The Adams County Master Gardeners invite you to attend our educational program on heritage gardening Thursday.

Our guest speaker will be Virginia DuBowy from Vicksburg Military Park. DuBowy was instrumental in developing the award-winning heritage gardens at the park.

She began her work at the park as an interpreter in 2002.

After five years, she became the natural resources program manager with the primary responsibility of preserving and protecting the natural resources of the park.

The Heritage Demonstration Garden at Vicksburg was developed through a partnership with the Warren County Master Gardeners.

Along with the park staff, the master gardeners provided in-kind labor, interpretation, educational workshops and garden materials.

The garden provides an outdoor classroom for the audience to learn about key park themes.

The project won the 2014 Award of Merit from the Mississippi Historical Society and the 2012 Master Gardener Outstanding Project Award.

In addition to the Heritage Demonstration Garden, DuBowy will speak on heritage landscapes throughout the park, including the National Cemetery, the historic Shirley House and Pemberton’s Headquarters.

So what are “heritage” or “heirloom” plant varieties?

Heirlooms are generally plants with stable traits from one generation to the next. The advantage to heirlooms is that they can be continually grown by carefully saving the seeds. A heritage plant is a plant that has been successfully grown from these seeds which have been collected and replanted for many years.

Examples of just a few of these plants are basil, canna, corn, cucumbers, dusty miller, iris, okra, peas, rosemary, roses, spirea, squash, sunflower, tomatoes and thyme.

Join the Adams County Master Gardeners Thursday for this special opportunity to learn more about heritage gardens.

The program begins at 9:30 a.m. and will be hosted at the Adams County Extension office located 75A Carthage Point Road.

For additional information, contact the extension office at 601-445-8201.

 

Karen O’Neal is the reporter for Adams County Master Gardeners.