Master gardener Mary Niezelski has long had a preference for planting vegetables, but this year she learned to appreciate the daylily tubers that are bursting forth with colorful July blooms.
A Derry Township resident, Niezelski is a recent addition to the more than 180 Westmoreland County members of the Penn State master gardener program.
The group maintains more than a dozen demonstration gardens next to the Penn State Extension Office at Hempfield’s Donohoe Center, and Niezelski agreed to bring order to the patch of daylilies that became overgrown during months when covid-19 pandemic restrictions kept volunteers away.
Now, she said, “I enjoy working here at the daylily bed. Half of the fun of being a master gardener is learning something new all the time.”
With pandemic precautions eased, the public will be able to enjoy the results of Niezelski’s labor of love. They’re being encouraged to visit the garden Monday, July 5 through July 20, when the daylilies will be in peak bloom.
As the name implies, each flower lasts for only about a day, but “deadheading” the spent ones will help keep more blooms coming. Niezelski also has been busy dividing the larger daylilies, donating some of the excess tubers to other area gardeners.
The practice provides more space between the plants, allowing for adequate air flow.
“If they don’t dry inside, that’s when fungus starts,” she explained. “They need a lot of air to produce and stay healthy.”
Of the nearly 100 daylily varieties sharing space in the garden, the Stella d’ Oro was the first to respond to Niezelski’s attention, unfurling its yellow petals.
“That first one that bloomed just took my breath away,” she said, “and then the deer ate it.”
The Donohoe Center site also features a garden devoted to deer-resistant species, including St. John’s wort, marigolds and elderberry.
One of the main reasons for maintaining the demonstration plantings is so “people can come and see what can work in their garden,” said master gardener Jane Sibenaller of Hempfield. She cares for the site’s perennial garden but also helps field garden- and lawn-related calls to the local extension office.
“If you see a master gardener working in the garden, use the opportunity to talk to them,” she said. “We get people pulling their hair out sometimes. They want to know, ‘What can I plant that the deer won’t eat?’”
One of the oldest Donohoe gardens is the Cottage Garden, which features a mixture of time-honored flowers and ornamentals such as cone flowers, hydrangeas, lilacs, yarrow and bee balm.
“It looks very much like your grandmother’s garden from way back when,” according to Deb Christopher of Derry Township, who chairs the local master gardeners’ program advisory committee. “It’s truly a homey place.”
One of the newest additions, in response to growing interest, is a rock garden. Species there include sea holly, which has spiny-toothed leaves and a lengthy taproot that allows it to tolerate dry conditions.
“We fixed up the location to please the plants,” Christopher said. ”We had to dig out the dirt and put in the right sand and stones that these particular plants are going to want to live in.”
There also are Donohoe gardens devoted to annuals, conifers, vegetables, plants that thrive in the shade and others that attract butterflies and other pollinators. There is also a Welcome Garden, a Winterberry Garden and a Four Seasons Garden, where something is in bloom each quarter of the year.
The Harrold Memorial Garden features large shrubs while the Grossheim Memorial provides a meditative atmosphere, with plants that evoke an “East meets West” theme and surround a shade-covered swing.
“Some people come for the quietness,” said master gardener Janet Waugaman of Greensburg, who oversees all of the Donohoe gardens. “That’s why I come. As a gardener, you learn that you can’t be a very impatient person.”
The demonstration gardens at Donohoe Center are located at 214 Donohoe Road. They’re open for self-guided tours daily from 9 a.m. to dusk.
The county’s master gardeners maintain other demonstration plantings at Twin Lakes Park, Historic Hanna’s Town, the Westmoreland County Courthouse and in Ligonier Township, at 6 Old Lincoln Highway West, near the Loyalhanna Watershed Association headquarters.
Pollinator program slated
The Ligonier Township garden will be the site for “The Buzz about the Garden,” a program on pollinator-friendly plants open to the public from 2 to 3 p.m. July 31. Registration costs $5. Visit the Westmoreland County Master Gardeners Facebook page for details.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .
"center" - Google News
July 04, 2021 at 05:01PM
https://ift.tt/3AuQLhF
Daylilies to take center stage at Donohoe Center demonstration gardens - TribLIVE
"center" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3bUHym8
https://ift.tt/2zR6ugj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Daylilies to take center stage at Donohoe Center demonstration gardens - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment