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According
to a Chinese proverb, "He who plants
a garden plants happiness. If you want
to be happy for a lifetime, plant a
garden." Let's hope the ancient
wisdom holds true, because our nation
has become a community of gardeners.
A 2003 National Gardening Association
study
states that eight in 10 U.S. households
(84 million) participated in one or
more types of indoor or outdoor lawn
and garden activities. It's big business,
too. In 2003, consumers spent a total
of $38.4 billion on their lawns and
gardens, with an average of $457 per
household.
In Pennsylvania, Penn State is the premier
provider of horticulture education,
with a strong tradition of leadership
in teaching, extension, and basic and
applied research that informs garden
enthusiasts and plant-based businesses
alike.
The
Philadelphia Flower Show
The
strength of Penn State's commitment
to all things green is evident at the
Philadelphia Flower Show. This weeklong
annual event, held in early March, attracts
nearly 300,000 visitors.
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Penn
State plays a big part in the
Philadelphia Flower Show. |
Penn
State is always one of the major exhibitors,
with a 30-foot-by-30-foot space set
up like a remote Cooperative Extension
office, complete with computers and
more than 100 volunteers, faculty and
staff.
"This year the focus was on wildlife,
with the theme 'If you plant it, they
will come,'" said Nancy Bosold,
extension educator and co-chair of the
Penn State exhibit. Penn State offered
information on landscape enhancement,
backyard habitats, meadow areas and
natural gardens.
"We also were available to answer
questions on just about anything else,"
Bosold added. Show attendees often come
to Penn State's booth loaded down with
bags of dead leaves, grass samples,
plant material and insects. "We
have a lot of return visitors, and they
bring us their questions and their plants,"
said Bosold. "It's a great opportunity
for us to really make an impact in the
area."
The
Master Gardener Program
Many
of the volunteers at the Philadelphia
Flower Show, as well as the Harrisburg
Farm Show, Ag Progress Days and other
horticulture outreach activities, come
from the Master Gardener Program at
Penn State. Adopted by Penn State Cooperative
Extension in 1982, the Master Gardener
Program provides interested individuals
with extensive training in many phases
of gardening. In return, participants
dedicate volunteer time to teaching
other home gardeners. The program currently
has nearly 3,000 active volunteers in
58 Pennsylvania counties.
"There are a tremendous number
of volunteer hours delivered through
the Master Gardener Program," said
Dr. Rich Marini, department head and
professor of horticulture. "These
volunteers take a lot of pressure off
the county agents and state specialists.
They're a tremendous help, because they're
able to answer many commonly asked questions,
and that frees up the educators to tackle
more challenging issues."
In addition to helping average citizens
tend their yards, the program has provided
a good opportunity for those same individuals
to learn more about protecting the environment.
"People don't often realize that
most agricultural chemicals are used
by homeowners. Through the Master Gardener
Program, we're helping educate the average
citizen about the dangers of pesticides,
nitrogen and phosphorous, so we can
have a positive impact on the environment."
The Trial Gardens
Penn
State is making an impact on plants
before they even get to gardening centers.
At the Penn State Horticulture Trial
Gardens at the Landisville Research
Center in Lancaster County, every year
between 700 and 800 annual plants are
grown in pots and evaluated. The gardens,
planned by Alan H. Michael, Penn State
floriculture extension educator, are
living laboratories and garden classrooms
for students, faculty, researchers and
professionals in horticulture, plant
pathology and entomology.
Commercial visitors use the gardens
to develop plant lists, knowing that
varieties have been fully tested in
the local climate and under standard
cultural conditions. Armed with this
knowledge, commercial growers can more
confidently choose the plants best suited
to their customers' needs and preferences.
Another research opportunity for commercial
growers is the "Southeast Pennsylvania
Poinsettia and Pansy Trials With Seminars"
in Doylestown, Pa. Now in its eighth
year, the event provides growers "with
the opportunity to view all the plants
that are available," said Warren
Goll, multicounty greenhouse extension
educator. "This year we had 117
varieties. By seeing all the plants
side by side, the growers can select
the ones that are right for their production
schedules."
Karl Lederer--a 1961 graduate of Penn
State in horticulture and founder of
Parker Ford, Pa.-based Lederer Greenhouses
Inc., one of the state's premier growers
of geraniums, poinsettias and violets--says
that he has never missed the Poinsettia
Trials. "We also go to the Landisville
Research Center to view the geraniums,"
he said. "Penn State's trial sites
are really important to growers, because
there are regional differences. For
instance, what grows in California or
Florida won't necessarily work here
with our low light conditions. The trials
let us see how the plants will perform
in our area and plan our orders for
the next season."
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The
Garden Mosaics program uses the
great outdoors to teach science
and encourage community building. |
Garden
Mosaics
While
Penn State tends to the needs of professional
growers, efforts also reach those who
garden on a much smaller scale. Take
the example of Curtis Lockhart. In a
garden carved out of a bushy, overgrown
lot in downtown Easton, Pa., Lockhart
was having some difficulty. His collards
were overcrowded, and although it was
a dry, hot day, he needed to transplant
them immediately. An avid gardener since
he was a young boy growing up in the
South, and now, one of the local church
elders who tend the garden, Lockhart
put his expertise to work.
Under Lockhart's guidance, a group of
youth in a program called Garden Mosaics
provided the necessary team for the
delicate task of transplanting the seedlings.
Knowledge like Lockhart's isn't found
in books; it's meant to be shared, and
a garden is the ideal common ground.
Through working with Lockhart, the youth
learned about the essential elements
for healthy plants.
Penn State Cooperative Extension Educator
Emelie Swackhamer is helping to make
those connections between elders and
youth, ages 10-18, through the Garden
Mosaics program. Developed by a national
team of educators, including Swackhamer
and Doris Stahl, director of the Philadelphia
County extension office's Urban Gardening
Program, Garden Mosaics is a multistate
education initiative that combines intergenerational
learning, community action and cultural
awareness. Other Garden Mosaics projects
include work in the Casa Guadalupe community
garden in Allentown, as well as a senior
citizens' garden and the Cobbs Creek
garden located in Philadelphia. "Garden
Mosaics was designed to help teach kids
science in a real, interactive way and
to help instill a sense of community
in the youth who are participating,"
said Swackhamer.
At the program's conclusion, Lockhart's
collards produced a meal--a happy ending
for the youth who participated. And,
if there is any truth to the ancient
Chinese proverb, it was a gardening
experience that will spawn a lifetime
of happiness.
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