All MGVs are required to complete a minimum of 10 hours continuing education each year in order to maintain their certification.
The following programs qualify for continuing education.

Thursday Evenings at Rotary Botanical Gardens
7:00pm, following monthly business meeting
The following programs are included as part of your membership to the Rock Prairie MG Association; there is a $5 per person for the general public to attend.

• January 15, Eat, Eat!: Perspectives on Food, Culture and Community with Jennifer Santos Esperanza, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Beloit College
• February 12, Water quality and the landscape with Suzanne Wade, Rock River Basin UW-Extension Educator
• March 12, Compost teas with Jay Anderson, Bando Lawn and Landscape
• April 16, Spring Clean Up/Preparing Your Garden for Another Garden Season with Becky Nickel, Master Gardener Volunteer
• May 14, Parks & Gardens of Paris with Mari Ann Menager, Master Gardener Volunteer
• June 11, New Tree Planting with Joanne Ekena, Master Gardener Volunteer
• July 23, Native Plants with Chrissy Regester, Walworth Co. UW-Extension Horticulture Educator
• August 13, Horticulture IS Therapy with Mike Maddox, Rock Co. UW-Extension Horticulture Educator & RBG Director of Education.
• September 3, Spring Bulbs with Mark Dwyer, Director of Horticulture, Rotary Botanical Gardens

Additional Education Opportunities

Annual Garden Symposium (preregistration and registration fees may apply)

Community Garden Workshop (preregistration and registration fees may apply)

General MGV Training (certified MGVs in good standing with RPMGA can retake classes at no charge)

Advanced MGV Training (preregistration and registration fees may apply)

WPT Garden Expo lectures (lectures only! walking around talking to vendors and buying stuff does NOT count; preregistration and registration fees may apply)

WPR Garden Talk archives

WPT Wisconsin Gardener show schedule

BTC Landscape Tech program (preregistration and registration fees may apply)

Planning your Continuing Education

Late winter and early spring are the best times to complete your continuing education requirements. Programs seem to be plentiful and volunteer opportunities minimal. Members of the Rock Prairie association can achieve over half of their hours each year by attending the Thursday Evenings at the Gardens programs; the registration fee for this series is covered by your RPMGA dues. Fees and registration may be required for other programs.

Please limit the amount of continuing education you receive from TV and radio. There are quality programs out there (some are recommended above) but a higher qualtiy educaion program will be delivered from programs facilitated by live speakers. Please be sure to take full advantage of the educational resources we have in our area.