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Throughout this site there are links to documents of various file types. Please contact our Statewide Program Leader if you require this information in a different format.
The history of our program
![WSU volunteers meet the public at one of the program's early plant clinics in 1972.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-2-300x300.jpg)
![WSU volunteer helping a woman diagnose a plant problem.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-5-300x300.jpg)
![Sharon Collman holding a plant slide.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-7-300x300.jpg)
![Woman talking to a WSU volunteer.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-10-300x300.jpg)
![Bill Scheer](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/2009Fall_mastergarden6-1024x1024.jpg)
![Dr. David Gibby](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/David-Gibby-1024x1024.jpg)
In the early 1970’s, area Extension Agents Bill Scheer (Pierce County) and David Gibby (King County) started assignments with the dual focus of urban and commercial horticulture, but the public demand was overwhelming. So, they united to pioneer a new way to deliver gardening support at scale. Their idea was to ‘teach the teachers’, volunteers who would be university educated on the science behind gardening, and then offer that knowledge, free, to the general public.
That they were onto something was evident when the advertisements for their first class attracted more than 600 applicants. Two hundred were accepted into that first training session and the Master Gardener program was born.
![Dr. Arlen Davison, plant pathologist.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-Dr-Davison-1024x1024.jpg)
![Dr. Bernard Wesenberg, horticulturist.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-Dr-Wesenberg-1024x1024.jpg)
![Two WSU volunteers discussing a plant.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-8-300x300.jpg)
![WSU volunteer talking to a group of people.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-3-300x300.jpg)
![Group of people at a WSU plant clinic booth.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-9-300x300.jpg)
![WSU plant clinic booth at a Seattle mall.](https://wpcdn.web.wsu.edu/extension/uploads/sites/30/History-MG-1973-102-of-4-12-300x300.jpg)
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