The growing season is in full swing, and so is the 2026 HCMG intern class. Our wonderful intern class arrived in January with curiosity, notebooks, and a love of growing things. Since then, they’ve gained confidence, community, and lots of gardening knowledge.
In this blog series, we’re checking in throughout the year to find out what it’s like to be an HCMG intern. Here’s the latest edition!
“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know anything.” That’s how Kris Burns summed up completing the core curriculum. After filling a notebook with notes and passing every quiz, Kris wasn’t sure she was ready to staff the Master Gardener call-in hotline. Her mentor suggested working together with other interns, which turned out to be a great idea. “It was so much less intimidating (and more fun) to do this as a group activity,” she said. “It helped build my confidence that I do know where to look for answers, and I don’t have to know everything on demand.”
Kris also had a learning moment that made a big difference: she learned that her grow light had been sitting too far above her seed trays, producing leggy seedlings. “I lowered my light to about 6 inches from the tray, and it made a difference,” Kris said. “I also learned that I should turn off my heat mat once the seeds germinate, oops! Next year, my goal will be to get stronger roots in my seedlings so they are ready earlier to transplant outside.”
Royce J has been gardening for 50 years, but the program still managed to surprise him. “I have learned there are determinate and indeterminate tomato types. Who knew!” Royce spent the winter deep in the core course curriculum before dipping his toes into volunteer events, including a resilient garden coaching session, a seed trial, and growing zinnias for the Hopkins plant sale.
His big project this season is pollinator garden, with plants on their way and the ground already prepared. “I love all these new things,” he said. “I hope I get more confidence working with the public.”
For Royce, gardening is more than a hobby. “When I wander the garden it stills me and calls me to the moment. It reminds me the world is larger than my current worries.” He tends his garden with his grandkids, passing along that same sense of wonder.
When Anna Simon told a friend she wished she could grow vegetables, her friend suggested, “just do it.” Anna took that advice to heart. Over the next few years, she added four raised beds, then six more, then arch trellises, a pollinator garden, a berry patch, native gardens, and eventually seven fruit trees and a grow bag garden. “Somewhere along the way, I felt I could finally call myself a gardener.”
Now, Anna is a Master Gardener intern, and she continues to discover new lessons. “I’ve learned that good gardening advice often starts with asking more questions,” she said. “I’ve come to love the curiosity behind it. We get to slow down, learn more about what someone is experiencing, and help them find answers that actually fit their unique situation.”
She’s also found joy in Gardens for Good, a program that lets volunteers donate homegrown food to food shelves. “The entire experience felt like such a beautiful intersection of community, learning, gardening, and service.”
Ask Sara Smith about tomatoes and she’ll tell you everything: the colors, the smell, the varieties, the caprese salads. “They’re the sweet snack my mom used to get me interested in plants as a child,” she says, “and still today I am picking them off the vine for a quick treat.”
Now Sara has a raised bed veggie garden and is loving the HCMG intern program. Halfway through the year, she’s begun volunteering in earnest and she hasn’t found anything she dislikes. “It’s been an adventure finding out what I enjoy!”
Kelly B came to the Master Gardener program after volunteering at a local urban orchard sparked her interest. She particularly loves growing peonies. “They take so much patience, but they’re so beautiful and showy!”
One assignment all HCMG interns complete is researching 15 gardening questions from friends, family, and neighbors. Kelly was nervous about this task, but ended up enjoying it. “It helped reinforce how much I learned in the curriculum part of the program. And it was really fun to help my neighbors!”
Nick is particularly interested in growing hardy Minnesota roses. “I love their shape, colors, and that they are covered in bees in the summer.” In just a few months as an HCMG intern, he says, he’s learned more about horticulture and the environment than he had in years prior.
One of his most memorable lessons came from a session on invasive species and soil ecology, when he learned how jumping worms and European earthworms on slopes cause erosion in the Big Woods region. This leads to the decline of native plants, which in turn affects deer populations, which then decimates the remaining natives. “This sequence is sad and frustrating,” he says, “but important to understand as we learn to care for our environment.”
Shelly Rother started gardening at 19 when she moved into her home with a few hostas and a patch of orange daylilies. Forty years later, her garden has grown considerably! Her favorite plant is hens & chicks, which border her small pond. “The plant flowers after creating numerous offspring, celebrating the end of its life with a showy flowering branch before it fades away. I found it to be a heartfelt experience and am thankful for the gifts each plant gives.”
This year, Shelly has grown as a Master Gardener Volunteer and an active participant in her community. She has embraced the full range of volunteer opportunities: the Soil Testing Lab, the Youth Expo in Eden Prairie, and leading Study Halls. “I really like volunteering with Youth Education as well as working as a team player with groups of volunteers.”
Sarah McKenzie heads to her community garden plot in northeast Minneapolis every morning after dropping her daughter off at school. “It’s one of the very favorite parts of my day – a true Zen moment that helps steady me before I get started with the busy workday.” Sarah was introduced to gardening by her grandmother Ariel, who grew raspberries, apples, vegetables, and flowers. “I spent a lot of time with her as a child and she reminded me to take time to take in the smell of the flowers and enjoy the fresh produce she tenderly cared for,” said Sarah. “I think of her often when I’m working in my garden. I hope she would be proud.”
“Gardening brings me such joy and a sense of peace – something that can be hard to come by in our chaotic and polarizing times,” Sarah said. This is her fourth year at the community garden and her first as a Master Gardener intern. This season she’s growing radishes (the French Breakfast variety, which she harvested just weeks after seeding), carrots, arugula, beets, spinach, sweet peas, vine tomatoes, and cucumbers. Her family has also joined in the fun – her husband is growing a variety of peppers in one raised bed, and her daughter chose a variety of pink flowers.
Halfway through their intern year, Cohort 2026 has already logged hours at plant sales, hotlines, youth events, food shelves, seed trials, and soil labs. They’ve learned the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, discovered companion planting, wrestled with invasive species and leggy seedlings, and learned that “it depends” is often the most honest and helpful answer a gardener can give.
Many thanks to all the interns who shared their thoughts and expertise! We look forward to continuing to learn alongside you this year.
Interested in becoming a Master Gardener? Applications for the 2027 intern class will be opening up soon! Learn more about the program here.