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K-State horticulture center hosts pen house, field day
Kansas
Billed as "finally ... something for the serious gardener," a 2004 open house and field day for the K-State Research and Extension Horticulture and Forestry Center in Olathe will be Saturday, July 31, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The center currently is focused on finding "the best of the best" for both home horticulturists and commercial market gardeners, said Alan Stevens, Kansas State University's Olathe-based floriculturist.
The researchers will be on-site during the field day to explain results and answer questions. Projects that will be on view include side-by-side comparisons in:
--Tough, productive varieties of medicinal herbs, turf grasses and an array of vegetable plants.
--The Kansas Prairie Star plant program. These field trials identify annual flowers with outstanding, season-long color --no matter the growing conditions in Kansas. The research points to the varieties that nurseries and garden centers will carry in the future. New results are reported every year, and each field day participant will receive a free copy of the updated collection list.
--The low-tech, unheated "greenhouses" known as high tunnels, which are under scrutiny nationwide as a way to extend the growing season for fresh fruits and vegetables. The Olathe center's high tunnel-related studies now include not only best-practice traditional cropping systems but also organic ones. Related studies compare the nutritional values of both types of harvests.
Johnson County Extension Master Gardeners also will be on hand throughout the event, said K-State horticulturist Dennis Patton. The gardeners will set up shade areas; collect a $5 registration fee; help with parking and bus transportation to the experiment fields; distribute free water bottles; answer gardening questions; and lead on-the-hour "how-to" lectures.
"In addition, the Master Gardeners will help be glad to help those who want to bring samples of ailing plants," Patton said. "Those attending should remember, though, that they need to come prepared to walk."
The Master Gardeners' lecture series will start at 9 a.m. and cover seed germination, fall lawn care, the Prairie Star program, clematis, hostas and butterfly gardening.
Detailed information about the event and the center's location is available by phone 913-764-6306 and on the Internet at www.oznet.ksu.edu/Johnson. The Olathe Research and Extension Horticulture and Forestry Center is nine miles west of K-7 Highway at 35125 W. 135th St.
Date: 7/22/04
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