The Tipton County Museum’s annual February Gardening Series will begin this Saturday.
This year, attendees get an extra lecture for both the spring and fall events.
“We have five lectures this year because there are five Saturdays in February,” said master gardener Sherl Rose, who is a support specialist at the museum. “Also, in October, there are five Saturdays, so when we have the October series we’ll also have five lectures.”
The first lecture will be delivered by museum director Barrie Foster.
Rose said Foster’s lecture on Feb. 1 will detail how to apply the concepts of Feng Shui, usually applied indoors, to the garden and landscape.
On Feb. 8, Shelby County Master Gardener Coordinator Dr. Chris Cooper will talk about diagnosis in the landscape. Cooper is also the creator of WKNO’s “The Family Plot.”
On Feb. 15, Kathleen Trent from Madison County’s Master Gardeners program will talk about houseplants, and Rose, saying her specialty is outdoor plants, is looking forward to that.
“I would love to know how to better care for my houseplants because I’m ashamed to say, as a master gardener, I kill houseplants,” she says, jokingly. “When spring hits, I’m outside in the yard and I’m out there concentrating on those plants and I ignore the ones in the house. Now I just keep succulents.”
Memphis-area Master Gardener John Peterson will talk about plants in the garden that have medicinal uses on Feb. 22.
She is excited to give her presentation on Feb. 29, which is called “Maters, Taters, Okrie and Squash: Southern Garden Staples and Their Roots.”
“This is a topic I’ve been talking about for years and I decided to take the plunge,” Rose said. “This is going to be gardening and history because anybody that knows me very well knows that I’m a history buff, too, and I’m a garden nut, so I’m throwing this together. The stuff that we grow in the South, a lot of the kinds of vegetables, I’m going to give their genealogy, where they originated from, which I’m excited about because I’m learning a whole lot.”
Admission is free for members and $5 for non-members.
The event is being sponsored by Patriot Bank, the Tipton County Veteran’s Council, Ward Law Firm and Bank of Tipton.
Author: Echo Day
Echo Day is an award-winning journalist, photographer and designer. She is currently The Leader's managing editor.
