(gentle music) (birds chirp)
- We are at the Cooperative Extension Office
in Tucson, Arizona,
and these are the Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens.
Broke up into 14 different themed gardens
within the property here.
We have gardens that focus on roses,
cactus and succulent,
xeriscape, shade, Basin edibles.
(fan whirs)
We have a propagation area and beyond.
We are adjacent to Campbell Avenue,
just south of the Rillito River here.
A lot of times, I tell people
we are across the street from the Trader Joe's.
And they go, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah."
I think when I first came here,
it unfortunately seemed to feel
like a research facility or something
as you drive by, but that's not the case.
These gardens are free and open to the public
during daylight hours, like a public park would be,
so not only can you come and learn something here,
but you can also just hang out
and enjoy the surroundings with your family.
(toddler babbles) (gentle music)
- Assess where the saguaro is gonna get the biggest blast.
- It is a volunteer-run operation.
We could not exist
without the donation of time and expertise
from hundreds of people every year.
(water splashes)
We have 14 different outreach programs
in addition to these gardens
that need to be maintained on a weekly basis.
It ends up being a lot of work.
We are a big organization
and we need those (laughs) master gardeners
to get things done.
- Hello.
- Hi, Angie.
- Hi, how are you?
- Okay sweetie, how you doin'?
- [Eric] Angela Powers,
she's one of my favorite master gardener volunteers.
Angela holds the title
of the longest serving master gardener in our program.
She came to us in 1990
and is still here helping us reach the public today.
- I'm 83 years old, going on 84. (laughs)
I went to see my doctor today at the physical,
and he says I'm perfect. (laughs)
So as long as he says that I'm perfect, I continue.
(gentle music)
Well, the favorite is roses.
Why, because I love to work with roses.
They talk to me.
I can see if they need some help, believe it or not.
You see when they are droopy
and you can see how to perk the roses.
When they need to be trimmed,
when maybe they got aphids,
maybe they got a different kind of disease.
So you look for the stuff,
what you see in the roses.
- [Eric] The rose garden was established
by Lauren Kettenbach, a long-time master gardener.
Unfortunately, we lost Lauren in 2018.
The garden features 40 different varieties of roses there.
Some of those plants are 25 years old.
They are in very prolific bloom right now.
It's really remarkable.
The gardens here are an outreach effort
by the Pima County Master Gardeners for the community.
I like to kind of phrase it that way
because sometimes people think that these gardens exist
for the master gardeners to be learning in.
That's not the case.
You know, we want people to come here
and take a look and see what we're doing,
and know that everything that we do here
is based on research
from the University of Arizona and other institutions,
and so that, if they like what they see,
they can try it in their backyard.
(water splashes)
- It's personal satisfaction.
So this is another extension of the creativity
that one has in their soul,
and it helps you to release it.
I love working with people,
sharing my knowledge with them,
and also creating beautiful things.
(scissors snip)
- The flowers just, you come here,
you forget about what is going on everywhere.
This is different.
This is something done, you enjoy do it.
I always say the plants talk to you.
If you love them, they will talk to you.
(birds chirp)