Our Vision
We envision a healthier world through environmental stewardship.
Our Mission
We support the University of Maryland Extension (UME) mission by educating residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.
Our History
The UME Master Gardener Program began in 1978 as a means to extend science-based knowledge to the general public by providing horticultural and pest management expertise to help protect and improve Maryland’s natural resources. Today, this popular program can be found in 20 Maryland counties and Baltimore City.
UME Master Gardeners are volunteers who combine their love of plants, people, and the environment to help residents in their communities solve problems and make environmentally-sound decisions.
Land Acknowledgement
Every community owes its existence and strength to the generations before them, around the world, who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy into making the history that led to this moment.
Truth and acknowledgement are critical in building mutual respect and connections across all barriers of heritage and difference.
So, we acknowledge the truth that is often buried: We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway People, who are the ancestral stewards of this sacred land. It is their historical responsibility to advocate for the four-legged, the winged, those that crawl and those that swim. They remind us that clean air and pristine waterways are essential to all life.
This Land Acknowledgement is a vocal reminder for each of us as two-leggeds to ensure our physical environment is in better condition than what we inherited, for the health and prosperity of future generations.
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