Arkansas Master Gardeners recognized for community service at state conference
June 10, 2026
By Rebekah Hall
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- Robin Trent from Faulkner County named 2025 Arkansas Master Gardener of the Year
- Bella Vista Community Garden named Project of the Year
- Arkansas Master Gardeners are horticulturally trained volunteers
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Download photo of Master Gardener of the Year
CONWAY, Ark. — The Arkansas Master Gardeners have named Robin Trent the 2025 Master Gardener of the Year, just four short years after she received the Rookie of the Year Award.
“If there’s one word that captures Robin Trent’s spirit, it’s ‘unstoppable,’” wrote Trent’s nominators.
The Master Gardener Awards were given for work completed in 2025. Trent was one of several members, extension county agents, Master Gardener programs and community organizations recognized during the organization’s 2026 state conference June 2-4 in Conway, Arkansas. Nearly 500 Master Gardeners from around the state gathered for educational seminars, tours of local gardens and more.
The Arkansas Master Gardener program is part of the Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach and education arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Members receive horticultural training and lead horticultural education and beautification projects across the state.
“It is always a pleasure to recognize the impact that our members make throughout Arkansas,” said Randy Forst, extension consumer horticulture educator and Master Gardener coordinator for the Division of Agriculture. “Whether through leading educational sessions or spending hours in greenhouses and garden beds, our Master Gardeners are doing important work to improve their communities.”
2025 Arkansas Master Gardener Award Winners
- Rookie of the Year: Karen Stewart, Benton County
- Mimi Cox Mentor of the Year: Sheila McLarty, Garland County
- Extension Agent of the Year: Krista Quinn, Faulkner County
- Friend of the Master Gardeners, Individual: Ric Bentz, Garland County
- Friend of the Master Gardeners, Business/Organization: Urban Farm Project at the Conway Library, Faulkner County
- Newsletter of the Year: ComPOSTINGS, with editor Linda Gardner, Montgomery County
- Excellence in Education: Gardening with Master Gardeners, Pulaski County
- Project of the Year: Bella Vista Community Garden, Benton County
- Master Gardener of the Year: Robin Trent, Faulkner County
Leading through service
Trent said she is proud to represent Faulkner County Master Gardeners as the state Master Gardener of the year.
“I could hardly believe it when I found out, and it’s still hard to believe,” Trent said. “To me, the recognition is a shared achievement. One does not earn a state award without an immense amount of support from her fellow Master Gardeners — it’s an honor we share together in Faulkner County.”
In 2025, Trent contributed more than 600 volunteer hours across 12 Faulkner County Master Gardener projects and completed 68 hours of continuing education. As staging area manager of the county’s plant sale, Trent supervised an inventory of more than 13,000 plants during the program’s largest fundraiser. The event welcomed more than 1,300 visitors to the Conway Expo Center.
“Her leadership included securing 56,000 pounds of gravel to improve accessibility, organizing plant selections and signage, coordinating volunteer rotations, mentoring new members and implementing pest and disease management protocols that protected plant health and enhanced volunteer education,” Trent’s nominators wrote.
At the Faulkner County Museum, one of the beautification project sites for the county’s Master Gardeners, Trent led the design and construction of an herb garden. She also expanded the site into a certified bird-friendly habitat and Monarch Way Station, a designated habitat designed to provide monarch butterflies with the resources they need to survive and reproduce.
“Trent documented more than 200 plants and installed 188 identification markers, all while working with her committee to transform the gardens into a living classroom,” her nominators wrote.
Trent’s educational outreach also expanded to digital audiences with the launch of a Plant of the Week series on the Faulkner County Master Gardeners Facebook page.
“It is clear that Robin Trent turns ideas into action with extraordinary results,” her nominators wrote.
“The Faulkner County Master Gardeners are a fine group of folks, and it’s truly a privilege to serve the community alongside them,” Trent said.
Garden brought back to life
The 2025 Project of the Year Award recognized the efforts of the Benton County Master Gardeners in restoring and improving the Bella Vista Community Garden.
Built in 2014 by the Mercy Hospital Foundation and Cooper Elementary School, the garden included 12 raised beds, irrigation, fencing and shelter, and served as an outdoor classroom.
“Unfortunately, over time, the garden suffered from neglect and became an eyesore on Mercy’s campus,” the project’s nominators wrote. In 2021, volunteers and members of a local Boy Scout troop conducted cleanup efforts and Cooper Elementary students began growing pollinator plants in some of the beds.
“The real metamorphosis occurred in 2025,” the nominators wrote. “During the winter months, Master Gardeners removed old bed frames and built new beds, but they didn’t stop there. They added soil, spread eight cubic yards of mulch between beds, and painted the shed, picnic tables and cinder blocks. The garden was so transformed that the Bella Vista Garden Club asked to include it in their Garden Walk in June.”
In total, 25 Master Gardeners invested nearly 600 hours of work into the garden’s transformation.
To learn more about the Master Gardeners, visit the Arkansas Master Gardener Program webpage or contact your local county extension office for information about the next available training.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at aaes.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 22 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
501-671-2061