Joy Adler: Joy's retirement gift to herself was to enroll in theMaster Gardener Program in 2004, after 30 years of being inthe classroom each fall. In Montgomery County high schoolsJoy has taught literature, writing, and critical thinking. Sheedited the old Washington Theatre Guide Magazine, and nowattempts to edit - without destroying - several too-tallbirches, misplaced maples, and myriad shrubs at home inBethesda.

Dara Ballow-Giffen: Dara is a gardener, beekeeper, chickenkeeper and baker. She is passionate about growing foodcrops, both in raised beds in her outside garden andhydroponically in her inside garden. Her mission is to growfood year round. She has been a Master Gardener since 2014and currently co-chairs Grow It Eat It. She is also the editorfor the Montgomery County Beekeeping Associationnewsletter. 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 forgardening to become a licensed landscape contractor. Shehas helped hundreds of homeowners envision, create andinstall the gardens they always wanted. Additionally she helpsby providing hand pruning and seasonal maintenance servicesto keep gardens healthy and in tip-top shape. As a MasterGardener speaker, Susan develops design and gardenmaintenance presentations to pass on knowledge gainedthrough years of hands on experience.

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

Susan Eisendrath: Susan became a Master Gardener in 2011and a Master Composter in 2015. She's the former lead forthe Demonstration Composting Site at the DerwoodAgricultural Park Master Gardener Demonstration Garden.She's passionate about making and using compost to improvesoil health and she's provided numerous composting trainingsand regularly provides compost coaching. She also has a3,000 square foot organic vegetable Farmette in Rockville,where she tends a native plant pollinator garden, a deerresistant shade garden and a low water xeriscape rockgarden. Compost powers and sustains all her plants.

Irene Eckstrand: Irene became a Master Gardener in 2017after she retired from the National Institutes of Health. She isdelighted to have more time to focus on some of her majorinterests such as storm water management, ecology andevolution applied to gardens, and native plants. She has alsobegun experimenting with container gardening to protect hervegetables from deer.

Patricia Eng: Patricia is a retired nuclear engineer whodiscovered gardening during a vacation to England. Shebecame a Master Gardener in 2014, is interested in lowmaintenance ornamental gardening and engaged in the neverending project of renovating her lawn. Patricia serves as amember of the Speakers Group TechTeam and furthers hergardening knowledge by taking courses in MontgomeryCollege’s Landscape Technology program.

Lynn Furrow: Lynn has had a lifelong passion for plants andnatural history. She not only works outside in her gardens,but also in her hobby greenhouse and in the basementgrowing plants from cuttings and seeds. She became aMaster Gardener in 1982 volunteering at plant clinics andanswering the hot line, but left in 1986 to teach. In 2006 shereturned to the program, where she again found herselfvolunteering at plant clinics and answering the hot line andco-chairs SWAT.

LeeAnne Gelletly: LeeAnne is a former editor and writer ofnonfiction children’s books for the school library market. AMaster Gardener since 2014, she enjoys working in the MGDemonstration Garden, mostly in the children’s andvegetable gardens. At home, she explores ways toincorporate more native plants into her woodland garden.She always looks forward to digging in the dirt with her fivegrandchildren.

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

Mary Hagedorn: Mary has been a Montgomery Countyresident since the age of 4 and a Master Gardener since2011. Mary is a relatively recent gardener, having started herfirst home garden in 1997. She focuses primarily onornamentals, 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 thespeakers’ bureau and currently helps organize the annualClose Encounters educational program. Besides herding cats,she has a particular interest in conservation, native & invasivespecies, and the protection of nature. She has been a MasterGardener since 1999.

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

Larry Himelfarb: Larry Himelfarb, who resides in TakomaPark, is a certified Master Gardener and Master Composter.He is a co-lead for the compost operation at the DerwoodDemonstration Garden and uses his own compost for akitchen garden at home and for a community garden plot inMontgomery County. He also volunteers for MontgomeryCounty Parks as a "weed warrior.

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

Pat Kenny: Pat Kenny has been learning about and growingherbs and vegetables since 1973 when she realized that'swhere better health begins. Now a retired medical illustratorand a 35-yr. member of The Herb Society of America, she hasbeen learning to be a Master Gardener for 20 yrs. Inspired byThe National Herb Garden, Pat Kenny has been gardening,cultivating herbs and giving illustrated herb talks to countyrecreation classes, garden clubs, senior centers, and mastergardener trainings for years. She is devoted to giving UnderThe Arbor programs in the National Herb Garden at the U.S.National Arboretum, supporting Dr. Jim Duke's GreenFarmacy Garden in Fulton MD and assists those giving MGprograms about herbal plants when possible.

Kathy Kircher: Kathy is a 2011 Master Gardener. Hergardening 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 hascompletely switched to shade loving annuals and perennialsas trees grew and created shade. She also volunteers in theMaster Gardener Therapeutic Horticulture Program.

Sue Kuklewicz: Sue became a Master Gardener in 2008 afterretiring from teaching high school math for 36 years. She hasbeen a mentor to new Master Gardeners and is currentlychair of the Plant Clinic Committee. In addition, shevolunteers at SWAT events, GIEI groups, and works as a MGadvisor 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 startedto garden after she moved into her house in 1999. Thetransition from growing plants in tiny planters on the 36thfloor to gardening on the ground was no easy matter. Highlymotivated by the vision of lots of vegetables from thebackyard and a lovely sight in the garden, Meipo learns togarden through reading books and lots of experimentation.The many gardening questions from neighbors during blockparties motivated Meipo to become a Master Gardener in2015. When she is not gardening, Meipo is a wife, an Aikidoinstructor and a woodcarver.

Mary McKnight: Mary has been a Master Gardener since2004 and has gardened in several states for a combined totalof more than 50 years. She enjoys growing plants from seedsand trying new cultivars and techniques. Prior to herretirement, she was a chemist at the National Institute ofStandards and Technology. She leads the volunteers at BlackHill Regional Park who plant, care for, and sale native plants.

Denny May: Denny taught English at Northern VirginiaCommunity College for 30 years before embarking on a newcareer as an urban gardener/composter in 2013. He becamea Montgomery County Master Gardener in 2013 and a MasterComposter this year. He’s part of the composting crew at theDerwood demonstration garden site. Denny also is veryinvolved with the management of the Blair Road CommunityGarden in Washington, D.C., the oldest and largest NationalPark Service community garden in the District. Denny and hiswife have five vegetable garden plots scattered around theTakoma Park community.

Maro Nalabandian: Maro is a Master Gardener and aprofessional chef and instructor. She has cooked alongsidemany celebrity chefs. She has also worked at Michel RichardCitronelle and The Ritz Carlton, and has taught at L’Academiede Cuisine. She volunteers for Martha’s Table, DC CentralKitchen and Manna Foods. She has an 800 sq ft. garden plotat Montgomery County Community Gardens and uses herorganically grown harvest in her creative cooking and recipetesting.

Joan O’Rourke: Joan has been a Master Gardener for nearly20 years and is among our most popular and active speakers.Her philosophy is that anything can grow in containers, soshe's become an expert on magically expanding the limits ofcontainer gardening. Her philanthropy within the gardeningcommunity is much appreciated and admired.

Sam Patsy: Sam was raised on a small farm and has beengardening all his life. For his own company he was a certifiedinstructor for the major technology companies. His teachingexperience spans 40 years and includes college teaching atthe graduate level.

Terri Pitts: Terri's love for gardening began 30 years agowhen she grew her first herb garden. The herb garden quicklyexpanded into several perennial borders, a large vegetablegarden and learning to start her vegetables and annuals fromseeds. Terri has been a Master Gardener for 8 years whereshe enjoys speaking to groups in Montgomery County,educating them on the benefits of practicing Integrated PestManagement and starting plants from seeds. Recently, shehas utilized her love of photography by documenting manyMG events and working as a photo editor for the MGNewsletter, The Seed.

Susan Plaeger: Susan became a Master Gardener in 2014,having retired from the NIH as a Director in the AIDS Programin 2012. She’s a Ph.D. microbiologist originally from NewOrleans, then living for 16 years in Los Angeles, and now 16years in the Crestwood area of Washington, DC – andgardening in all three places. Her interests are home gardensand landscaping, especially perennials and interestingspecimen trees. She’s also a member of the Kenwood GardenClub. She is pictured in the garden at Dromoland Castle inIreland.

Robin Ritterhoff: Robin became a Master Gardener in 2012,having spent a quarter-century obsessing in the best possibleway over her vegetable gardens when living in Capitol Hill,Tunisia, and Bethesda. Robin is co-leader for the vegetablebeds in Montgomery County’s Derwood DemonstrationGarden, whose bounty has provided over 1200 pounds offresh vegetables and herbs as donations to MontgomeryCounty’s food bank Manna for 2016 (as of mid-September2016).

Steve Robinson: Steve became a Master Gardener in 2012.He retired after an almost 50 year career in government andprivate industry as a systems and software engineer. Raisedon a farm in Missouri, he has returned to these roots thoughwith different plants. Today, he specializes in containergardening, aquaponics, orchids, and water gardens at hishome near Rockville. He also operates a small greenhouseenjoying year round produce.

Marie Rojas: Marie has been providing Integrated PestManagement services for homeowners, nursery growers andproperty managers through her company, Borders &Butterflies, for over 17 years. She serves on several greenindustry boards, including the Professional GroundsManagement Society, D.C. Branch and the EnvironmentalCluster Advisory Board for Montgomery County PublicSchools. Marie has also been a Montgomery County MasterGardener since 1994. She enjoys kayaking, hiking, andfishing. She also keeps bees on her 92 acre farm in Beallsville,MD.

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

Erica Smith: A Montgomery County Master Gardener since2007, Erica is co-leader for vegetables at the Derwood DemoGarden and runs the blog associated with University ofMaryland Extension's Grow It Eat It program. She enjoysunusual plants, good kitchen equipment, and useful referencebooks. She is the author of several novels.

Merikay Smith: With avid gardeners for parents andgrandparents, Merikay has been surrounded by bloomingplants and eating home-grown foods all her life. Merikay hasa 2-acre garden in Darnestown where, with the help of herhusband and son, she is converting a vast expanse of lawninto a healthier habitat of trees, shrubs, and perennials. AMaster Gardener since 2007, Merikay is the current chair ofthe Speakers Bureau. Merikay serves on the Board of theMuddy Branch Alliance and organizes their native treeinitiative. She is also the founder of Earth Stewardship East, alocal faith-based environmental group. (www.eartheast.org)

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

Cindy Walczak: Cindy is a 2011 Master Gardener. She hasbeen gardening in Olney for over 25 years. Her gardeninginterests include perennials, vegetables, garden design andhouseplants. She is recently retired from NIH.

Eric Wenger: Eric has been actively involved in the lawn andlandscape industry for 30+ years. He is a certified IntegratedPest Management specialist in both turf and ornamentals.Eric has been a member in good standing of The ProfessionalGrounds Management Society since 1997 and continues tovolunteer in many activities that improve the knowledge andprofessionalism within his industry. A Master Gardener since1996, Eric is a popular speaker on a variety of horticulturaltopics. 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 withNature."

Heather Whirley: Heather lives on an acre in Derwood whereshe raises two children, a flock of chickens, hives of bees andmany varieties and species of vegetable, herb andlandscaping plants. She has a dedicated culinary herb and teagarden in her backyard, just steps from the kitchen. Heatherhas been a member of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club forthe last four years. She grew up on a 100-acre dairy farm inCarroll County, Maryland, where she developed a love of soiland sunshine. Her degree in the Bachelor of Science ofAgriculture was procured from the University of Marylandand she has worked as the Public Relations Director for theMontgomery County Agricultural Fair, where she met herhusband. She has been a Master Gardener since 2014.

George Willingmyre: George is a graduate of the MasterGardener class of 2007 and is also a volunteer MarylandWoodland Steward, having completed a 4 day MWSworkshop in 2009. George’s interest in trees began with aUniversity of Maryland research plot of experimental trees onhis property in 1982. He added a few more each year untilabout half his lot was planted with 600 trees.

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

Heather Zindash: Heather is a Montgomery County MasterGardener, a Maryland Master Naturalist, a localgarden/nature writer, speaker & photographer. Herblog/website, thesoulfulgardener.com brings “people, plantsand nature together for health and well-being.” Her ownNWF Certified Wildlife Habitat is a constant source ofinspiration from her own backyard, yours.

In Remembrance

Adele Fein, January 31, 2016: Adele became a MasterGardener in 1997. She was a very active and beloved part ofour community serving in both the Horticultural TherapyGroup and the Speakers Group, in addition to having servedas President of the MC Master Gardeners. She spoke as anexpert on orchids, growing them for 50 years. She was activein the American Orchid Society, the National Capital OrchidSociety, and the Rock Creek Orchid Club.