On Thursday, June 18 2015, the UF/IFAS Washington County Master Gardeners welcomed 6 New Master gardeners to the organization. The new master gardeners are Billy Best, Joann Hayes, Elijah Rowe, William McCann, Linda Boyette, and Duane Losee. These individuals completed a half day, twelve week course in gardening skills, encompassing content in Florida Friendly Landscaping, water conservation, fruit & vegetable production, pest & disease diagnosis, plant identification, ornamental gardening, pest & disease management, plant propagation and edible landscapes. This training gives them the knowledge base to successfully assist Washington County Horticulture Agent Matthew Orwat with classes, workshops, community events, garden installation & maintenance and public inquiries. As Master Gardeners, they are official volunteer employees of the University of Florida IFAS Cooperative Extension and commit to impart unbiased, research based information to the residents and businesses of Washington County. Master Gardeners also commit to giving back 75 hours of volunteer service to the community their first year and 25 hours each year thereafter. The Washington County Master Gardeners have implemented many successful projects over the years including installing and maintaining landscaping on the grounds of Washington County Library, maintaining the Rose Garden in front of Ag Center, strawberry production demo, compost demo, and annual plant sale. Public workshops put on by Master Gardeners over the last several years have included, an herb workshop, a rose pruning and propagating workshop, a composting workshop, fruit tree grafting workshop, a rain barrel production workshop, “All About Bats”, growing shiitake mushrooms workshops, growing strawberries workshop, and a winter vegetable gardening workshop. UF / IFAS Washington County Extension will be offering another master gardener class series in March 2016, contact Matthew Orwat at 638-6180 or mjorwat@ufl.edu for more information.