Gardeners tend to four corners
Bill Velten and Merry Parker tend to the garden on the northeast corner of Mustang Road and State Highway 152 as part of the four corners project. (Photos by Jacob Sturm)
By Jacob Sturm
news@mustangpaper.com
The efforts of multiple groups are making a colorful impact on the intersection of Mustang
Road and State Highway 152.
The Mustang Garden Club and the Canadian County Master Gardeners were out planting
colorful flowers at the ‘four corners’ on April 11. The group consisted of Interns and members
of the clubs looking for service hours required to maintain a Master Gardener status.
OSU Extension Office Horticulture expert Courtney Keck talked about the Canadian County
Master Gardeners and the program. Events are usually shared at the monthly club meeting on the first Tuesday of the month at the old Fairgrounds building in El Reno. Meetings are open to the public.
“Every county that has a Master Gardener program is a little bit autonomous,” Keck said. “Some of them are required to do more service and education hours than other counties. Ours do 20 education and 20 service (hours). The interns have to do more because that is just part of their internship toward becoming a certified Master Gardener.”
Interns were students the year before who went through a 12-week course of college-level
horticulture classes. Following the courses, interns must do a 60-hour internship the following year to get the Master Gardener certified. That process usually takes about 15 months.
There are 55 certified members of the Canadian County Master Gardeners. The Master
Gardeners program was established in 2008. Keck said most of those members are involved in the club’s activities. There are also around 15 members of the Mustang Garden Club who
worked alongside the Canadian County Master Gardeners on local projects.
“It’s a tremendous networking opportunity,” Keck said. “We’ve got all kinds of levels of
gardeners in our group, and we share resources with each other whether it be information or
physical items or whatnot.”
One of those opportunities came through the recent work on the four corners project.
Gardeners did a variety of tasks to complete the beautification of the flowerbeds, and had help from a number of different sources.
Candice Parker, who helped coordinate the days the clubs would be out for the project
according to Keck, thanked the Mustang Lowe’s Store Manager (Kevin Williams) for donating
the plants and mulch for the project. Parker estimated the plants needed for the project cost
hundreds of dollars.
Also, Parker thanked Lowe’s Garden Manager (Tina Woodcock) for her help in donating plants and labor for the project. Josh Moss, Mark Fondevilla, Megan Seward, Jonathan Ditch and Seth Brodersen were also a part of the process from Lowe’s.
Janet Watts, the Director of Finance for the City of Mustang, also got a shout out for her work
coordinating the moving parts for the project.
Efforts from Master Gardeners and Mustang Garden Club members Merry Parker, Nina Wells, Carolyn Klepper, Dena Ellis, Angie Hunter, Terri Suppa-Velten, Bill Velten, Neva Wiggins, Larie Hunter and Anita McNeil were essential to the project, too.
Be on the lookout for their work that continues beautifying Mustang when passing the four
corners intersection.
Angie Hunter works on the garden involved in the four corners project on Tuesday, April 11.
