Meet the Garden Squad is a way to get better acquainted with some of our CSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers.
Here’s your chance to meet and greet the new crop of Denver Master Gardeners from the Class of 2020. Class members were invited to introduce themselves by answering one of 10 questions to help us get to know them. Please welcome them to the Garden Squad!
Rhianna Kirk finds exceptional joy from being close to nature. She shares her favorite gardening quote:
“Gardening… cheaper than therapy AND you get tomatoes.”
Aleka Mayr credits three role models for inspiring her to plant and grow. “Both my grandmothers and my mother have been my inspiration, and have shown me planting and growing can happen in an urban apartment, a rural farm, and even a vacant lot in the middle of Manhattan.”
Dudley Clark misses being able to grow rhododendrons in his Colorado landscape. “I have lived in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Virginia where they grow like weeds….year round greenery, wonderful flowers in a range of colors from white to deep purple and not much maintenance…remove spent flowers to encourage growth. Every few years I pay an outlandish price for a ‘rhodie’ at a Colorado nursery, plant it in a shady location, watch it struggle through our scorching heat and plummeting temperatures and finally succumb to the edict wrong plant, wrong place.”
Ashley Hooten (shown with husband Michael) says her favorite summer-time recipe is a “simple and easy Caprese salad with homegrown tomatoes and fresh basil! So delicious and fresh!”
Thanks to our new Master Gardeners for their photos and gardening insights. Watch for Meet the Garden Squad–New Master Gardeners part 2 later this week!
By Jodi Torpey
Master Gardener Volunteer since 2005
Denver Gardeners 