MSU Poplarville Experiment Station DISPLAY GARDEN
2023 Display Garden Pictures
A WHIMSICAL GARDEN
A Whimsical Garden was the All-American Selection (AAS) theme for 2023. The PRCMG embraced this year’s theme by planting over 1,000 flowers and vegetables, they grew from seeds selected from the AAS website. Besides planting all those flowers, whimsical items were added to the garden in the form of fairies, gnomes, flamingos, peacocks, snails, ants, turtles, frogs and various other yard art. The seed planting started during the winter, with bumping the plants into larger containers happening in the spring. By June 10th, during the Blueberry Jubilee the plants had reached their peak and were on display for all to see. As part of the Jubilee, tractors with trailers were loaded with people and driven from the downtown area to the Experiment Station. The people listened to members of the USDA explain the projects they work on, then were escorted to the Display Garden. PRCMG greeted the visitors and welcomed them to our award-winning garden. The MGs answered questions about the plants and distributed gardening information. The Blueberry Royalty posed on the bridge for a picture and then enjoyed the Display Garden. The Experiment Station is located at 711 West North Street, across from Pearl River Community College and The Display Garden is open to the public.
WE WON 1st PLACE!
The All-American Selection competition is held each year and gardens across the United States and Canada compete against other gardens who have similar numbers of visitors. Gardens are divided into three categories based on the number of visitors per year:
Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year, Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year, Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year
Click below to see a wonderful drone video of the Display Garden made by Scott Langlois, Senior Research Associate and Facility Coordinator at MSU South Experiment Station.
Planting Seeds
Planting A LOT of Flowers
The Finished Display Garden
2022 Display Garden Pictures
Games in the Garden
Games in the Garden were played at the MSU Poplarville Experiment Station – Display Garden on Saturday, June 11th, 2022 during the Blueberry Jubilee. We enjoyed a lot of visitors to our award-winning garden. There were many beautiful selfies taken with the flowers. Kids, adults and the Blueberry Royalty played the Games in the Garden. The Pearl River County Master Gardeners were on-hand to help with the games and distribute many types of gardening information pamphlets. The Experiment Station is located off of West North Street, across from Pearl River Community College and The Display Garden is open to the public. All American Selections (AAS) awarded the Mississippi State University Experiment Station’s Display Garden 3rd Place in the category of Gardens with under 10,000 visitors in the US and Canada.
Lenore Ladner, Chairperson of the Display Garden, accepts the 2022 AAS Award for 3rd place in the US and Canada, for Scott Langlois, with the MS State Experiment Station.
AAS Award 2021
Diversity in the Garden
All American Selections (AAS) awarded the Mississippi State University Experiment Station’s Display Garden 2nd Place in the category of Gardens with under 10,000 visitors in the US and Canada. The PRC Master Gardeners are extremely proud of their work on this project.
Herschel Rector, President of the Pearl River County Master Gardeners, accepting an award on behalf of the PRCMG for the 2021 AAS Display Garden that won Second Place, from Scott Langlois, with the Mississippi State University Experiment Station.
The Dried Flower Project
Dried Flower Project with Dr. Jim DelPrince, MSU. The MG planted the seeds for the flowers in the greenhouse while it was still cold outside. Once it warmed up, the plants were planted outside. The MG harvested the flowers, placed them in bunches, assisted Dr. DelPrince in recording the plant information and weight, then hung the plants to dry. This project is part of a research study MSU is conducting to find the costs associated with growing flowers, particularly dried flowers. The data collected will be used to help farmers understand the potential for these crops, from the benefits to the drawbacks.
Garden Clinics
The PRCMGs had Plant Clinics at Paul Bounds Feed & Seed and Crossroads Feed and Seed. We were happy to see so many plant-loving people. We answered a lot of questions and distributed a bounty of information.
2022 MMGA State Conference
The Mississippi Master Gardeners Association held their State Conference May 3-5, 2022. The event was held at the BancorpSouth Conference Center, 375 East Main St. in Tupelo, MS. Several of the Pearl River County Master Gardeners attended. Everyone enjoyed the conference, learned a lot from the many educational sessions available, visited many of the Lee County Master Gardener’s personal gardens, and celebrated awards with a wonderful banquet and Elvis. The PRC Master Gardeners received the following awards: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd most service hours in the Southeast District. 1st place to Phyllis Goodwin, 2nd place to Patti Murphy and 3rd place to Teresa Covington (who accepted the awards for the others not present). Sandy Love-Thompson received an award for her Graphic Presentation: Mycorrhizae Power Point Presentation. Here are a few pictures from the conference.
Stennis Farmer’s Market
The Master Gardeners have a table at the Stennis Farmer’s Market on the first Tuesday of each month. We provide pamphlets and flyers on a variety of gardening topics and answer all kinds of plant questions. It is a joy to meet and talk with everyone that stops by. Occasionally the Master Gardeners have plants to give away.
Proving a wealth of information
Dividing aloe and giving them to the great people who work at Stennis.
