Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
7/14/03
Contacts:
Cindy Haynes, Horticulture, (515) 294-4006, chaynes@iastate.edu
Jean McGuire, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-7033,
jmcguire@iastate.edu
Yard and Garden Column for the Week Beginning July 18, 2003
2003 Home Demonstration Gardens - Join the Celebration
By Cindy Haynes
Extension Horticulture Specialist
Iowa State University
Iowa State University (ISU) Extension celebrates its 100th birthday in 2003. To commemorate this occasion, the ISU Home Demonstration Gardens across the state are featuring several vegetables and flowers that were commonly grown 100 years ago.
Some of the vegetables, such as Queen Anne's pocket melon, lemon cucumbers, green Hubbard squash, fish pepper, Jenny Lind cantaloupe, Amish pie pumpkin, Wapsipinicon peach tomato and rat tail radish, may be unfamiliar to many.
For flowers, we are growing your grandmothers' and great-grandmothers' favorites: pincushion flower, tassel flower, Bells of Ireland, garden balsam, red spider zinnia, signet marigold, flowering tobacco, Amish cockscomb, cornflower, spider lower and love-in-a-mist. Join us for a stroll down memory lane at the ISU Home Demonstration Garden near you. Come prepared to discuss and to compare heirloom vegetables and flowers to those of today.
Although we are celebrating our past, we're not stuck there, the gardens also showcase current favorites and take a peek at new introductions. Two garden favorites grown this year are seedless watermelon and bush beans. Eight varieties of seedless watermelon and sixteen varieties of bush bean will be featured at each garden. What a great way to celebrate the "Year of the Bean."
Groundcover petunias are a new type of an old garden favorite. Each garden features several groups of low growing petunias. Come pick a color and habit for your garden from our "technicolor carpet" of blooms.
New and unusual gardening practices are also showcased at each garden. This year we are going vertical with flowering vines. Annual flowers like cypress vine, moon vine, snapdragon vine, morning glory and others brighten the garden and provide quick screens without consuming valuable space. Come check out their beautiful flowers and a few different types of supports or trellises for these beauties.
Lastly, it wouldn't be a celebration without a little food. Some of the best and most nutritious food comes from the home garden. Join us while we highlight and taste a few healthy, nutritious vegetable "superstars."
Below is a listing of locations and times for the 2003 Home Demonstration Garden Field Days. For more information and maps to the gardens visit www.extension.iastate.edu or www.ag.iastate.edu/farms.
| Date | Time | Research and Demonstration Garden | Location |
| July 31 | 6:30 pm | Southeast | Crawfordsville |
| Aug. 5 | 6:30 pm | Northern | Kanawha |
| Aug. 6 | 6:30 pm | Northwest | Sutherland |
| Aug. 7 | 6:30 pm | Armstrong | Lewis |
| Aug. 8 | 6:30 pm | Muscatine | Fruitland |
| Aug. 19 | 6:30 pm | Northwest | Doon |
| Aug. 23 | 4:00 pm | Northeast | Nashua |
| Aug. 28 | 6:30 pm | McNay | Chariton |
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Editors: There is no photo available for this week's column.
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