Hempstead County Master Gardeners Hold Spring Seminar

On Monday the Hempstead County Master Gardeners program held their Spring Seminar at Hempstead Hall. The guest speaker was Janet Carson, retired Consumer Horticultural Specialist with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Carson started the Arkansas Master Gardener program and has had vast experience with many different aspects of horticulture during her 38 years with the Cooperative Extension Service.

The event started with a chance to shop from the vendors and to bid on the silent auction items. Dave Philips, the President of the Hempstead County Master Gardeners spoke first welcoming people to the event and giving history on the guest speaker including honors she had received and books she had published.

Kim Rowe County Extension Agent in Agriculture also welcomed the audience on behalf of the Extension Service staff. After the introduction by Philips, Carson began her her first talk, “Color for All Seasons”. She covered many topics beginning with the statement that many of the participants were probably feeling sad right now because of how their gardens looked. She stated that the gardens probably weren’t as dead as they appeared. Carson stated that color was one of the most amazing things and that monoculture wasn’t desirable in a garden. She asked what style did the gardener want – for example a rustic look versus a more formal one.

Carson gave many tips about gardening – saying that Arkansas has many one season wonders, an example being dogwood, that look beautiful for a short period of time and add very little to the garden the rest of the year. She encouraged gardeners to see what seasons are lacking color and plant plants that added color during those seasons stating that there were many plants that could fill that role. Carson also encouraged gardeners to look at the color palette and to see what colors blended together. She made the point that there were other sources of color than flowers – such as Japanese maples.

Carson emphasized that it was important to choose an area, rather than the whole garden, to focus on annual and tropical plants given the time and effort required to grow them. She went on to cover a variety of different flowers and how to care for them as well as emphasizing that there were often many different varieties so the importance of being specific about which variety is wanted in the garden. Flowers mentioned included abelias, azaleas, begonias, camellias, clethra, dogwood, hellebores and many others. The planting of hellebores was strongly encouraged because of their winter blooms, deer resistance, bee attraction. Different native plants were also covered – star anise, itea, milkweeds, redbud.

Carson talked about the importance of experimentation stating that someone who had never lost a plant was not a true gardener any more than anyone who had never had a plant survive. She tried to counter the idea of a green thumb stating that it was usually the wrong plant in the wrong location and encouraged trying things with caution and seeing how well they worked.

After a Q and A session there was a break for bidding on the silent auction items and upon resumption the Nevada county Master Gardeners’ plant was mentioned. Then Carson gave her second talk, Gardens Around the World”. At this point she talked about the trips and experiences of other gardens. She stated that it was good to get perspective through travel and talked about England being the gardening mecca with the Chelsea Flower Show being really amazing.

Carson related experiences in different regions and countries – England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Costa Rica, Cambodia, New Zealand, Canada, Hawaii. She went on to say how vegetables and flowers were being incorporated in gardens much more than in the past.

The session ended with the announcement of the winners of the silent auction.