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Group enjoys public service goals North Strand Master Gardeners Association By Elaine Gaston - The Sun News, 6/9/07 On Mondays, you'll find a half-dozen members of the North Strand Master Gardeners Association helping other gardeners with plant problems at Colonial Mall near Briarcliffe Acres. The group holds plant problem clinics each Monday from May through September as a public service, which is a large part of what this group does throughout the North Strand area. "The club is more of a volunteer, community involvement kind of thing," said member Cheryl Green Munn, who joined the four-year-old association about three years ago after completing a Master Gardeners course at Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service. "I joined because of my interest in gardening." The West Virginia native said gardening in the South is much different than how things are done up North."It's a whole different world down here," she said. "We can't grow peonies, lilac and rhododendron. So for newcomers, this is a good resource." Munn's gardening inspiration came from watching her parents and grandparents work the earth when she was growing up."As a kid, I'd follow them around the garden," she said. "They always had a garden. It was sustenance. They canned and ate what they canned. And I remember picking tomatoes off the vine and eating them like they were apples."Like Munn, Nancy Edelman, president of the association, enjoys the group's public service goals as well as its mission to provide continuing education. "I learn so much, both from people bringing things into the plant problem clinic as well as from the other members," Edelman said. "We've had wonderful programs, and I enjoy learning. I'm a lifelong learner, always a student. We learn from everybody. We tend to like other gardeners because we have a lot in common."Although the group is relatively small - they have about 18 members with about a dozen quite active - they have accomplished some huge, effective projects, including the creation of a Habitat Garden in Briarcliffe Acres and a plant propagation nursery in North Myrtle Beach. " We're pretty small and we try to do so much," Edelman said. "That makes it hard sometimes." The members say the association is open to all and that particpants do not have to be master gardeners. Garden club | North Strand Master Gardeners Association Organized | October 2003 Members | 18 Projects | Plant problem clinics each Monday from May through September at Colonial Mall near Briarcliffe Acres; plant propagation nursery in North Myrtle Beach at Eagles Nest Golf Course, where members conduct experiments, plant, maintain an irrigation system and do cuttings; maintaining the Habitat Garden at Briarcliffe Acres; provide and maintain a Web site, www.northstrandmastergardeners.org; and offer horticultural programs in the community to support proper gardening techniques, environmental preservation and beautification. Upcoming | Tour of Habitat Park in Briarcliffe Acres with discussion on backyard habitats on June 26; La Belle Amie Winery program on horticulture of local wines on July 24; and presentation by Lois Edwards, urban forester, on coastal trees Aug. 28 When they meet | Fourth Tuesday of each month at the recreation building on Possom Trot Road in North Myrtle Beach.