Celebrating 40 years
Illinois Master Gardener
Program
1975 to 2015
Where were you in 1975?
• Vietnam war ended as Communist forces
took Saigon
• Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC
• Jaws, Benji, Funny Lady and Godfather Part
II were hit films
• Gas was 44 cents a gallon; average salary
was $14,100; the average new house cost
$39,300; and a Ford mustang cost $4000
• Dutch elm disease destroyed 3 million elms
in UK
US Master Gardener Program Started in 1972
• David Gibby and Bill Scheer, Area Extension Agents,
were overwhelmed with requests for gardening
information at Washington State Extension
• Administrators suggested they use mass media: this
made the problem worse
• The MG Volunteer concept was taken to specialists
in Western Washington Research and Extension
Center in Puyallup.
• The specialists initially REJECTED the idea of
training volunteers and the university refused to
fund it..
Wanted: Expert Gardeners to Become
Master Gardeners
•600 responses: 300 were accepted; ~200 trained
•Training sessions were held 8 hr/day,1 day/week
for 5 weeks
•Original MG were required to pass a subject exam
AND an exam for pesticide licensing administered
by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
Origin of the MG Name:
Gibby and Scheer had studied in Germany
and knew the Germans bestow titles for
hard-earned proficiency levels in various
crafts. The top level of proficiency in
horticulture is “Gartenmeister”
which they anglicized as “Master Gardener”.
Sharon
Collman
Washington
State
Extension
Today…. in all 50 states, 4
Canadian provinces, and S. Korea
• Canada -operated by Ministry of Ag and
Food from 1982 to 1984, later due to $$ it was
moved to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens
• S. Korea came on board in 2011-2012
• 1987- first international MG conference in
Washington DC
• In 2006 total volunteer donation for US was
estimated at $60 million and 17 million
people reached by MGs annually
Illinois Master Gardener
program --- 1975
• Began in DuPage and Will counties
• Accounts differ but it appears that Jim Fizzell
or Floyd Giles attended a Garden Writers
conference in Seattle and toured the King
County MG office- the first in the US
• A pilot was started and the first training was
in Wheaton, DuPage Co.
• The Des Plaines Post Office was set up as the
first MG office in IL
• Jim Fizzell, Greg Stack, Floyd Giles, Jim
Schuster and Phil Nixon did all the teaching &
wrote 1st manual
Other Counties joined in• 1975-76 DuPage and Will
• 1982 DeKalb
• Early 1980s McHenry
• 1985 Marshall Putnam
• 1993 Kendall
• 1995 Perry
• 1998 McLean
2002 MG Conference in
Winnebago County
Conference Bus Trip- 2007
Today in Illinois
• Over 3000 active volunteers
• 2014 value of volunteer hours was $4.77
million
• Since 2001- MGs have given 2,309,348
volunteer hours at value of over $57
million dollars to state of IL.
• 2003-2015 7,500 new MGs trained
Lets Celebrate 40 years!
Cumberland County
Clark County
Woodford County
Cook South Suburban
Ford-Iroquois Counties
Kane County
Tazewell County
Fayette County
DuPage County
DuPage County
Tazewell County
Tazewell County
Celebrating 40 years
Illinois Master
Gardener Program