Master Gardeners of Monmouth - Freehold, New Jersey

Trudy L.

I enjoyed the garden tour. I was impressed by the dedication of the volunteers who create and maintain the gardens.

The Monarch Waystation Garden gave me ideas for my own pollinator garden. The gardeners apologized that they weren't able to weed and mulch before the tour due to the hazardous air quality caused by the Canadian wildfires. Many in the group joked that the garden looks better than their home gardens. The garden has many plants to provide fuel for Monarchs on their migration south, so most of the plants were not in bloom. It should be spectacular in late summer and fall.

The woman who manages the rain garden showed us pictures of the overgrown thicket that she selflessly volunteered to fix post-covid. She has done an amazing job cleaning up this garden. Her dedication is so touching. She has been driving there every other day to water new trees, so they survive this drought! She shared her vision of the completed transformation. I'm excited to visit again to see the fruits of her labor.

The native garden had many plants in bloom. It was helpful to see plants that I have considered planting in my own garden. The woman who manages the native garden gave us a lot of good information about the plants' habits and the best way to prune them. I'm excited to implement many of the ideas in my own yard and to see the garden in other seasons!

Kim R.

I’m disappointed that JH in their review wasn’t appreciative of the Master Gardeners’ tour. It was a beautiful day. All the folks working on the gardens did a wonderful job of Sharing their successes and challenges, and were extremely gracious in volunteering their time for the tour. I’d like to specifically push back on a couple of things in JH’s review: I didn’t see any weeds in the butterfly garden. It is early for monarch caterpillars; usually we would see the adults first, followed by eggs, then the caterpillars…so it is unrealistic to expect to see them in any quantity so soon. Lanternfly nymphs are pervasive and spreading. The fact that they are in the garden is not surprising, since the gardeners are using no pesticides. Regarding the rain garden, it is a work in progress that is in an early stage of development, and it was a testament to the work (all volunteer) that is required to convert an overgrown wet area filled with invasives into a garden. Let’s appreciate how far it has come and watch as it evolves into a place of native beauty. And let’s appreciate those who so graciously shared their time with us.

j H.

Master is definitely not that word that comes to mind after this experience. The visitors seemed to be more knowledgeable than the master gardeners.

I was so excited to attend this Master Gardeners session but was disappointed.

The gardens were underwhelming. The rain garden did not have any greenery. Everything was dead. We just kept hearing excuse after excuse as to why every plant died. The monarch garden was full of weeds. If i wasnt told it was a garden, i would have just assumed it was an overgrown area at the side of the building. Also, it did not have any monarch butterflies at all but was full of lantern flies. Should be renamed to lanternfly garden.

The only interesting garden tour was the native garden where you actually see plants in bloom.

We were also rushed and herded like cattle from garden to garden due to a time crunch. But every group was overtime so we spent time just waiting for the prior group to finish when we could have just continued the previous talks.

I wouldn't come back for this master gardeners tour again.

C J.

It's an OK event to do but not as organized as I thought it would be.

The gardens were lame to say the least. It's not really a traditional garden per se, but rather a lawn decorative garden for the building.

Staff tried their best to educate the public, which I appreciate. Many questions were left unanswered. Like how would one propagate certain plants discussed (nobody knew).

I would say, name should probably be "amateur gardeners of Monmouth," which isn't shabby. It denotes level of expertise contained within.

Mimi D.

Our shrub was showing signs of distress. I called the Master Gardeners of Monmouth & was instructed by voicemail to take pictures & email all pertinent information. I received a return email within the hour describing the condition & solution! OUTSTANDING SERVICE!

Karen S.

Went to a plant sale here. Very knowledgeable gardeners available to answer questions and good variety to choose from.

Darius S.

Great for kids

Anthony P.