Master Gardeners by Carol VanHook
Do you have problems with your plants? Who doesn’t? Do you often wonder where to go to answer your problems, besides writing to TheGardenLady?
Well, you can always call in with your question or take a sample of your problem to your local Master Gardener office. Every state and almost every county in every state in the US has a Master Gardener office. Master Gardeners are in Canada and also in England and New Zealand. South Korea is considering starting a Master Gardening program. Good luck to South Korea.
The Master Gardeners are trained horticulturists who volunteer their time because they love horticulture and etymology and also love to help people with their plants, wild animal and insect problems or questions. They are a FREE service. They do other things like: beautifying local spots with plants or having show gardens or having outreach lectures or having programs related to horticulture for children, etc. This is an organization TheGardenLady readers might like to join, take their horticulture courses and become volunteers- or maybe start such a program in the country you live in.
There other excellent websites (besides TheGardenLady.org) to solve your gardening problems. Use the Missouri Botanical Garden site which has many problem solving solutions or the University of Washington Botanic Gardens site which also offers links to other good sites. http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/collections/collections.shtml Both sites are great even if you don’t live in those states.
You might want to consider attending a university and taking Horticulture classes. A partial list of colleges offering Horticulture programs are listed here: http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/flowerreadings/horticulture-in-top-universities. But take the classes for love, not money. One article written in 2011 says that horticulture school programs are suffering budget cuts. Whether that means there will be jobs out there when you graduate, has to be seen (see here).