Author Archives: Kathy Ballard Cropp

About Kathy Ballard Cropp

Kathy is a gardener of two generations: her grandfather-who gardened out of necessity and her father, who gardened purely from the love of it. She started out with indoor plants when they lived in Chicago and Atlanta, she and her father then begin teaching her children about growing vegetables, roses and anything else green since they moved to Virginia in 1987. She took the Master Gardener training class in September 2006, is a member of the Danville Master Gardener Association and in 2010 achieved her 1,000 hour award. She is also a member of the Garden Writers Association, Virginia Master Gardener Association and the Southern Virginia Botanical Gardens. She has been the executive producer and co-host of a local master gardener radio show called "Here’s the Dirt" that was on WBTM AM in Danville, VA for almost four years. Kathy has spoken locally, state-wide and nationally, through her local cooperative extension, the VA Master Gardener College, and the Garden Writers Symposium in Dallas, Texas. She will be a presenter at the International Master Gardener College which is being held in Charleston, WVA in October, 2011. She has been asked by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company to be part of a national group of garden radio hosts who are spending time working with the company on a national education outreach program through radio. This year she and her 3 adult children have started a company called Gardeners Four Generations and will be producing podcasts for Horticulture magazine’s, Horticulture Radio. They will also be using other forms of social media to draw other gardeners for more research-based gardening information.