Event to feature more than 400 ornamental plant varieties grown under East Texas conditions
The East Texas horticultural bedding plant trials are made possible by hundreds of volunteer hours by Master Gardeners from Smith and Rusk counties each year, said Dr. Brent Pemberton, Texas A&M AgriLife Research horticulturist, Overton. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Robert Burns)
Writer: Robert Burns, 903-312-3199, rd-burns@tamu.edu
OVERTON – Come rain or shine, this year’s East Texas Horticultural Field Day will be held June 25 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Overton, and admission is open to the public and free.
“The frequent rains have made it challenging to plant the trials this year, but we’ve finished planting, and there will be lots to see,” said Dr. Brent Pemberton, Texas A&M AgriLife Research horticulturist, Overton.
The field day will begin with registration at the center’s North Farm site, about 4 miles north of the center headquarters on Farm-to-Market Road 3053. The trials cover about 1 acre and are visible from the road, Pemberton said.
The center headquarters are about 2 miles north of downtown Overton on Farm-to-Market Road 3053. For driving directions to the center or the North Farm site, go to http://flowers.tamu.edu/field-day/ or call 903-834-6191.
At the North Farm site, Pemberton, with the help of Smith County and Rusk County Master Gardeners, has grown and tested more than 400 ornamental plant varieties under East Texas conditions.
The tests include some of the standards of previous tests, including both old and new varieties of vincas, ornamental peppers and sweet potatoes, trailing petunias, verbenas, dahlias, coleus and cannas, Pemberton said. New this year will be various rapid-blooming perennial varieties, such as coreopsis, shasta daisies, gerberas and dianthus, which are billed as having the potential of blooming the first year from seeds or sets.
At 10:30 a.m., the field day will move out of the heat — or rain — to the ornamental trials and demonstration garden at the Overton center headquarters. From 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., a barbecue lunch will be provided courtesy of seed companies and other field day sponsors.
The afternoon program will be indoors at the Overton center’s Bruce McMillan Jr. Auditorium. Speakers and topics will include:
— Pemberton, “Top Performers from Recent Trials – The Labor Day Report,” and “California Dreamin’ 2015 – Highlights from Spring Trials.”
— Jenny Wegley and Kaylee Decker, both with the Dallas Arboretum, “Top Performers at the Dallas Arboretum.”
— Erfan Vafaie, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service integrated pest management specialist, Overton, “What Science Says on the Impact of Neonicotinoids on Our Pollinators.”
Indoor presentations will end at about 3:30 p.m.
Pemberton began the trials in 1994 in response to Texas bedding plant industry and gardening enthusiast’s needs. The industry and consumers needed to know which varieties were adapted to East Texas conditions, he said. Prior to the trials, there was little information available to greenhouse growers and the industry as to whether any particular bedding plant variety was suited to the East Texas climate and soils.
The bedding plant industry has had a $500 million annual economic impact on the region for at least a decade, and though not recession proof, it hasn’t experienced the downturn in consumer spending that other businesses have had in the last couple of years, Pemberton said.
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