Meet a Reno County Master Gardener Named Miriam Iwashige
Meet a Master Gardener Named Miriam Iwashige “Verbena bonariensis, ” she pronounced without hesitation. Then, when I asked, she spelled it for me like a by-gone Latin teacher or spelling bee champion. Growing up, imagine having your mother refer to the plants in your garden by their botanical name! Later, you’d learn the plants had other, more common names. “As long as I can remember I have loved anything to do with our garden or farm,” said Miriam. She learned from her mother and grandmother, who both had a great deal of knowledge of plants and the environment and were tremendous gardeners. As an adult there were other teachers for Miriam, authors who shared their knowledge about growing plants that would survive in rough environments with harsh winters, hot summers and sudden hail storms ( The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather Resilient Beauty (2011) by Lauren Springer Ogden, and Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates (2000) by Lauren