Community Outreach
Gardening in the High Plains can be challenging, and our Master Gardeners are here to help! Our Ask-A-Master Gardener Committee Volunteers provide information booths at local Farmer's Markets and the County Fair during the summer, and they host monthly "Garden Talks" at the Laramie County Library during the Winter. Let this team of knowledgeable and experienced gardeners help you garden successfully in the High Plains!
Biennial Garden Walk
Laramie County Master Gardeners accepted the responsibility for a community Garden Walk in 1987. This increasingly popular event is held every-other-year, typically in July, on a Sunday afternoon. The Garden Walk Committee identifies and selects local gardens that illustrate successes when gardening in southeastern Wyoming's challenging climate. The next Garden Walk is planned for Summer 2025.
Beginning in 2024, the LCMG partnered with the Cheyenne Regional Airport Board to create a native plant landscape adjacent to the United States Postal Service parking lot located at 124 East 8th Avenue, Cheyenne, WY. As part of our civic beautification objective, our Native Plants Committee will create a design and planting plan for the area, including potential trees, shrubs, flowering plants and groundcover. Phase 1 started in 2024 with clearing the area for soil preparation and over-wintering a small number of native plant seedlings. In 2025, the committee will plan for Phase 2 which includes planting design and native species selection.
Our Youth Education Committee's mission is to make gardening fun! Our volunteers offer workshops to the Boys & Girls Club After-School Elementary Program and Summer Gardening Program for all grades. They help youth maintain community gardens and teach them the wonder of growing vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruit trees and shrubs. In 2024, their hands-on, educational approach inspired 59 students to produce 460 pounds of produce in the Boys & Girls Club Community Gardens.
The LCMG and the Laramie County Conservation District partnered with the Laramie County Library to convert an underutilized, 13,000 square-foot, irrigated, bluegrass turf detention pond located at the Laramie County Library. Three primary goals of the pond conversion included: incorporating a water-wise landscape to reduce/eliminate the need for irrigation; creating a critical habitat for pollinator species in the heart of Cheyenne; and providing a native seed source for the Seed Library of Laramie County by incorporating exclusively regional and zonal native plant species in the habitat area. The project received funding in 2019 from the Wyoming Department of Agriculture's Specialty Crop Block Grant. The grant was used primarily to purchase over 5,000 plants comprising 80 species, while the design and installation was mostly volunteer. The LCMG helped with site design and plant selection, to include locating plant seeds and propagators. Library volunteers currently maintain the site. Read more about this project here:
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Local library's pollinator habitat nurtures birds, bugs, and blooms, UW Barnyards & Backyards Magazine, Fall 2023, pages 7-9
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Laramie County Library Habitat Storyboard provided by the Laramie County Conservation District, May 9, 2022
Established in 2023, the Laramie County Master Gardeners Scholarship provides $500 to a full-time or part-time Laramie County Community College Student studying Natural Resource Management, Physical Science, or Biology. The student must be a Wyoming resident, maintaining at least a 2.5 GPA. The scholarship is administered by the Laramie County Community College Foundation. Interested applicants should contact the LCCC Foundation at (307) 778-1372 / 1285. Our 2025 recipient is Amanda S. (Biology degree).
- Read more here: 2023 Wyoming Tribune Article
Established in 2017, this collaborative project between the Laramie County Master Gardeners and the Laramie County Library System aims to educate, encourage, and inspire residents with the joy of growing their own plants. Thanks to their support and funding, the seed library offers educational workshops and free plant seeds to Laramie County Residents. Volunteers prioritize seed varieties that are known to do well in our short growing season and the heart of the collection comes from Master Gardeners' own gardens and the Laramie County Library's Urban Wildlife Habitat. The seed library is housed on the 3rd Floor of the Laramie County Library, and you do not need a library card to select and receive seed packets. The seed library kick-off typically begins in March and runs through mid-September each year.
- Read more about the Seed Library of Laramie County here: 2024 LCMG Blog Article
Have a community project idea?
LCMG Active Members may submit ideas to the LCMG Project Development Committee (projects@lcmg.org)
