2003 Home Demonstration Gardens - Join the Celebration

The 2003 growing season is wonderful for gardening, in part because ISU is celebrating 100 years of ISU Extension at the Home Demonstrations Gardens statewide. To commemorate this occasion, we are taking a look back at some of the 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, you may not recognize. For flowers, we are growing your grandmother's and great grandmother's favorites: Pincushion flower, Tassel flower, Bells of Ireland, Garden Balsam, Red Spider Zinnia, Signet Marigold, Flowering Tobacco, Amish Cockscomb, Cornflower, Spider Flower, and Love-in-a-Mist. Join us for a stroll down memory lane at the Home Demonstration Garden near you. Come prepared to discuss and to compare some of these heirloom vegetables and flowers with those of today.

Although we will celebrate our past, we are not stuck there; the purpose of the Home Demonstration Gardens is to showcase current favorites and to take a peek at the plants of the future. Two garden favorites grown this year are seedless watermelon and bush beans. At least eight varieties of seedless watermelon will be grown at each garden. Sixteen varieties of bush beans will be grown in each garden. What a great way to celebrate the Year of the Bean.

Groundcover petunias are another relatively new concept for an old garden favorite. Each garden will feature several selections from five varieties 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 such as 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.

Last, 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 show off (and taste) a few vegetable superstars for good health and nutrition.

Below is a listing of Home Demonstration Garden Field Days, times, and locations. For more information and maps to the gardens visit www.extension.iastate.edu or http://farms.ag.iastate.edu/ .

This article originally appeared in the 7/11/2003 issue.