Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992 TAG: 9203260013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Wilson is the host of public television's "The Victory Garden South." He has spent 45 years working as a farmer, horticulturist, author and all-round expert on plants.
But in a recent television interview, Wilson says he can't keep pace with the rapidly changing technology in the horticultural world.
"Things happening in gene splicing are unbelievable," Wilson says. "It will change gardening."
Wilson notes that advances in cell fusion and gene splicing have already produced crosses that scientists heretofore thought impossible - such as that between beans and sunflowers.
The potential, he says, bewilders him, though he doesn't see anything "Strangelovian" in it.
Meanwhile, Wilson, who will speak at Virginia Western Community College on Saturday, is too busy to really worry about keeping up with the blossoming technology.
A new book that reflects a growing interest has just been published - "Landscaping with Wild Flowers." Wilson is at work on another book about landscaping with herbs. And his television and speaking schedules keep him hopping.
Two years ago, he and his wife, Jane, closed their three-acre herb farm because of his busy schedule.
"I'm gone every weekend from January through May 15," Wilson says.
Wilson grew up on a farm in Mississippi and developed a natural resistance to gardens when his father forced him to work in them. But that changed after he went to the University of Missouri on the GI Bill and studied agriculture. Since then, Wilson has been involved in horticulture in one way or another.
Gardening trends go in cycles, he says.
"Vegetable gardening is down, but there are indications that it's coming back," Wilson says.
"Vegetable seed sales have been off because more people are moving into condominiums and apartments. They don't have enough room for a vegetable garden. But they plant in containers."
Consequently, ornamental gardening is on the upswing.
Also, the trend of both spouses working and commuting has cut into vegetable gardening.
"They literally don't have the time, and vegetable gardening drops off of the end," Wilson says.
"But with more people out of work, we think vegetable gardening is coming back. Planting vegetables is almost a visceral reaction in economic hard times. I've seen two or three cycles because of recession."
In today's environmentally conscious, all-natural climate, wildflower landscaping is sprouting at a phenomenal rate.
"Every talk I've given on wildflowers has been packed," Wilson says. "It's the subject, not me. This hasn't happened in other talks I've given."
Gardeners are interested in creating complete habitats, he explains. When wildflowers proliferate, along come frogs, finches, insects, hummingbirds and a variety of other life forms.
"This is the real thing," Wilson notes. "The whole ecosystem moves back in." He expects native trees and shrubs to rise in popularity, replacing more exotic types that gardeners have traditionally favored.
Though such habitats are not totally maintenance free, they don't require the usual herbicides, fungicides and insecticides as other forms of gardening.
People garden for a variety of reasons, Wilson says. It relieves stress. It's a hobby that takes more observation than real study. And during a time of uncertainty, it gives people a sense of control.
"Plants are one thing they can manipulate," Wilson says.
by CNB