Cooperative Extension’s Successful Gardener Learning Center Presents New Feature This Year: 2008 Showstopper Plants

Whether it’s a question about what to plant that is drought-tolerant, how to deal with insect pests, or any other question about gardening, Extension’s Successful Gardener Learning Center will be the place to get your gardening questions answered at the 2008 Southern Spring Home & Garden Show at the Charlotte Merchandise Mart. Extension horticulture agents and Master Gardeners will staff the Learning Center throughout the show, which begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27 and runs through 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 2.

New Feature: 2008 Showstopper Plants
A new feature at the Learning Center will be the 2008 Showstopper Plants, five plants nominated by members of the North Carolina Nursery and Landscape Association and selected in cooperation with North Carolina Cooperative Extension horticulture experts. These are must-have plants that are either promising new cultivars or ironclad plants that will thrive in Carolina landscapes. Stop by the Learning Center and pick up a Showstopper Plants brochure, the award-winning Successful Gardener newsletter, soil sample boxes and other helpful gardening information. Register to get your name in a drawing for a free, one-year subscription to the newsletter, which is also a chance to add your name to a list to receive monthly e-mail gardening tips from North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Look for the Showstopper Plants logo in gardens throughout the show where garden designers have incorporated the plants in their landscapes.

Feb. 29 is Extension’s Successful Gardener & Master Gardener Day
Along with the Learning Center, Extension’s Successful Gardener team will present seminars on the Great Garden Stage, Friday, Feb. 29. The day has been designated as Extension’s Successful Gardener and Master Gardener Day and is filled with informative and fun presentations for gardeners. The day will kick off with presentations, followed by the Extension Master Gardener Search for Excellence and Extension’s Successful Gardener Challenge. The Search for Excellence showcases Master Gardeners’ outstanding volunteer contributions to communities across the state. Extension’s Successful Gardener Challenge is a chance for those selected to put their gardening knowledge to work in a fun-filled gardening game designed for the show. Prizes will be awarded. To have a chance at participating in the Challenge, register at the Great Garden Stage or Extension’s Successful Gardener Learning Center by noon on Friday. Names will be drawn immediately after the Search for Excellence presentation at the Great Garden Stage. The seminars will resume at 2 p.m.

Extension’s Successful Gardener & Master Gardener Day Speakers & Schedule

11 a.m. Sustainable Living: Permaculture Basics for the Home & Garden – Professor Will Hooker, who teaches landscape design and permaculture in the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University, will discuss the design method that emulates natural ecosystems in their diversity, stability and resilience. The result provides for the needs of inhabitants – both humans and nonhumans alike – when it comes to food, shelter and energy. This seminar will provide an overview of design principles and an example of a home landscape that employs these principles.

1 p.m. Extension’s Master Gardener Search for Excellence

1:30 p.m. Extension’s Successful Gardener Challenge

2 p.m. The Greens of Shade: Plants for the Woodland Garden – Mark Weathington, assistant director and curator of collections for the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University, will discuss how to beat the heat with a shade garden. Learn about some great plants to spice up your shady nook with different textures and shades of green. A quick waltz through the woodland from the ground up will focus on both tried-and-true and cutting-edge perennials, shrubs and small trees.

3 p.m. Growing Kids with Green Thumbs – Liz Driscoll, NC State University 4-H specialist in crops, horticulture and soil science, brings the plant world to life for children and adults when she talks about ticklish plants, fairy dust soils and rampant, rambling wheat. With her ideas, growing young green thumbs has never been easier or more fun. Learn about the possibilities that await curious and questioning youth. Liz will outline how to dig in and get growing by sampling activities through hands-on explorations.

4 p.m. Top Plants for the Environmentally Friendly Landscape – David Goforth, NC Cooperative Extension horticulture agent, Cabarrus County, will highlight ways your
landscape can move beyond only ornamental design aesthetics to one that can improve human diets and wildlife habitat, while reducing fossil fuel use. Learn the best landscape plants to feed and shelter both humans and wildlife.

Show tickets are $7.50 in advance and $9.00 at the door. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, and Thursday, Feb. 28; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29 and Saturday, March 1; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 2. For more information, contact Southern Shows at (704) 376-6594 or 1-800-849-0248, or visit www.southernshows.com.

Extension’s Successful Gardener is a program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, an educational outreach of N.C. State and N. C. A&T State universities. Extension’s Successful Gardener consists of a monthly newsletter, e-tips, county and regional seminars and Learning Centers at the large home and garden shows across the state.