Become a Master Gardener

Application for the 2025 Training Class is now closed. Next Class: January 2026, registration will open in the late fall.

The Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Brunswick County are dedicated to facilitating excellence in volunteers through education, life-long learning, and outreach.

The Master Gardener program began in North Carolina in 1979, and has grown to 88 programs in counties across our state. Extension Master Gardener volunteers are trained to help connect North Carolinians with the vast reservoir of horticultural knowledge and research developed at North Carolina A&T University and NC State University. Brunswick County Cooperative Extension has more than 90 volunteers in the Extension Master Gardener program. Through a variety of outreach programs, we educate and inspire all gardeners (the curious, beginners, and the more experienced) with science-based information, workshops, and demonstrations. We also help maintain the Botanical Garden at the NC Cooperative Extension office at 25 Referendum Drive in Bolivia.

Once interns have completed their initial training, Extension Master Gardeners volunteer 40 hours of our time to the community every year. Beyond the initial training experience, we are able to attend lectures and workshops offered by state and national experts.

Extension Master Gardeners make a difference:

Learning horticulture science
Teaching sustainable gardening
Sharing a gardening passion with the community
Empowering extension clients to address landscaping and gardening challenges
Practicing environmental responsibility
Protecting water quality
Reducing fertilizer and pesticide pollutants

How to Apply

The Brunswick County Extension Master Gardener volunteer program conducts a weekly four-month
long training program every January through March. All prospective students begin with an interview
and an application to our local county program. The interview/application process will begin in November.
For the latest information about the program, please click here.

Oak Island Earth Day

MG’s under the tent ready to answer all your questions and create “seed bombs” with the kids.

Habitat for Humanity

Home owner, MGs and extension staff after landscaping a new home.

Ask an EMG

MGs host Plant Clinics at the Southwest Branch Library on the first and third Thursdays from April through August.

Plant Sale

Each spring and fall MGs host a plant sale to raise money for our education and outreach programs. Most of the plants are propagated “in-house” by MGs.

Public Events

Students putting together planters at our Attracting Bees and Butterflies to Your Container Workshop.

Field Trip Fridays

MGs visited the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Garden in Wilmington this spring. We saw all of the carnivorous plants in the park - the Pitcher plants were flourishing.

Habitat for Humanity

New landscaping designed by MGs and planted with help of MGs, the home owner and Habitat for Humanity volunteers. Plants donated by the Extension Master Gardener Association and local nurseries.