Category: Greenville

By: Amie Mabe, Greenville County 4-H Agent

As we begin a new 4-H year in Greenville County, members have an exciting opportunity to showcase their growth and achievements through updated 4-H portfolios. These portfolios not only serve as a valuable record for future college applications but also offer a chance to earn county awards and prepare for the State Portfolio submission. An interview component will be held in the spring, required for senior members and optional for juniors. Cloverbuds are encouraged to participate by reciting the 4-H pledge alongside their submission. Portfolio guidelines for junior and senior members are available on the Greenville County 4-H website, where they can be downloaded or requested as a printed copy. Start your 4-H story today and make this year one to remember!

By: Camilla Herndon, Rural Health and Nutrition Agent

Health Extension for Diabetes has resumed in Greenville County! The first in-person cohort since 2019 kicked off in June 2025 with 7 participants. Health Extension for Diabetes (HED) is a free diabetes education and support program recognized by the American Diabetes Association as a practice-tested program. The goal of HED is to improve participants’ management of their diabetes to prevent or delay complications.

During this 4-month-long program, participants learn the necessary skills to successfully manage their diabetes across 8 education sessions. The HED curriculum covers the foundations of diabetes, creating balanced meals to stabilize one’s blood sugar, the role of physical activity in diabetes management, medications, problem-solving with diabetes, and connections to local resources for further support.   

Eligible participants must be at least 18 years old, a South Carolina resident, and have a diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Folks interested in joining an HED cohort can sign up here or email Camilla at herndo3@clemson.edu. The program is also offered online and available for those whose primary language is Spanish.

By: Amie Mabe, Greenville County 4-H Agent

The second annual summer program, Cloverbud Days, introduced our youngest group
of 4-H’ers to all areas of our program. Due to its success and continued interest, we’re
excited to announce the launch of a new club specifically for Cloverbud-aged members.
This club will meet monthly at the Greenville Extension office on the third Thursday of
each month.
This summer also featured a Junior Master Gardener program in partnership with the
summer camp at Front Porch Housing. With around 29 youth participants, this initiative
engaged youth ages 5–18 in gardening and leadership through interactive outdoor
activities. Additionally, our summer program at the Sterling Center introduced youth to
the wide range of 4-H project areas and was a major success, drawing nearly 40
participants each week.
None of these programs would have been possible without the incredible efforts of our
4-H program interns, Chloe Margeson and Mathilde Mitton, who planned, marketed,
prepared, and implemented each of these initiatives. Their dedication and creativity
were instrumental in making this summer a meaningful and enriching experience for all involved.

By: Amie Mabe, Greenville County 4-H Agent

This year’s Greenville County Volunteer Conference was a resounding success! Held at
Upstate Circle of Friends, the event brought together 25 enthusiastic participants
representing five county programs. As the second annual gathering of its kind, the
conference offered valuable training, resources, and networking opportunities to both
new and returning volunteers. Attendees left feeling more prepared and inspired to lead
their clubs and support 4-H programming throughout the upcoming year. We’re excited
to continue this tradition next summer, further strengthening our volunteer community
and enhancing the impact of 4-H in Greenville County.

By: Amie Mabe, Greenville County 4-H Agent

The new 4-H year officially begins on September 1st in Greenville County, and we’re
excited to launch with 15 active clubs serving youth across the region. Many of these
clubs are led by dedicated volunteers who play a vital role in delivering high-quality
programming and mentorship. Whether you’re a returning member or new to 4-H, you
can explore all available clubs and find the right fit by visiting our newly updated
website. We look forward to another impactful year of learning, leadership, and growth!

By: Andrew Jeffers, Greenville County Horticulture Agent

In 2026, Horticulture Agent Drew Jeffers is lining up a full slate of practical programs that meet learners where they are—on jobsites, in community spaces, and online. We open the year with a Tree Workshop on January 22 in Greer, a half-day deep dive designed for crews and managers who want fewer callbacks and healthier canopies. Sessions move from tree ID challenges to invasive species awareness, then into “plant this, not that” alternatives and the soil/site realities that make-or-break urban trees—each talk aimed at decisions you’ll make the next day.

February stacks training options for every audience. Growers and land managers can earn credentials at the Private Applicator session on February 3 (Greenville DHEC training room). Home gardeners get a focused, myth-busting Hydrangeas webinar on February 18. And turf professionals can spend February 26 in an Advanced Turf IPM Workshop that walks through communication with clients and crews, cultural practices that strengthen IPM, insect and disease ID, scouting and thresholds, and advanced weed management—seven hours that connect diagnosis to action, start to finish.

Looking ahead to fall, the Master Gardener main course runs August 4–November 17, bringing a new cohort into research-based horticulture with plenty of hands-on problem-solving. We’ll also gather the industry at the IPM Symposium on October 22 (Canon Centre, Greer) to compare notes, sharpen scouting and decision-making, and leave with steps that improve outcomes across the Upstate. A second Private Applicator date follows on November 5 for those needing certification before year’s end.

Along the way, Drew will share tailored talks with local garden clubs and appear at regional and national meetings—including ASHS (August), the EMG Conference (August), and iLandscape (February)—to keep our programs aligned with current science and the real-world questions people bring to the table. It’s a year built around one goal: practical learning that turns into better decisions, healthier landscapes, and confident clients across Greenville County and beyond.

By: Andrew Jeffers, Greenville County Horticulture Agent

The 2025 Master Gardener class brought together 28 participants for a fall season of hands-on, research-based learning focused on real problems from Upstate yards and landscapes. Each Tuesday, the cohort moved from fundamentals to field application—building a shared language around soils and plant nutrition, plant physiology, integrated pest management, plant pathology, nuisance wildlife, and diagnosing plant problems.

Learning didn’t stay in the classroom. The group practiced sample collection and diagnosis, compared notes on “look-alike” issues, and took targeted site visits that connected teaching to practice—so what they learned in the morning showed up in better decisions that afternoon. A simple capstone kept it practical: every participant chose a real landscape issue, used credible (.edu) sources to identify causes, and outlined a step-by-step solution to share with the class.

By graduation, the cohort had what they came for: confidence to identify before treating, clearer judgment about when (and when not) to use pesticides, and a toolkit for communicating recommendations to neighbors, clients, and community groups. The next step is service—bringing those skills to help desks, demonstration gardens, and local outreach events across Greenville County.

By: Andrew Jeffers, Greenville County Horticulture Agent

The IPM Symposium has grown into a place where pros compare notes, sharpen their diagnosis, and leave with steps they can use the next morning. That momentum has been building—237 attendees at the 6th annual event underscored the demand for practical, field-tested guidance, and last fall’s 7th Annual IPM Symposium kept the focus on decision-making with sessions like “Will Consumers Purchase a Landscape Scouting Program?” that translated research into service design for real clients.

This year, Horticulture Agent Drew Jeffers is taking the next step. The 8th Annual IPM Symposium will be simulcast to extend access to teams who can’t travel—municipal crews, small shops, and out-of-area professionals—so more people can engage with the duplicate evidence-based content that’s guided the series, including insights from our work on consumer IPM knowledge. The goal is simple: reach more practitioners, keep the conversations grounded in data, and help crews make better choices that protect people and landscapes across the state.

By: Andrew Jeffers, Greenville County Horticulture Agent

This spring, Horticulture Agent Drew Jeffers published “Estimating Consumer Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Knowledge” in HortTechnology—a data-driven look at what homeowners actually understand about IPM. Coauthored with colleagues Behe, Vassalos, Bridges, and White, the article (March 3, 2025) provides a clear reference point we can use to tailor education, outreach, and industry communication.

Jeffers has already put these insights to work. In February, he led a pesticide-credit webinar for professionals—“Professional Pest Scouting Programs: Using Consumer IPM Knowledge for Pest Management Decisions”—to translate the research into tighter scouting routines and clearer client messaging (31 attendees). Master Gardener audiences engaged the public-facing side of this work in sessions on navigating consumer recommendations. In contrast, industry audiences explored how to use consumer IPM knowledge to market plants (125 attendees).

This paper also complements his earlier HortTechnology study on whether customers would purchase a landscape scouting program. It gives practitioners both what clients know and how they might buy. Together, these findings help to design services and education that meet people where they are—leading to better decisions and healthier landscapes.