If you are new to gardening in our area, you might be surprised by the challenges unique to our area. There is no need to worry! Many of us started right where you are, in need of the tools to help us be successful in our gardening efforts. This website is intended to help you have a healthy and productive garden while conserving our valuable natural resources.
We hope all types of gardeners, both inexperienced and experienced gardeners, will find this website to be a handy reference. Come on in and sit a spell, then go on out to the garden and get your hands dirty. We think you’ll be glad you did!
The Big Country Master Gardener Association was established in 1996, that’s right this is our THIRTIETH YEAR! Since then Master Gardeners and Interns have made an impact in many ways in the Big Country. I want to share what we did in 2025 so you can see the impact of our contributions last year.
Here are the places we were active in 2025:
Education
The goal of Master Gardeners is to educate the public as well as members of our association, and we accomplished that in many ways during 2025. We hope you were able to join us at:
• Saturday Seminars held at the Taylor County Extension Office. We offered these programs on the last Saturday of the month from February through August, and we covered a variety of timely topics.
• Library Programs held the first Tuesday of the month at the South Branch of the Library in the Mall of Abilene and repeated the second Friday of the month at the Main Library in downtown Abilene. These presentations provided timely information each month.
• Women’s Fair held during the Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo in February.
• Booth at the Farm, Ranch and Wildlife Expo in February.
• Presentations for local and area groups.
• Children’s event during the Swenson House Haunted Abilene event.
• Programs for children during the Kids, Kows and More event.
• Activities at the Wings on the Wind event at Abilene State Park.
• Presentations at schools.
• Information provided at local and area Health Fairs and events.
• Conducted an Intern Training Class to educate new trainees to become part of the Master Gardener program. There are 22 Interns who are participating in the 2026 training.
Projects
The Big Country Master Gardeners worked on the following projects:
• Pollinator gardens at Swenson House.
• Pollinator garden at Hope Garden at First Central Presbyterian Church.
• Demonstration Gardens at the Taylor County Extension Office.
• Beds at the Modern Living Mall on the Expo grounds.
• Expo planters on the Expo grounds.
• Demonstration Gardens on Maple Street.
• Beds at the Abilene Zoo.
• Various projects in the BCMGA greenhouses.
• WASP Museum gardens in Sweetwater.
• Sweetwater Community Garden in Sweetwater.
• Several projects at schools and churches.
BCMGA can provide these educational opportunities as well as provide financial support for projects with funds raised during the Spring and Fall Plant Sales. We have plants that survive – and thrive – in the Big Country area during the sales, and we are also available to answer questions and help customers with plants delivered from online sales as well as during the in-person sales.
We accomplished these things because of:
• Support from the Extension Office – Steve, Dawnyel, Pam, Amy, Kim, Lora, and Maggie.
• Big Country Master Gardener Association Executive Committee – President: Stephanie, Vice President: Kathy, Secretary: Pleas, Treasurer: Jackie, and Past President: Dawn.
• Committees that handled projects, advanced training, special events, programs, presentations, etc., etc., etc. This list goes on and on.
• And Master Gardeners and Interns who volunteered 10,475 hours from January through December last year. None of the education programs, projects, or events could have been accomplished without the many hours worked by these dedicated individuals. The value of a volunteer hour in 2025 was $35.79, so BCMGA’s volunteer time last year was valued at $364,425.25!
Every year Texas Master Gardeners recognize outstanding Master Gardener Associations throughout the state, and the Big Country Master Gardener Association received several awards in May for the volunteer services we provided in 2024.
The Awards we received for 2024 are:
• 1st Place – Written-Recorded Education for the Weekly Garden Articles on the BCMGA Website and Facebook.
• 1st Place – Workshop Presentation for the monthly Abilene Public Library programs.
• 1st Place – Research for trailing cotton in the landscape.
• 2nd Place – Youth – Other for the Kids, Cows and More presentations made to 4th grade students in Abilene and surrounding areas. Taught vegetable lessons to 494 students.
• 3rd Place – Outstanding Association in Texas for the Big Country Master Gardener Association.
• Honorable Mention – Outstanding Individual (Master Gardener) Dawn Graham.
We recently submitted award nominations for 2025, and the Texas Master Gardener Association will announce the finalists in May 2026.
I want to applaud the work of BCMGA and recognize the Master Gardeners and Interns who volunteered so many hours to ensure that projects were worked, programs were presented, and public inquiries were answered. We have continued to be busy volunteering this year through education programs, projects, and events, and we have reported 10,475 volunteer hours for 2025, with 3,946 public contacts. We hope you join us for events and programs so watch our website and Facebook page forinformation on our activities each month.
If you have any questions, call the Taylor County Extension Office at 325-672-6048 or email us at bcmgardeners@yahoo.com. We hope you visit bcmgtx.org for information on all Big Country Master Gardener events, like us on BCMGA Facebook, and check out training presentations on BCMGA YouTube. We are here to help you.
Happy Gardening!
