PERHAPS your favorite shrub is wilting, or your zinnias are covered with white powder.
Do the the leaves of your apples have orange bumps? Are fuzzy blotches tucked between the stems and leaves of your house plants?
If anything like this exists in your home or garden, you may want to take samples of the distressed plants to a plant clinic staffed by volunteer master gardeners.
The clinics are held on Saturday mornings at three branches of the Howard County library: the Miller branch, the Savage branch and the central library in Columbia. The Miller branch also has a clinic Monday evenings.
At the clinics, master gardeners answer questions: whether a plant has a disease or insect damage; why tomatoes aren't growing; how to make a yard or garden better.
The gardeners identify weeds, trees, shrubs, flowers, diseases and insects.
Gordon Bishop and Mary Proffitt coordinate the clinics at the Miller branch, held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays and from 7 p.m. to 8: 30 p.m. Mondays.
When Proffitt last volunteered at the clinic, a couple brought in cuttings from every tree on the lot of their new home.
The husband wanted to clear the property, but did not know which trees were valuable.
Proffitt and Mary Gold, another volunteer, identified the trees from the cuttings.
Another couple brought in a lily with small black dots at the base of its leaves, worried that the lovely flower might have a disease.
Those are seeds forming, the gardeners said.
Cy Swett, a master gardener who often works at the plant clinics, says people come with a little bit of everything -- pieces of plants that are turning bronze-colored, plants and weeds to identify, descriptions of insect damage.
Georgia Eacker, coordinator of the Master Gardener Program in Howard County, has organized training for more than 150 volunteer gardeners over the past five years.
The training, which includes 40 hours of classroom instruction, takes place in winter.
To remain certified, master gardeners must volunteer 20 hours each year and attend at least 10 hours of educational programs.
Last year, about 100 master gardeners contributed more than 4,200 hours of community service.
They educated adults and children, tended demonstration gardens and compost bins, led nature walks, and built and staffed exhibits and clinics.
They also consult with homeowners on a one-to-one basis about soil testing, composting, proper selection of plants, fertilization techniques and lawn care.
Master gardeners implemented the Bay-Wise Landscape Management Demonstration Site Program in Howard County.
Ellicott City resident Betsy Kelley coordinates the program, which encourages property owners to use landscaping practices that preserve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Eighteen residents have participated, and Eacker hopes the program will expand. Five sites in Ellicott City have adopted Bay-Wise practices.
One is the Swett home on MacAlpine Road in Ellicott City.
Swett's yard has been certified as a Bay-Wise Demonstration Site because he follows simple practices that help the bay: He mows his lawn higher than is customary, composts, and uses fertilizers and pesticides selectively.
He has also developed butterfly and water gardens.
Other Ellicott City master gardeners pursue a variety of interests.
Louisa Thomspon leads nature walks and writes and lectures about native plants.
Barbara Sieg and Ellen Oppenheimer have supervised the restoration of the Whipps Cemetery in the St. John's Lane community.
Carroll Barrack lectures about maintaining trees and lawns.
Terry Schaffer is creating an exhibit for this year's Howard County Fair, "Gardening on the Internet," which describes how to find gardening information. Included in her directory of resources is the Howard County master gardener's home page, the Garden Bench, at www.agnr.umd.edu/users/mg.
Another volunteer, Michelle Wright, will schedule gardeners to staff the display at the fair.
"We'll answer questions and talk about bugs," says Eacker, "but the display will not have a computer."
Other volunteers from Ellicott City include David Barylski, Virginia Bruce, Brian Cannon, Walter and Marion Carlson, Kathy Davis, Katherine Duck, Jim Eacker, Leisa Hidey, Sharon Koury, Barbara Langridge, Jean Leslie, Mary Opitz, Cookie Oppliger, Rondie Reeser, Sandra Roemer, Elaine Schmitz, Joan St. Ours, Mary Strem, Ellen Sutton, Lisha Utt, Barbara White and Donna White.
Barbara Kerr and this reporter are master gardeners from Elkridge, as is Paul Rutter Sr., who tends an extensive rose garden, lectures on the care of roses -- and makes delicious coffee cakes and cobblers.
In the fall, the volunteers will lead three seminars from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays at the Cooperative Extension Service office, 3525 Ellicott Mills Drive, Suite L, Ellicott City.
On Sept. 26, the gardeners will explain how to plant bulbs, perennials, trees and shrubs.
The Oct. 3 session will include talks about fall lawn care, composting and preparing the garden for winter.
And on Oct. 10, they will discuss evergreens, flowers, barks, berries, birds, bulbs and gardening to attract wildlife.
The cost for each program is $5.
Information: 410-313-2707.
Get ready
Artisans, prepare.
The Ladies Auxiliary of the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department will hold its annual craft fair at the Fire Hall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 7.
The hall is at 6275 Old Washington Road in Elkridge.
Space may be rented for $25, with an additional charge of $5 for a table or electrical hookup.
Information: Yvonne Zimmerman, 410-796-1664, or Cathy Pryor, 410-379-0315.
Reunion
In 1934, when 34 students graduated from Ellicott City High School, they formed the largest class ever in the county.
Recently, eight of the 13 living class members and some of their spouses gathered at the Crab Shanty for their 64th Reunion.
Although time had added a wrinkle or two, the classmates were interested to see how little their basic natures had changed.
The pretense common to early reunions had been replaced with a celebration of those living.
Guy Thompson, George Curtis, Dolly Chell Hardman, Pauline Boone Roberts, Margaret Burgess Owens, Catherine Ramsburg Earp, Jean Holmes and George Everly shared reminiscences.
They missed classmates who are still living but did not attend: Laura Makinson Pfeiffer, Elsie Stonesifer Behr, Barbara Miller Wilderson, John R. Clarke and Barbara Talbott Fisher.
Comings and goings
Welcome Meghan Kieffer, who returned to Ellicott City Aug. 1 after completing the GTE Big Ride Across America with 730 other riders.
The coast-to-coast bicycle ride raises money for the American Lung Association.
Meghan raised $400 more than her pledge of $6,000.
Her favorite memory was of visiting Mount Rushmore on the Fourth of July.
"To see the fireworks over the whole formation was very patriotic," she said.
Neighbor Matthew Simpson has joined his father, senior pastor Dr. Ed Simpson, as assistant pastor of Harvester Baptist Church.
According to "Pastor Matthew," the elder Simpson originally came north from Miami, Fla., because he felt God was calling him to start a church.
When he looked at the cows in the fields that would become Columbia, he knew that this was where the Lord wanted him to stay.
Matthew, the older of Ed Simpson's two sons, has been raised in the church his father founded in 1976.
He and his brother listened many times as his father related the day's events to his mother over the evening dinner table.
Matthew Simpson recently received his bachelor's degree from Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C.
He married Jill Stinnett on June 12, and they have settled in Elkridge.
He enjoys coming home and sharing the events of his day with his wife and looks forward to sharing his Christian life with his neighbors.
Pub Date: 8/10/98