Author: Brooke Edmunds

Tell us about your hometown.

My roots are in the Midwest. My family moved to Oregon from Wisconsin when I was a teenager, but I’ve lived in the Willamette Valley since I went to the University of Oregon in the early 80’s. We moved to Albany in 1984 from Klamath Falls when my husband, Lane, got a job with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation. Our daughters attended St. Mary’s School, Calapooia Middle School and South Albany High School. I think Albany is a great place to raise a family and there are certainly a lot of good things to appreciate and enjoy here. One daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren currently live in Albany. I LOVE the long growing season in the Willamette Valley! I have a gardening friend in Wisconsin who is always envious when I send pictures from our early Spring garden.

What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

I’ve always thought that it’s important to give some of my time for volunteering in order to connect with our community and help others. As a Master Gardener I can share my time and knowledge about gardening to encourage others and help them increase their gardening skills and knowledge. I enjoy problem solving too, so finding research-based answers for people who have gardening problems is fun for me, although I have to admit that sometimes I get frustrated on the occasions when it’s difficult to solve a problem with a definitive answer. My favorite activity is to combine children and gardening.  I’ve enjoyed being involved with a school garden and the Power of Produce (PoP) program offered at the summer Farmer’s Market. 

What’s a favorite garden memory? 

I have had many wonderful garden experiences! One favorite includes being in the garden on an early summer morning and just absorbing the smell, sight and quiet stillness. A fresh picked, warm and ripe tomato, eaten straight from the vine is my favorite taste sensation! In the fall I love to go to the apple orchard, taste the different varieties of fruit and fill boxes to take home for making applesauce or cider with our family.

Tell us about your current garden.

We live on a plot just under one acre with lots of mature fir and oak trees, so our yard is mostly shady. Deer and other “critters” frequently visit our yard too, so there are some challenges to address. The sun is best in the front, so I grow food, flowers and herbs in an area with southern exposure. I am fortunate to have a very handy husband who constructed raised beds and plumbed water for me. In a larger area on the other side of the yard, I grow mostly flowers with some food mixed in. I have a large pot with only edibles, so the grandchildren can taste flowers and herbs, which they enjoy. Tomatoes, cucumbers (grown vertically to save space) basil and zucchini are staples in my garden. I also like to grow beets, peas, broccolini, herbs for cooking, arugula, fennel, hops and pumpkins. A bay tree has grown happily in a pot for several years. A funny “fail” I had in the garden was growing carrots. On the third try, the carrot tops had grown about an inch high and I was very excited that I was finally getting carrots to grow. I was in the garden with my grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, helping my grandson plant seeds when my granddaughter called, “Look, grandma, I pulled out the weeds!” She had pulled out the entire row of carrot greens! I enjoy growing a variety of perennial and annual flowers including foxglove, roses, dahlias, black-eyed susans, Japanese anemone, iris, clematis, nasturtium, nigella, poppies, and more. Sharing bouquets of flowers with friends and family gives me great joy. 

Describe a plant that reminds you of home.

While I was growing up my family moved a few times but mom always planted rhubarb wherever we lived. My siblings and I used to love pulling out a stalk of rhubarb, dipping it in sugar and eating it. I have rhubarb in my garden today and love to use it in different ways. A family favorite is a rhubarb bread recipe from my grandma that was printed in a “heart healthy” cookbook.

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and/or your garden?

Dividing dahlia tubers is a great challenge for me, even though I’ve grown them for years and I try each year, I still have to consult with my brother-in-law who is an expert at growing dahlias.  

How did you begin gardening?

My gardening journey began when I was in elementary school and my family lived in rural Wisconsin on three acres. Dad decided we should have a large garden and each of us five children got to choose what we wanted to plant. I planted gourds and at the end of the season I sold them to the local grocery store and made some money. After my family moved, I don’t remember having a garden again. Eventually my family landed in Bend, Oregon, where we still grew rhubarb, but no other garden to speak of.

It was after I was married and we lived in a nondescript rental home when I wanted to plant some flowers in our yard. My husband’s grandmother bought me some stock and pansies and I wondered why they didn’t grow very well in the hard, cracked, clay soil. By this time I had three young daughters to “grow”, so I didn’t really have time for watering.

Why did you become a Master Gardener volunteer?

When our daughters were older, we planted flowers together at our own house. My youngest daughter, Alison, could walk down the fence, point to the variety of flowers and name them all at a very young age. Soon after, we removed a row of photinia and my husband made me some raised planting beds. We tried growing some vegetables and fruits, with varying degrees of success. I saw an article in the Albany Democrat-Herald about the Master Gardening class and thought it looked interesting. However, at the time, I was teaching full time and couldn’t take the classes. When I retired from teaching, the Master Gardener training was on my list of things to do. I asked a friend to join me, she said yes, and we took the training in 2014.

You can help grow knowledge, gardens and communities. Applications for the 2020 Volunteer Program are open until December 3rd.  Learn more and join us.

What is your hometown?

My hometown is Brownsville, Oregon.  My family and I have just purchased our own little farm in between Brownsville and Sweet Home and today was our last day of moving out of our rental, which was in town.  It has been a crazy few months and most of my personal effects are plants!  Although I am not originally from Brownsville, it is certainly where my heart is and am content in forgetting that I have ever lived anywhere else!

Describe your early gardening experiences.

My mom always maintained a large vegetable garden when I was young.  We spent weekends and after school hours there, watering and eating.  We would just take a knife, potato peeler and the salt and pepper out with us and eat and work.  The chickens would be let out to scratch around too.  My brother and I would entertain ourselves climbing a giant Oleander at the front of the garden which was also right by the street so we could quietly spy any unsuspecting neighbors who may be walking by.  We were also in 4-H and had a large barn of rabbits next to the garden, providing much mulch we had to shovel! One of our favorite things to do in the afternoons when we went to tend the rabbits was eat the pulp out of the cherry tomatoes and throw the skins at each other, boy would my mom be upset when we came in with all of those stains on our school clothes!  My mom was also no stranger to landscaping our yard, providing me with a wonderland to play in with My Little Ponies and my imaginary friend (who treated me nicer than my big brother!).  I owe my early love of gardens to my mom and all her hard work, now we share many fun conversations but these days I usually know what plant she’s talking about!  

What is your current garden like?

At our home that we sold when we moved to Brownsville I had been gardening for five years.  When we moved I spent months beforehand potting up precious things I wanted to take with me.  It took a whole vehicle and trailer combo to bring my loot (not including houseplants).  A large amount of it stayed in the pots where I have struggled to keep it alive through three summers.  More tender things were planted at the rental and I took splits from them to bring to my new place.  I have beautified many a rental house in my life using this method!  Even though it was hard work, it makes me happy to know that I have spread many flower friends around Earth this way.  I can’t wait to get started on my (hopefully) last garden and get these friends into the ground.  

I would consider my 60+ houseplants as part of my current garden.  Those I usually struggle to keep happy all winter until I take them outside for the summer, where they flourish.  Right when they are at their finest, I have to drag them in (hopefully) before a frost and then they slowly decline until I can get them outside again.  I used to find myself saying that I wasn’t good with houseplants, until a few years ago I realized that I have a few that are roughly 25 years old, so I guess I’m not that bad.   

Describe one plant that you grow which reminds you of home .

In my garden wonderland of a childhood front yard there was a silk tree (Albizia julibrissin).  When I was very young, it lived in a location where my mom did not want it.  She attempted to dig it out but when the shovel proved unsuccessful, my dad hooked up the truck and chain and dragged it out to the burn pile.  A few months later, there was the stump, sprouting in the burn pile.  My gardening mom, who (like most of us gardeners) has a soft spot for all things growing, decided that if it wanted to live so bad, she would put it in the front yard.  It was small while I was small, I even broke a branch trying to climb it too soon and was too afraid to tell my mom, but that die-hard healed up and lived there until I was in my 20’s.  It was massive, so massive in fact that it overshadowed much of the street and the solar panels on the opposite side of the roof.  That’s when my dad, who is more of a ‘cement it and paint it green’ kinda gardener, chopped it down for good.  Nevertheless, a few years ago, I was at my dad’s and potted something up with his native soil and wouldn’t you know, up sprouted a silk tree from a dormant seed in that soil.  As I have inherited a soft spot for all things growing, I now have a potted silk tree that I just may find a spot for on my new farm. 

What’s a favorite garden memory—a sound, sensation, smell or taste associated with a favorite garden in your life? 

The other thing that I plan on planting in my new garden that reminds me of that front yard wonderland is Lantana.  I spent countless hours catching butterflies from those plants and now as soon as I smell their distinct aroma, it takes me right back.  What’s funny to me about that yard is, as I got bigger, it got smaller.  My dad eventually removed everything living and filled it with rock, and the actual square footage is probably no more than 70 but my mom sure knew what to do with a small space to make it infinite for me.    

What does being a Master Gardener volunteer mean to you?

Being a Master Gardener means that not only do I get to help others have a more enjoyable and successful garden, but the learning opportunities are endless. I also get to surround myself with other fellow gardeners, which is great fun.  I enjoy giving to my community and Master Gardening allows me to do that and do it in a way that I love.     

What’s one thing people might be surprised to know about you and your garden?

Fall of 2018 I purchased around 1000 daylily seedlings from someone who was hybridizing but giving it up to move out of the country.  This summer about one third of them bloomed and my husband and I tried our hand at pollinating them, resulting in a large amount of new seeds to start and I am excited to see what we came up with.  It’s hard to be patient though, since it can be multiple seasons before you see results!  

You can help grow knowledge, gardens and communities. Applications for the 2020 Volunteer Program are open until December 3rd.  Learn more and join us.