year career in government and private industry as a systems and software engineer. Raised on a farm in Missouri, he has returned to these roots though with different plants. Today, he specializes in container gardening, aquaponics, orchids, and water gardens at his home near Rockville. He also operates a small greenhouse enjoying year round produce.

Marie Rojas: Marie has been providing Integrated Pest Management services for homeowners, nursery growers and property managers through her company, Borders & Butterflies, for over 17 years. She serves on several green industry boards, including the Professional Grounds Management Society, D.C. Branch and the Environmental Cluster Advisory Board for Montgomery County Public Schools. Marie has also been a Montgomery County Master Gardener since 1994. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, and fishing. She also keeps bees on her 92 acre farm in Beallsville, MD

Les Rucker: Les is retired from his first career with Verizon and a second career in consulting. During his consulting years, he was sought as a speaker at national and international conferences on subjects related to his area of expertise. Extensive travel in connection with his consulting kept him from becoming a Master Gardener until 2013. Les lives in a heavily wooded neighborhood. As such, he is a perennial shade gardener.

Erica Smith: A Montgomery County Master Gardener since 2007, Erica is co-leader for vegetables at the Derwood Demo Garden and runs the blog associated with University of Maryland Extension's Grow It Eat It program. She enjoys unusual plants, good kitchen equipment, and useful reference books. She is the author of several novels.

Merikay Smith: With avid gardeners for parents and grandparents, Merikay has been surrounded by blooming plants and eating home-grown foods all her life. Merikay has a 2-acre garden in Darnestown where, with the help of her husband and son, she is converting a vast expanse of lawn into a healthier habitat of trees, shrubs, and perennials. A Master Gardener since 2007, Merikay is the current chair of the Speakers Bureau. Merikay serves on the Board of the Muddy Branch Alliance and organizes their native tree initiative. She is also the founder of Earth Stewardship East, a local faith-based environmental group. (www.eartheast.org)

Terri Valenti: A 2011 Master Gardener graduate, Terri heads the Grow It Eat It group. She has been an avid gardener for much of her life, devoting a great deal of her gardening time to edibles. Having gardened in Georgia, Texas, and Maryland she has gained insight into the weather nuances that are critical to crop development. Terri currently maintains a 2000 square foot vegetable garden, an orchard with over 15 trees, and many cane and bush fruits, all on a typical suburban lot.

Amy Vigil: Amy Vigil is a 2016 graduate of the Montgomery County Master Gardener Program. Though she is just beginning as a Master Gardener, her love of plants and everything green has been a common thread throughout her life. She helped her father in the garden as a child, going with him to pick plants to grow and helping him plant, grow and harvest. As an adult, Amy has experimented with container gardening, seed saving, and plant propagation. Nothing excites her more than seeing plants grow and thrive.

Cindy Walczak: Cindy is a 2011 Master Gardener. She has been gardening in Olney for over 25 years. Her gardening interests include perennials, vegetables, garden design and houseplants. She is recently retired from NIH.

Eric Wenger: Eric has been actively involved in the lawn and landscape industry for 30+ years. He is a certified Integrated Pest Management specialist in both turf and ornamentals. Eric has been a member in good standing of The Professional Grounds Management Society since 1997 and continues to volunteer in many activities that improve the knowledge and professionalism within his industry. A Master Gardener since 1996, Eric is a popular speaker on a variety of horticultural topics. He and his wife Sheree own Complete Lawn Care, Inc. and Complete Plant Health Care, Inc., companies devoted to "Growing Great Lawns and Landscapes in Harmony with Nature."

Heather Whirley: Heather lives on an acre in Derwood where she raises two children, a flock of chickens, hives of bees and many varieties and species of vegetable, herb and landscaping plants. She has a dedicated culinary herb and tea garden in her backyard, just steps from the kitchen. Heather has been a member of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club for the last four years. She grew up on a 100-acre dairy farm in Carroll County, Maryland, where she developed a love of soil and sunshine. Her degree in the Bachelor of Science of Agriculture was procured from the University of Maryland and she has worked as the Public Relations Director for the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, where she met her husband. She has been a Master Gardener since 2014.

George Willingmyre: George is a graduate of the Master Gardener class of 2007 and is also a volunteer Maryland Woodland Steward, having completed a 4 day MWS workshop in 2009. George’s interest in trees began with a University of Maryland research plot of experimental trees on his property in 1982. He added a few more each year until about half his lot was planted with 600 trees.

Janet Young: Janet is a molecular biologist with a PhD from the Program in Genetics at George Washington University. She is retired from the National Institutes of Health, became a Master Gardener in 2011, and is interested in all aspects of gardening, especially growing vegetables, seed saving, companion planting, and climate change effect of gardening. She is the current past president of the Montgomery County Master Gardeners.

Heather Zindash: Heather is a Montgomery County Master Gardener, a Maryland Master Naturalist, a local garden/nature writer, speaker & photographer. Her blog/website, thesoulfulgardener.com brings “people, plants and nature together for health and well-being.” Her own NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat is a constant source of inspiration from her own backyard, yours.

In Remembrance Adele Fein, January 31, 2016: Adele became a Master

Gardener in 1997. She was a very active and beloved part of our community serving in both the Horticultural Therapy Group and the Speakers Group, in addition to having served as President of the MC Master Gardeners. She spoke as an expert on orchids, growing them for 50 years. She was active in the American Orchid Society, the National Capital Orchid Society, and the Rock Creek Orchid Club.