Flower Garden…
A public event called “Plants, Local Food and Outdoor Spaces”
The NDSU Historic Daylily Garden is the largest public daylily collection in the nation, housing nearly 2,000 varieties of daylilies. (NDSU)
FARGO, N.D. — The North Dakota State University Department of Plant Sciences will host a public gardening event called “Plants, Local Foods and Outdoor Spaces” on July 30 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the North Dakota State University Horticultural Research and Demonstration Garden.
The Gardens are located on the NDSU campus at the corner of 18th Street and 12th Avenue North in Fargo, North Dakota. Free parking is available on the north side of the Gardens. If there are not enough spaces available, visitors will be detoured to the parking lot adjacent to the new Pelletier Complex on 18th Avenue North.
The event includes a walking tour through the annual and perennial flower gardens, which are the official bedding plant display gardens of All-American Selections.
Each spring, Garden Manager Barbara Raschkewicz grows more than 200 varieties of annual bedding plants in the greenhouse for transplanting into the garden, then evaluates the plants for vigor, flowering and growth habits.
“This is NDSU research that will directly benefit gardening enthusiasts,” says NDSU Extension horticulturist Esther McGinnis. “The public can see which plants have spectacular flowering in their yards and buy them to plant in their own gardens the following year. Conversely, some plants cannot grow because of wind, climate or alkaline soil. The public can learn which plants are not suitable for their area and avoid wasting money at the garden store.”
The centerpiece of the gardening event will be the NDSU Historic Daylily Garden, which is nearing full bloom. The Garden is the largest public daylily collection in the country, with nearly 2,000 varieties of daylilies. A special announcement about the daylily collection will be made at the start of the event.
In addition to the garden tours, NDSU Extension food and nutrition specialist Julie Garden Robinson and NDSU Extension forester Joseph Zeleznik will speak under a large tent. Garden Robinson will give a presentation titled, “Ideas for Preserving and Serveing Summer Bounty Fresh,” and Zeleznik will talk about the weather-related challenges the trees faced over the winter.
Children's activities will include collecting insects in the gardens. Adults and children can participate in a Daylily treasure hunt. Tractor-trailer tours of the fruit and vegetable research plots will begin at 6 p.m.
Extension Master Gardeners will be on-site to accept fresh garden produce and canned foods to be donated to the Fargo Emergency Food Pantry.
“If you have extra cucumbers, beans or other fresh produce, please consider bringing them to the event to help combat food insecurity,” McGinnis said.
Extension Master Gardeners are also available to answer plant questions.
The ice cream truck “Chatty Bell's Treats” will be at the venue selling pre-packaged summery treats.
New this year, tours of NDSU's Pelletier Complex will be held at 2:15 and 3:45 p.m. The Pelletier Complex is NDSU's newest agricultural research and education facility that supports food science, meat science, food safety, nutrition and consumer sensory research.
Tours are limited to a maximum of 25 people. Register for a tour at bit.ly/PeltierTours.
For more information about the event, visit ndsu.ag/gardeningevent.
— North Dakota State University Extension and Agricultural Research News
