Tennessee Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who help the local Extension Service share gardening information with the community. All volunteers are initially trained through 40 hours of classroom teaching and 40 hours of hands-on experience. Master Gardeners who continue to participate in the program after completing their initial training provide at least forty hours of service annually and continue to learn with a minimum of eight continuing education hours each year. State-wide, there are approximately 2,496 certified Master Gardeners (2017) in 57 counties. For the 2017 fiscal year, Tennessee Master Gardeners provided 184,744 volunteer hours which is equivalent to $4.09 million worth of services. There were 35,921 education hours, 594 interns trained, and 3 regional workshops. Teaching and the demonstrating of stewardship was seen in 111 ornamental gardens using sustainable practices, participating in 212 fairs, festivals and garden-shows that reached 305,461 Tennessee residents and delivered 447 educational presentations to 55,648 attendees.