Pontotoc County Master Gardeners

06/02/2026

A great opportunity to learn gardening and help your community!

🌱🥕 Love Fresh Air, Gardening, and Giving Back? We Have an Opportunity for You! 🥕🌱
Our local non-profit Pontotoc Community Garden is looking for a SCSEP participant to join our team!
If you are:
✅ 55 years of age or older
✅ Currently unemployed
✅ Meet SCSEP income wage eligibility requirements
✅ Able to work outdoors
✅ Able to bend, stoop and lift
You could help grow fresh vegetables in our community garden and make a difference in your community!
💵 Pay: $10.00 per hour
⏰ Hours: 20–28 hours per week
This is a wonderful opportunity to stay active, learn new skills and support a great community program.
📞 Interested or know someone who might be? Contact:
Leslie Dean
Three Rivers Planning and Development
662-488-6970
Please share with friends and family who may qualify! 🌻🍅🌽

05/28/2026

🗞️ In the news! Read all about it! ✨
🏆Kerry Koehler, State Master Gardener of the Year! 🌿
Pontotoc Progress

05/18/2026

🌟 We Saved the Best for Last! 🌟

The Pontotoc County Master Gardeners are incredibly proud to announce that Kerry Koehler has been named the 2025 Mississippi Master Gardener Association Statewide Master Gardener of the Year! 🎉🌿

Yep, the Master Gardener of the Year lives right here in Pontotoc! Our local celebrity!

Kerry embodies everything the Master Gardener program stands for—leadership, service, education, and an unwavering commitment to community. In just a few short years, she has transformed projects, strengthened partnerships, elevated our plant sale to new heights, expanded educational outreach, and played a key role in establishing and optimizing the Community Garden high tunnel—now an impactful teaching and growing space dedicated to providing produce to those in need.

Her dependability, creativity, and passion for helping others learn have made her a cornerstone of our organization and a shining example across the state.

Please join us in celebrating Kerry for this well‑deserved honor! 💚🌱

05/18/2026

🌿 Big News for the Pontotoc County Master Gardeners! 🌿

We are thrilled to share that the Pontotoc County Master Gardeners have been awarded the 2025 MMGA Outstanding Organization Award for counties with 20 or fewer members! This statewide honor awarded by the Mississippi Master Gardener Association recognizes our group’s incredible volunteer service, community partnerships, educational programs, and the thousands of hours our members dedicated to improving Pontotoc County.

We’re also happy to announce that Master Gardener Julia McDowell earned 3rd place statewide for the most volunteer hours completed in 2025.

Thank you to our volunteers, partners, and supporters who make this work possible. We’re excited for all that’s ahead as we continue growing together and strengthening our community through gardening. 🌱💚

05/18/2026

🌿 We’re honored! 🌿
The Pontotoc County Master Gardeners are celebrating a big year — our chapter received five statewide awards, including the 2025 MMGA
State Award for Best Publication for our weekly Ask the Master Gardener column in the Pontotoc Progress!

This award recognizes the dedication of Master Gardeners Betty Crane and Lisa Lucius, who write weekly articles offering research‑based, practical gardening guidance tailored to North Mississippi. Their work helps educate, inspire, and support gardeners of all experience levels across our community.

Thank you to the Pontotoc Progress, Mississippi State University Extension Service, and our wonderful readers who submit questions, share feedback, and help make this column a true community resource.

We are honored to serve Pontotoc County and look forward to another year of helping your gardens grow! 💚

If you'd like to subscribe to the Pontotoc Progress, call 662-489-3511 or check out www.djournal com/pontotoc
Mississippi Master Gardener Association

05/18/2026

🌿 We’re honored! 🌿
The Pontotoc County Master Gardeners are celebrating a big year — our chapter received five statewide awards, including the 2025 MMGA Graphic Award for our Plant Reference Guide Microsite!

This microsite highlights plants that thrive here in the Mississippi Hill Country—plants we’ve propagated, tended, and trust. It also serves as a helpful tool during our annual Plant Sale, giving shoppers instant access to the plants available along with each plant’s growing needs.

This project is made possible through support from the Pontotoc Farmers Market and research backed by the Mississippi State University Extension Service. We’re thrilled to be recognized for creating a resource that helps our community garden with confidence. Check it out at:
pontotocfarmersmarket.com/pontotoc_master_gardeners/

Thank you to everyone who supports our mission of sharing knowledge and growing together! 🌱💚
Mississippi Master Gardener Association

05/13/2026

A beautiful spring day spent filling the planters at Pontotoc's Historic Post Office and Museum. Many of the plants were available at the Master Gardener's last plant sale!
Our banana shrubs, Magnolia figos, are looking good.

05/13/2026

Anyone buy a snake cucumber plant from the Pontotoc County Master Gardeners at the April Plant Sale? This is what you have to look forward to!

05/06/2026

Join Mississippi State University Extension Service Forestry expert, James Shannon, tomorrow, Thursday, May 7, at the Trace State Park for a Tree ID Workshop! 9-11:30. Meet at the entrance. Entry fee for the park is about two dollars.
Short notice, but if you can attend, this is a great opportunity to learn how to identify native trees!
Pontotoc County Extension Office
Northeast Mississippi Branch Experiment Station - Agronomy Unit

04/29/2026

Pontotoc County Master Gardeners represented us proudly at this year’s MS State Master Gardener Conference — and they came home loaded with awards. We’ll be sharing each one in more detail soon, but here’s the highlights:

🌟 MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Kerry Koehler was named the statewide Master Gardener Member of the Year. Woo Hoo!

🏆 OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATION (20 or fewer members)
Our entire Pontotoc County Master Gardener group earned the top honor for outstanding achievements.

📝 PUBLICATION AWARD (20 or fewer members)
Betty Crane and Lisa Lucius won Best Publication for their weekly Pontotoc Progress articles in the small‑group category.

🎨 GRAPHICS AWARD (20 or fewer members)
Our microsite — https://pontotocfarmersmarket.com/pontotoc%20master%20gardeners/ — won for best graphics.

🌱 SERVICE RECOGNITION
Julia McDowell received a Certificate of Recognition for having the third-highest service hours among all Master Gardeners statewide.

Pontotoc County showed up in a big way this year. More details coming soon!