Editor's Note: Davidson County, TN, Master Gardeners, Rebecca and Ted Hogan, our Webmasters, will offer daily reports of the conference from Orlando.

Five members of the Davidson County Master Gardeners joined nearly 750 people from 30 states and 3 countries for the 2001 International Master Gardeners Conference and Trade Show at the Hilton in the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Partnering with Epcot and the Disney organization, the University of Florida Extension Institute of Food and Agriculture Science and Florida Master Gardeners promise the eighth International Conference will be full of information, fun, food and entertainment, culminating in a day at Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival.

In welcoming the group to Florida, University Chairman of Environmental Horticulture Dr. Terril Nell noted the importance of the sense of community and connectedness created by the Master Gardeners and their efforts in a state where only 22% of the residents were born in-state.

Keynote speaker was Rebecca Kolls, hostess of Rebecca's Garden TV show. Aimed at mainstream America, the show is a primer for gardeners; how to get started and have fun. A certified Master Gardener, Kolls' love for gardening began early, when her normally reticent Scandinavian grandfather explained how the "wheel of life is turning" in the compost pile -- that when you take from the earth, you must give back.

Ms. Kolls also traced how her education as a meteorologist led to a career as a TV gardener, citing the vagaries of shooting Autumn garden cleanup segments in August and the challenges of shooting 5 segments per show for 22 shows a year.

A wide variety of informative sessions and frequent trips to the tradeshow floor for door prize drawings made the afternoon fly by. And the evening was topped off by welcome reception in the Grand Ballroom sponsored by The Scotts Company with music provided by jazz band Swingerhead.

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