Everyone Is Invited on Aug. 29 to the Plateau AgResearch Center
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. – Gardening enthusiasts and anyone interested in their landscapes are reminded that Tuesday, August 29, is the state for the 2017 Fall Gardeners’ Festival at the University of Tennessee Plateau AgResearch and Education Center in Crossville. This is the ninth year for the festival, which highlights the Center’s Discovery Gardens. Admission is free.
Co-hosted by the UT Institute of Agriculture and the Cumberland County Master Gardeners, the free educational event promises something for gardeners of all ages. Featured will be educational tours and seminars on topics ranging from monarch butterflies, home-grown pumpkins, soil health, and herb gardening. The event includes walking tours of the UT Gardens, Crossville—also known as the Plateau Discovery Gardens—and wagon tours of the Plateau AgResearch and Education Center. Young ones will enjoy playing on the many structures in the KinderGarden.
The festival will also include educational displays and garden vendors. The popular UT Extension Ask-the-Expert booth invites visitors to bring samples or photos of diseased plant materials or insect pests for analysis and recommended treatments.
Crowds at last year’s event exceeded 800 people, and Walt Hitch, director of the UT Plateau AgResearch and Education Center, says the center can accommodate an even larger crowd. The center has plenty of space for free parking and shuttles will be on hand to help those with mobility issues, he said.
The festival will open at 8 a.m. CDT and formal tours and educational seminars will begin at 9 a.m. The program is scheduled to adjourn at 3 p.m.
Snacks and lunch items will be available for purchase throughout the day. For more information, call the center at 931-484-0034 or visit the Cumberland County Master Gardeners website: www.ccmga.org. Click on the right-hand link to the Fall Gardeners’ Festival for complete details and a copy of scheduled seminars.
In 2013 the UT Gardens, Crossville, became the third site in the UT Gardens’ statewide plant collection, which is now designated at the state’s official botanical garden.
The Cumberland County Master Gardeners Association is a program of the county’s UT Extension office. The Plateau AgResearch and Education Center is one of 10 outdoor laboratories located throughout the state as part of the UT AgResearch system. Both UT Extension and UT AgResearch are part of the UT Institute of Agriculture.
Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu
