Certified Master Gardeners
Tina has been a Master Gardener since 1996. She is an accomplished gardener and photographer and 2008 winner of the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Tina also writes a gardening column, “Dig It”, for the Lock Haven Express and regularly makes entries into the Gardening in the Keystone State blog. She was instrumental in designing and planting the demonstration gardens at the Clinton County Extension Office. Many of the photos featured on this website were taken by Tina.
Deb is a life-long gardener who uses sustainable and organic methods as much as possible. She and her husband maintain extensive bulb and perennial beds, a vegetable garden, fruit tress, and a pond garden in Mill Hall, PA. In addition, Deb began growing orchids and ferns when they added a conservatory to their home in 2006. Deb has been a certificed Master Gardener since 2008 and serves as a hotline volunteer as well as an instructor.
Karen Elias joined the Clinton County Master Gardeners in 2008. She has been gardening voraciously since moving to a beautiful, though rocky, Clinton County hilltop in the early ‘90s. Since that time, the land has been her teacher, and she is still learning how to build raised beds, amend the soil with compost, use natural water supplies to best advantage, and incorporate sustainable garden practices without the use of pesticides. She is studying botanical watercolor painting and is interested in educating gardeners about ways to attract and sustain a variety of pollinators in our local landscapes.
Urban gardener in Lock Haven - “Grow where you are planted.” Rebecca’s goal for her urban garden is to have every bit planted so she never has to mow again. She is also looking to inspire her neighbors to grow a bit of their own salads and herbs. Rebecca’s favorite gardening website: urbanhomestead.org. The Dervaes family in Pasadena, CA has filled their urban lot with every growing thing and is making a living at it. Every city lot could look like that! “Why doesn’t everyone have a rain barrel?”
Dena is retired and enjoyed working with the geriatric population in nursing homes as an LPN for over 10 years. She also enjoys working outside in the garden with vegetables and flowers and would like to help the elderly with their gardens. She and her husband moved back to Mill Hall from the D.C. area and bought an old farm house to remodel 38 years ago. They have two grown children and two grandchildren. Dena considers herself a “jack of all trades but a master of non,” therefore she entered the Master Gardener program to become a more complete gardener.
Deb relocated from the Lehigh Valley to Beech Creek a little over three years ago. She and her husband had leased out their business and were looking for some acreage and also to semi-retire. Deb is married and has four grown children and three grandchildren. She loves to cook, bake, and work out in the yard and garden. Deb is interested in growing the healthiest food possible and feeding her family food that not only tastes good but is also good for them. She has gotten more interested in herbs and also in saving seeds and would like to see all food that is GMO to be labeled as such in the stores so consumers can make educated food choices. Deb loves Clinton County and being close to so many farms. “The people here are so nice and I hope some of my other family members will move out here also,” says Deb. She hopes she can contribute to the master gardener program by getting people excited about growing their own gardens.
Carole has been a Master Gardener since 2007. She participated in the Plant Sale and Composting Workshops and is considering developing a Weed Garden that will be used to help home gardeners identify and eliminate weeds. Carole enjoys growing different flowers every year, doing research from year to year, trying a variety of soils and other growing situations.
Laura received her Master Gardener certification in 2011. She enjoys working with youth through the Master Gardener program. She is the organizational leader for the Clinton county 4-H club, Sprout’n Gardeners. The Sprout’n Gardeners 4-H club uses the high tunnels on the extension property to complete 4-H gardening projects. Laura is also an approved, district Boy Scout merit badge counselor for the Gardening and Plant Science merit badges. Her gardening interests at home include pollinator-friendly gardening to support her beekeeping hobby and composting.
One of Quentin’s many interests is gardening. He strives to bring more native plants into his gardens. By going “native” Quentin is also going green. Native plants, in addition to requiring less water and care as exotic or non-native plants, encourage an increase in butterfly, bird, and beneficial insect populations. Quentin has had a relationship with plants since early childhood. He also enjoys houseplants and the African Violet is his favorite. Many of his violets are off-springs of plants from 65 years ago. Quentin is always willing to show his gardens to whomever is interested. His motto is, “Dirty knees, dirty fingernails...it doesn’t get any better.”
Alice earned her Master Gardener Certification in August 2009. She is active on the Educational, Exhibits & Fairs, and Plant Sale Committees.
Betsy relocated to Clinton County 5 years ago after her husband and she decided that they had enough of the rat race in Camp Hill and retired. Now she enjoys gardening, canning, reading, and spending time at their hunting camp. Betsy enjoys spending a lot of time with their 5 adult children and their spouses and all of their many grandchildren. When she is not in her garden, she is helping her neighbors with theirs. Her dream is to have a community garden in her town for people who don’t have the space for a garden but would love to have one and then help them can the produce for use over the winter. “Everyone should enjoy their garden all year round. Once when you’re putting it in and later when it is snowing out and you get to open a jar of your favorite produce to eat and think how much fun it was to plant it - knowing that spring is just around the corner to start all over again.”
