Napa County Master Gardeners: Penny Pawl inspires others to garden
The UC Master Gardeners of Napa County are currently recruiting for the class of 2026. I joined the group nine years ago. My reasons for joining were varied: I am not industrious enough to have a showplace garden, but I am curious about why some plants do better than others in Napa, and I enjoy observing birds and pollinators (otherwise known as bees and butterflies).
I didn’t bet that I would make so many new friends. After all, I was 65 then and already had friends. However, the great people I’ve met have turned out to be the most fun part of membership.
I remember a speaker at the first meeting I attended after taking the course and passing the exam. A petite, enthusiastic lady was telling us about the butterfly cocoons at her place. In fact, she had brought in a sample: She was holding a branch easily double her height, festooned with future butterflies sleeping in their cocoons. I thought, “Well, she’s pretty eccentric. This should be interesting.” That was my introduction to Penny Pawl.
Those of you who read our Master Gardener columns will recognize Penny’s name. She is our most prolific writer and a world traveler, and her gardening interests range from bonsai to butterflies to worm compost.
Penny is one of the longest-serving Napa County Master Gardeners (along with John Chwistek, Kathy Tranmer and Denise Levine). She joined in 1997, two years after the program came to Napa County. Two members of the bonsai society, John Hoffman and Jim Gillespie, suggested she join, and she has been active ever since.
In addition to writing columns, Penny is the compost queen of the Napa County Master Gardeners. She is an instructor at most of the compost workshops we do. And her enthusiasm for red wiggler worms is unbounded.
Penny moved to Napa County from Davis when she was 8 years old. Her father was a veterinarian, and she is an animal lover. She always has a noisy rescue dog, but she also likes the wild creatures that are on her property, whether they are birds, lizards, toads, coyotes or snakes. She is the only person I know who constructed squirrel houses for the fluffy tailed creatures that ravage our yards, “but the squirrels finally chewed up the houses,” she says.
Penny enjoys the educational aspect of being a Master Gardener. This is consistent with another interest of hers, the Napa Valley College Foundation. Everybody in her family loved gardening, but Penny had a curious nature and liked knowing the “why” behind success and failure. What she appreciates most about the UC Master Gardeners is its emphasis on science and verifiable results. She enjoys doing research for the many articles she writes.
If you visit Penny’s garden in Napa, you will likely see many works in progress. Compost is being turned, plants are being weeded and mulched, trees are being pruned. Something is always happening.
However, Penny’s greatest love is plant propagation. She has a hothouse where she keeps bonsai and tender plants during the winter. The hothouse is also where she has her cloner, a small device that constantly circulates water to encourage root formation on plant cuttings. The water circulation gives faster results than my old-fashioned method of jelly jars on the windowsill.
Penny’s favorite plants to propagate are scented geraniums, lavenders and salvias. She says they all root easily and quickly. She also propagates native milkweeds to attract monarch butterflies.
When I asked Penny how Napa Valley had changed over the years, she said, “When we moved here there were eight bonded wineries. Now there are five hundred.” She added that she never used to check the water level in her well. Now she does, often.
Penny was one of the first Master Gardeners to write our newspaper columns, and she says those have changed, too. “Our columns used to be mostly how-to articles,” she stated. “But now we have more articles on sustainability, the climate and water-wise gardening.”
UC Master Gardeners is a public service organization with as educational mission. We host more than 40 events a year, from a spring Tomato Sale to a science-focused Fall Faire, as well as public workshops and library talks. Members have many opportunities for hands-on volunteering, such as helping maintain the Las Flores Learning Garden or the Fuller Park rose garden. We also partner with other organizations at community events such as Earth Day.
If you are interested in joining a dynamic organization, learning how to improve your garden, and meeting people with a variety of interests, consider attending one of the three informational meetings on joining the 2026 training class. You must attend an informational meeting to receive an application. The meetings will be on Sept.16 from 1 to 2 p.m., Sept. 9 from 10 to 11 a.m. and Sept. 18 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the UC Master Gardener meeting room at 1710 Soscol Ave., Napa. For more information about the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County, visit our website.
Workshop: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a workshop on “Welcoming Pollinators into Your Garden” on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the UC Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Ave., Napa. Monarchs and other pollinators are in serious decline. Learn what you can do to help by creating habitat to support these essential creatures. Registration required.
Library Talk: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a talk on “Compost: It’s Alive!” on Thursday, Sept. 4, from 7 to 8 pm via Zoom. Learn how decay breeds life in your garden and how you can harness the power of compost. Register to receive the Zoom link. Note that the meeting will lock and allow no further entry at 7:15 p.m. Please join prior to 7 p.m.
Tree Walk: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for a docent-led tree walk of Fuller Park in Napa on Friday, Sept. 12, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Historic Fuller Park is an arboretum with many exotic and native trees planted over the past 120 years. Meet at the corner of Oak and Jefferson Streets in Napa. Registration is required for each participant.
Fall Faire: Join UC Master Gardeners of Napa County for the annual Fall Faire—“Where science fair meets carnival”—on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 1 to 4 p.m., at UC Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol Ave., Napa. Enjoy kid-friendly demonstrations and talks range from dehydrating produce to designing a pollinator-friendly garden, along with plenty of gardening advice. A plant sale will feature ornamental plants and seven varieties of winter vegetables, with all proceeds supporting Master Gardener programs. Event entry is free.
Become a Master Gardener Volunteer: UC Master Gardeners of Napa County is now accepting applications for the Class of 2026. Visit napamg.ucanr.edu for more information and register to attend a mandatory information session for applicants. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Sept. 25.
Help Desk: The Master Gardener Help Desk is available to answer your garden questions on Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the UC Cooperative Extension Office, 1710 Soscol Ave, Suite 4, Napa. Or send your questions to [email protected]. Include your name, address, phone number and a brief description of the problem.
