Home Gardening

Our Vision

We envision a healthier world through environmental stewardship.

Our Mission

We support the University of Maryland Extension (UME) mission by educating residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.

Our History

The UME Master Gardener Program began in 1978 as a means to extend science-based knowledge to the general public by providing horticultural and pest management expertise to help protect and improve Maryland’s natural resources. Today, this popular program can be found in 20 Maryland counties and Baltimore City. 

UME Master Gardeners are volunteers who combine their love of plants, people, and the environment to help residents in their communities solve problems and make environmentally-sound decisions.  

St. Mary’s County Master Gardeners

St. Mary’s County Master Gardeners are actively volunteering throughout our community. We host regular Ask a Master Gardener Plant Clinics to answer the public’s horticulture questions in person, conduct Bay-Wise site visits to educate residents on best practices for managing their lawns and gardens to keep the Chesapeake Bay healthy, and offer presentations on pollinators, native plants, composting, growing food, and much more!

Plant clinics are an opportunity for the public to meet Master Gardeners in person and ask their horticulture questions. They can bring samples or pictures of plant problems and leave with helpful resources and answers to their questions. In 2025 these are being hosted at The Home Grown Farmer’s Market on the third Saturday of each month from 9 AM- 1 PM and at the Leonardtown Library on the second & fourth Tuesdays through October from 1-3 PM.

Library Calendar of Events

St. Mary’s County Master Gardener Facebook Page

Bay-Wise is a program designed to help Maryland residents learn more about horticulture and landscape practices that are considerate of their impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Master Gardeners educate Maryland residents about bay friendly practices through presentations, demonstration gardens, one-on-one consultations, home visits, and more. A new checklist is available called the Maryland Living Landscapes Metric which includes essential habits that Maryland residents can adopt today to support healthy Maryland watersheds.

How Do I Get My Home Landscape or Vegetable Garden Certified as Bay-Wise?

Interested in making your landscape more Chesapeake Bay Friendly? Follow these steps:

1. Download the following checklist : Baywise Maryland Living Landscapes Metric

2. Follow the directions on the document, tally your score, and complete the application on the final page.

3. Contact the St. Mary’s County Master Gardener office to sign up for a site visit for certification.  Do not submit your completed checklist and application before you contact your local Master Gardener program. You can reach the office at (301) 226-7777 or email Liz Ward at lward20@umd.edu

Once a 'Bay-Wise trained' Master Gardener certifies your home landscape you will receive a small sign to display in your landscape and a certificate. Even if you do not have your landscape certified, you can still do plenty to reduce pollutants going into the Chesapeake Bay by following the suggestions in the Baywise Metric.

If you are interested in learning more about the Chesapeake Bay and how our behaviors effect it, please check out the Watershed Stewards Program 

St. Mary’s County Master Gardeners educate residents about the many benefits of pollinators. Pollinators are essential to life on the planet and proper gardening methods can reduce any harm to them. We have many pollinators in St. Mary’s County such as butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, wasps, and more! 

Many pollinators prefer native plants as their source of food or habitat. We have many demonstration gardens around the county that have examples of pollinator friendly plants that grow well in our region such as milkweed, joe pye weed, asters, and more! 

St. Mary’s County Master Gardeners educate residents about composting through educational presentations, demonstration areas, and more.

Composting is a way to help reduce food and yard waste going to landfills while at the same time putting that waste to good use! Once broken down the waste material becomes compost and contains nutrients that plants need to grow. 

For information on agriculture please go here 

The Grow It Eat It program is designed to help educate Maryland residents about how to grow, harvest, and prepare their own food! The St. Mary’s County Master Gardeners have educational presentations, demonstration gardens, and more dedicated to teaching these skills!

There are a lot of vegetables, fruits, and herbs that can be grown in St. Mary’s county. Just a few examples are tomatoes, greens, okra, eggplant, squash, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, blueberries, raspberries, and more!

For information on nutrition education 

Family Consumer Science nutrition education

SNAP-Ed nutrition education

St. Mary's County Master Gardeners love native plants! These are plants that were growing here before European settlement and which co-evolved with our local insects, birds, and mammals. Master Gardeners help educate Maryland residents about how to grow native plants and why they are so important.

There are many perennial plants that are native to St. Mary’s County including a variety of milkweeds, phloxes, goldenrods, joe-pye weed, and asters. There are also native ferns, grasses, shrubs, and trees. Many native plants and the animals that rely on them are threatened by invasive plants, which have been introduced and taken over the native habitat.

We grow many native plants in our demonstration gardens around the county. Check them out at different times of the year to see how pretty and beneficial to our local ecosystem they are! Keep an eye out for educational opportunities to learn how to plant natives in your own garden and eliminate problematic invasives.

Why become a Master Gardener?

• Master Gardeners do a lot for their counties! We help educate local residents as well as maintain demonstration gardens to help beautify our county. By joining the program, you'll have the opportunity to learn new gardening skills as well as hone your existing skills. You'll also learn how to solve gardening problems, and be able to teach others to do the same. Best of all, you'll meet new people who enjoy gardening just as much as you do!

Who can become a Master Gardener?

• Any Maryland resident, 18 years of age or older, who likes working with people and plants and has a thirst for knowledge.

What do Master Gardeners do?

• Master Gardeners help educate local residents about various horticulture methods that are safe, effective, and sustainable. We do this through presentations, workshops, demonstration gardens, social media, and more.

How to become a Master Gardener?

Steps to Become a Master Gardener

Step 1

Basic Training classes are typically offered once a year or every other year in St. Mary’s County. Contact the University of Maryland Extension at 301-226-7777 to learn more and receive an application package.

Step 2

Complete a background check and submit your application and enrollment fee. The program enrollment fee covers the cost of the mandatory Master Gardener Handbook, class materials, and additional costs to support the program.

Step 3

A Master Gardener Trainee is required to attend at least 75% of the Master Gardener Basic Training classes and pass the final exam. Master Gardener Trainees are taught about a variety of horticultural subjects by specialists, educators, and other horticulture professionals. Topics may include:

Step 4

Once a Master Gardener Trainee has completed the Master Gardener Basic Training and the passes the final exam, they become a Master Gardener Intern.  Interns must complete at least 40 hours of approved volunteer service before achieving the status of Master Gardener.  

To remain an active Master Gardener, each calendar year individuals must complete

1) a minimum of 20 hours of approved volunteer service, and
2) a minimum of 10 hours of approved continuing education.

Continuing education hours may be completed through classes, webinars, seminars and other educational activities offered by UME, plant societies, botanical gardens and arboreta, colleges, nature centers, etc.

When can I become a Master Gardener?

• St. Mary’s County typically offers basic training classes either once a year or once every other year, usually in the winter/spring season. You can add your name to a list of interested candidates to stay informed of the next class being offered.

Where do I have to go to become a Master Gardener?  

• Since COVID, classes have been offered in a hybrid format, with some of the training and presentations on ZOOM and then an in-person meeting with your local coordinator and class. Those in-person sessions are held at the University of Maryland Extension office in Leonardtown. 

Where do St. Mary's Master Gardeners volunteer?  

• Our Master Gardeners volunteer at many sites around the county, including (but not limited to!) farmer’s markets, county libraries, parks, schools, Historic Sotterley, Summerseat farm, and the Lexington Manor Passive Park Community and Gateway Native gardens.

We hope to host a Master Gardener training in 2026. 

• 2025 The Vine September issue
• 2025 The Vine August issue
• 2025 The Vine July issue
• 2024 The Vine Fall issue
• 2024 The Vine Summer issue
• 2024 The Vine Winter issue
• 2023 The Vine Fall issue
• 2023 The Vine Summer issue
• 2023 The Vine Spring issue
• 2023 The Vine Winter issue
• 2023 The Vine Holiday 2022-2023
• 2022 The Vine Winter issue
• 2022 The Vine Summer issue
• 2022 The Vine Spring issue
• 2021 The Vine Summer issue
• 2021 The Vine Spring issue
• 2021 The Vine Winter issue
• 2021 The Vine Fall issue

Check out the HGIC Webpage, Maryland Grows Blog, and more!