Welcome to the "About Us" page of the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, Inc.

• Our Mission
• Board of Directors
• Affiliations

Our Mission
The Massachusetts Master Gardener Association is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to share knowledge and experience with the public through outreach programs in education, horticulture,and gardening; to provide the Master Gardening Training Program to interested members of the public; and to provide graduates of the Master Gardener Training Program with educational and practical opportunities to extend their knowledge and interests in gardening and related topics.

Board of Directors
President: Paul Steen (Class of 2005)

Paul is a retired engineer, physician (internist) and executive in the medical software industry. He lives in Sturbridge where he tends many tropical plants in his 10’ x 12’ greenhouse. Paul’s garden specialties are: shade gardening, camellias, tropical plants and succulents. He is an instructor at Tower Hill Botanic Garden on tropical plants, home/hobby greenhouses and shade gardening, and he is a member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Paul has been editor-in-chief of Worcester Medicine for the past four years.

Betty had a career as a chemist and technical marketing person before 'retiring' to a life of gardening in Medfield. She has been the president of her local garden club, has served for four years on the Board of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, and has designed and helped build gardens for a Brookline hospice, the memorial garden of the Medfield Police and Fire Departments, and several roadside gardens. In addition to reaching Principal MG status, she oversaw the design of the MG exhibits at the New England Spring Flower Show in 2007 and 2008. Betty is a National Garden Clubs (NGC) flower show judge and a member of the NGC Garden Study Council and Landscape Design Council. In her spare time, she is active with the Medfield Food Cupboard and maintains her own two-acre garden, which was chosen for the 2008 Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour.

Dick has been an investment advisor for 35 years and has been treasurer of his local Boy Scout Council for the past four years, managing a budget of $1.3 million. As Council Treasurer, he sits on the finance and executive committees, the audit and budget committees and a 45 member board of directors. He is a member of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, New England Wild Flower Society and Boston Athenaeum, and he volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and Walk for Hunger. He is a 2008 recipient of The President’s Volunteer Service Award and is a Notary Public. Dick says he is “a vegetable gardener first, then everything else.” His favorite perennial is the hydrangea, and his favorite annual is the dahlia.

Penni is currently an accountant working for a New York family office and telecommutes. Her volunteer experience includes terms as recording secretary for The Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless and the White Plains Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry. Additionally, she served as vice president, treasurer, and secretary (separately) of another not-for-profit, and has held many other board positions. She is the treasurer of her church and is active in the office of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. In addition to serving on the boards of two garden clubs, she is a member of the NGC Landscape Design Council. She loves flowers and hopes, one day, to have so many that there is no room for weeds. Her garden overlooks a pond in Walpole.

Kathi is a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher who has been gardening since she was a child. She is past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club and past chair of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Kathi is a Landscape Design Consultant and on the Gardening Study Council. She has worked with the Master Gardener training program and the Caterpillar Club, as well as being an active member of the MMGA Speakers’ Bureau and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She has achieved the status of Lifetime Master Gardener, working significantly more than the 1000 hours required to achieve this goal. Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old apple trees that are still producing. Kathi has been known to bake a few cookies in her spare time.

Sonja lives in Medfield, and has a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic, 1995. She has spent 15 years coaching skiing at Lost Valley and Sunday River ski areas, and is a Professional Ski Instructor of America Level III certified coach. She has also spent six years as aquatics director for Jewish community centers in MA, and five years as garden coordinator for the Wheelock School Victory Garden in Medfield. Sonja’s garden interests include all forms of edibles and native plant propagation. She is currently at work indoctrinating three young minds and tending a large and prolific antique blackberry patch at her home in rural ME.

Dubbed by a Master Gardener buddy as the Dutchess of Dahlias, Donna has managed several start-up marketing communications and publications operations. She currently works out of her home in Norwood as an interior designer, garden designer, lecturer and writer. Donna dislikes lawns but loves all trees, most shrubs and interesting annuals and perennials that work well in containers. She is an active member of many organizations including: The Rhode Island Dahlia Society (currently president), American Dahlia Society (garden dahlia committee and an ADS-certified dahlia judge). Donna is also the horticulture judges' chair for the Newport Flower Show 2009-2011, has been on the board of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Inc. (GCFM) for the past seven years, is a member of the NGC Landscape Design Council, editor of the GCFM Yearbook, member of the New England Hosta Society, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the North American Rock Garden Society, the Norwood Flower Committee, and has served as past president of her local garden club.

Gretel is a software engineer working for a major electronics company who resides in Hudson. She has also volunteered sporadically for the New England Wild Flower Society as an adult and children's guide. She considers her horticultural interests to be eclectic, which is to say she knows a little about a lot, and not very much about anything. Gretel is the MMGA liaison to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

Affiliations
In the summer of 2008, the Master Gardeners formed a separate non-profit entity called the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, Inc. The MMGA is pleased to be able to continue its affiliation with the Massachusetts Horticultural Association (MHS). The long history of the Master Gardeners’ working relationship with the MHS led to a formal Affiliation agreement that benefits both organizations.

Elm Bank will continue to be the base of operations for the MMGA organization, and the MMGA will continue to support MHS through outreach (Help Line and information booths at MHS events) and gardening at MHS sites.