New Plants, Less Work, Gorgeous Garden

NAPSI- Your dream garden can grow real with the help of new breeds of hydrangeas, coneflowers, roses and evergreen shrubs that let you create more beauty with less work.

Many new plants are virtually disease free and extremely low maintenance. For instance, a collection of hydrangeas provides blooms from late spring to early fall and, unlike their ancestors, will tolerate pruning at most any time. Their ability to weather wintry conditions and still produce blooms each year is another improvement.

Don't Be A Stranger To Hydrangeas

A dream garden can be beautified by Peppermint and Blue Heaven hydrangeas from Forever & Ever. They exhibit good disease resistance and respond well to sunny locations in Northern gardens and to partial shade in Southern gardens.

The Peppermint is a unique variety with gorgeous mop-headed blooms with one-of-a-kind, bicolor petals. Depending on your soil, the petals will display a brushstroke of either pink or blue in the center. Growing to approximately 24 inches tall and 36 inches wide, it is well suited for smaller gardens or patio containers.

Blue Heaven has blooms over 12 inches wide and a magnificent blue color. An adjustment in soil acidity will produce blooms in shades of pink or purple. A bit larger than Peppermint, Blue Heaven will grow to approximately 4 feet tall by 5 feet wide.

Head For Coneflowers

To complement your new hydrangeas, consider planting one of the new breeds of coneflowers--Pink Double Delight and Coconut Lime. These two beauties are tough as nails and, unlike most others, have double flowers. They are hardy, virtually disease free and tolerate drought conditions very well.

Pink Double Delight is a new variety of Echinacea that is compact and free flowering. Flowers are double upon first bloom and remain so consistently. Their stems are sturdy and numerous, creating a full appearance in containers and the garden.

For contrast, consider Coconut Lime, a double white coneflower with pale green at the center, sturdy stems and full blooms. Both these beauties will grow to approximately 26 inches high and spread about 27 inches.

The Subject Is Roses

Next, consider a new variety of a traditional favorite, the Double Knock Out Rose.

In contrast to older varieties of roses, this is a practically care-free landscape rose. It has double, fluorescent cherry red blossoms and is resistant to all the common rose diseases. It grows to about 4 feet by 4 feet and can be a great addition to your dream garden.

Everloving Evergreens

A new breed of evergreen shrub can add color to any Southern garden. Called Abelia Kaleidoscope, it lights up with bright yellow and green variegation in spring, then darkens to a deep green with a creamy, golden yellow outer edge. In summer it has abundant white flowers and in autumn, a spectacular, vibrant display of green, yellow, orange and red with brilliant red stems and abundant white flowers. The colors become muted in winter.

It will grow 5 to 6 feet tall in a sunny location.

With these beautiful new breeds, you can sit back and relax and enjoy your dream garden.

A riot of hardy hydrangeas can be an easy way to give yourself a gorgeous garden.

Organic Ag Program Benefits Students, Community

Students' interests in the organic agriculture certificate program at the University of Georgia aren't limited to growing peppers, sweet potatoes and pumpkins. Some students are hoping to start businesses with the knowledge they acquire.

One student, Lizabeth Simmons, is hoping to open a "florist shop featuring organic cut flowers while another student, Wesley Belcher, wants to open an organic Christmas tree farm," said Marc van Iersel, a UGA horticulture professor involved with the program.

Belcher is a UGA student and Christmas tree farmer. After getting into the program, he'd like to incorporate organic trees into his business because "some people feel that chemical residues are harmful to their health and the surrounding environment," he said.

"People handle Christmas trees a lot with their hands," Belcher said. So he'd like to offer them trees they can decorate without coming into contact with chemical residues.

"People will feel warm and fuzzy when they see that they're getting an organically grown Christmas tree," he said.

Benefits

The UGA certificate program provides hands-on learning opportunities for students. It benefits Georgia farmers by increasing awareness of organic agriculture as an alternative method of growing crops.

Van Iersel said farmers around Athens support the university's program. Students study local farmers' problems and try to solve them as part of the class research. Then they pass this knowledge back to the farmers.

"The horticulture farm doesn't compete with local farmers," van Iersel said. "It serves more to educate the community and students about different ways to grow crops and the different, nontraditional options growers have."

"Our purpose is not to promote organic agriculture over traditional methods but to promote awareness of using alternative methods," he said.

Differences

Robert Tate, the primary caretaker and project coordinator for the UGA horticulture farm, has more than 10 years of experience with organic agriculture. He said, "The techniques are more labor-intensive than in traditional methods. However, methods such as crop rotation and drip tape, a form of irrigation, prove more efficient and ecologically friendly."

"Water conservation and soil rejuvenation are among the main concerns," Tate said. "Their objective in organic production is to grow quality produce and continually maintain good soil conditions."

The program has benefits throughout Athens. Anish Malladi, a horticulture assistant professor, said the program donates half of the certified organic produce grown at the horticulture farm to the Northeast Georgia Food Bank in Athens. The rest is sold as a club fundraiser.

"Many departments work together in the certificate program," van Iersel said. "Entomologists suggest using certain insects to protect the crops from harmful insect species. Plant pathologists teach ways to prevent pathogens from invading the crops."

To learn more about the UGA organic agriculture certificate program, visit the Web site at www.uga.edu/organic.

By Katie Jaeger
University of Georgia

Katie Jaeger is a student writer with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Grant Establishes Pilot Landscape Program at Fayette County High

An $8,000 SkillsUSA Lowe’s Education/Chapter Improvement Grant will help fund the school system’s first-ever landscape management program for students with mild cognitive disabilities.

The grant was awarded to Fayette County High teacher Tina DeCotis who submitted a proposal for the program earlier this year. The school will use the funds to purchase mowers, blowers and trimmers, as well as provide integrated safety training, to special needs students who are interested in pursuing careers in landscape maintenance.

The program will begin in the fall and will be the first of its kind for the school system. DeCotis says she hopes that once the program gets underway, it can be implemented at other schools in the county.

“Once initiated, local and state education representatives will be invited to observe the program in the hope of expanding it to other schools and offering similar opportunities to intellectually disabled students,” she says.

The new program will complement the school’s community based vocational instruction program where students are placed at job sites around the county to gain real world working experience and skills. Students mainly work in restaurants and grocery stores where maintenance and stocking shelves are the primary duties. Now, students will have an additional opportunity to further expand their skill sets to a field where jobs are growing.

“My ultimate goal is to give these students the opportunity to become independent contributing members of society without any need for public assistance after they transition into the workforce after graduation,” DeCotis says.

The program will be open to interested students whose ability levels enable them to perform essential duties associated with landscape maintenance and whose parents give permission for them to participate.

Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation awards grants of up to $10,000 each to SkillsUSA chapters for innovative projects or program enhancements at their schools. The grants are designed to further the SkillsUSA program at local schools, provide awareness of technical careers and training opportunities and highlight the good work that SkillsUSA is doing.

SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. SkillsUSA helps high school and college students enrolled in career and technical education programs to excel by teaching employability skills such as communication, problem solving and leadership in conjunction with their trade, technical and service occupations skills.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
Community News You Can Use
Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Tyrone