Christine Putnam, a leading voice for environmental stewardship and sustainability in our community, has been named the 2025 Master Gardener of the Year by the Piedmont Master Gardeners. Part of Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Piedmont Master Gardeners are volunteer educators who promote science-based, environmentally sound horticultural practices in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
A retired member of the science faculty at Tandem Friends School, Putnam completed her certification as an Extension Master Gardener in 2021. Since then, she has been instrumental in bolstering the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ efforts to advance gardening and landscape management practices that conserve resources, support wildlife and foster biological diversity.
“In the short time that she has been a Master Gardener, Christine has become a leader and highly valued member of the Piedmont Master Gardeners program,” said Linda Blum, chair of the selection committee and winner of the Master Gardener of the Year award in 2024. “It is her passion for the environment that drives her activities as a Master Gardener. Most importantly, she always bases her efforts in environmental stewardship on science.”
A prime example is her work to promote greater use of native plants in local yards and gardens. As part of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives campaign, Putnam co-coordinates the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ outreach to garden centers, nurseries and other retailers to increase the supply and variety of native plants available to the buying public in our area. She and her team work with retail partners to label Virginia natives and make them more visible to customers.
Putnam is also coordinator of the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ help desk at the Charlottesville Farmers Market at Ix. She is known for eagerly and expertly addressing market-goers’ horticultural questions and for helping them find environmentally friendly solutions to their plant and landscaping problems. She also frequently staffs the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ help desks at community events.
Additionally, she helped develop and launch the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ Healthy Landscapes program, which conducts on-site, customized assessments for homeowners seeking to adopt conservation landscaping practices. Applying her professional skills as an educator, she helped develop the curriculum for horticultural instruction at Mary Carr Greer Elementary School in Albemarle County, where she and other Master Gardeners offer monthly lessons to first and third graders. She also has played a leading role in creating and maintaining the teaching gardens at Greer School, which serves the most diverse student population of any elementary school in the Albemarle County system.
Her advocacy for sustainable practices extends to encouraging schools and households to compost food waste rather than send it to landfills. Among other harmful impacts, decomposing food waste in landfills releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Putnam teaches composting basics at several elementary schools in the area and is part of the Master Gardener team that offers composting workshops throughout the year in partnership with the Bread & Roses program at Trinity Episcopal Church in Charlottesville.
As a presenter for the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ Speakers Bureau, Putnam has helped raise awareness of the danger of light pollution to birds, nocturnal flying insects and other wildlife. She emphasizes that the loss of dark skies disrupts the natural cycle of night and day, which has serious implications for the health of all living things.
Putnam’s leadership in the Piedmont Master Gardeners complements her extensive work with local government to advance environmental stewardship. She is a member and former chair of Albemarle County’s Natural Heritage Committee, she serves on the County’s Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee, and she was recently named chair of Albemarle County Public Schools’ Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability. In recognition of these and other community activities, the University of Virginia named her a recipient of its Sustainability Leadership Award in 2023.
“Christine is always willing to share her knowledge, enthusiasm and passion with her PMG colleagues,” said Blum. “Through all of this, she maintains the sunniest demeanor and an ever-cheerful outlook. You can’t help but love working with her. She is truly an inspiration.”