Master Gardener Training Class visits horticulture facilities

Dr. Welsh explaining the different types of Crepe Myrtles and their characteristics. Texas AgriLife Photo Members of the Texas Agrilife Extension Service Master Gardener Training Class have started with a field trip that gave an opportunity to see many innovative and instructive garden demonstrations.

One of the stops was to the A&M Horticulture facili- ties. A few blocks from the main College Station campus, the Horticulture Department gardens are both beautiful and useful.

The beauty comes from the carefully designed beds of flowers, trees, shrubs, and water features. They are all filled with plants appropriate for the area, and even at the end of a hot summer, color was everywhere. The facility effectively uses the “mound and mulch” philosophy to produce their success. The gardens also serve as a useful research area, so our Leon County gardener group saw such things as a dramatic group of about ten varieties of ornamental peppers, each covered with huge crops of colorful fruits.
Dr. Welsh and the Master Gardeners around one of the many flower beds. Texas AgriLife Photo