For 50 years, the Fairfax County Master Gardeners have helped the community with their gardening issues, from identifying plants, pests and problems, to boosting sustainability and helping ease food insecurity.

The Fairfax County Master Gardener Association (FCMGA), part of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, a partnership between Virginia Tech, Virginia State University and Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services, was honored at the March 17, 2026, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Meeting with a resolution marking their milestone anniversary. The resolution was accepted by FCMGA president Susan McCrackin.

The organization, which began as the Fairfax County Neighborhood Plant Clinic in 1976, has a mission to provide free, non-biased, research-based horticultural information. It is comprised of several hundred volunteers who complete 99 hours of training and 72 hours of community service.

Master Gardeners have diagnosed hundreds of problems annually — about 20,000 overall — mainly through 400 neighborhood plant clinics each season at County libraries and farmers markets. This provides about 20,000 services hours to the county annually.

There are several larger projects with community impact the group is particularly proud of, said Adria Bordas, Fairfax County Extension Agent.  

• Sharing expertise with 2,800 fourth-grade students at their annual spring botany lesson.
• Supporting education gardens at schools, community centers and houses of worship. This involvement, which began in 2016, has resulted in a harvest of more than 11,000 pounds of food in the last six growing seasons.

Have a gardening problem and need an expert? Contact the FCMGA help desk through the organization’s website.