Gardeners meet the experts during 32nd Summer Celebration
JACKSON, Tenn. — The 32nd Summer Celebration was kicked off Thursday morning for the first time in-person in the last three years.
While the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center encourages everyone to check out their beautiful gardens, they hope Thursday’s event has visitors take away knowledge of the landscaping industry.
“We have a number of tours talking about the suitability of various plants in the landscape. We have presentations by all sorts of people, faculty from Knoxville, people from here, other experts talking about managing your landscape, weed control, disease management, insect control. The whole idea is to end up with a nice, pretty landscape that doesn’t work you to death,” said Scott Stewart, Director of the West Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center.
The one day event gives the center an opportunity to take their research, reach out to the public, and help through their extension purposes.
“We have some of the best experts in the country that can talk about picking out the best hosters, picking out the best varieties, and cultivars of plants that are going to do well in Tennessee, do well in your yard, pick out the best grasses and how to manage them,” Stewart said.
Visitors are able to take a wagon tour of the facility, listen to guest speakers, view the gardens, and even bring in their problematic plants to find a solution.
“People will bring their problems in, whether it’s an insect problem, a disease problem, their plants are dying and they don’t know why and they get an opportunity to talk to the experts who can help figure it out and give them a solution,” Stewart said.
“Even though you’re seeing just the symptoms on the leaves, the problem might actually be on the roof. And so it is best if you can bring the entire plant. You can also just bring pictures too, just try to make sure they’re clear and not blurry,” said Dr. Heather Kelly, a Plant Pathology Professor at the University of Tennessee.
If you are not able to visit the Summer Celebration on Thursday, you can contact your local extension office for similar services. You can also find help online.
