THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507010200
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
If you'd like to plant a bed in your garden to attract butterflies, or one that features plants with fragrance and texture or a bed full of lilies that bloom all summer, you can see such theme gardens in action at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Experimental Station on Diamond Springs Road.
That's because Holly Cruser's master's degree thesis is developing into lifetime project.
Cruser is a graduate student in Virginia Tech's master of science in horticulture degree program at the experimental station. For her thesis, she designed 14 different theme beds that could become display gardens for the public on the experimental station grounds.
Well, that was the original plan. Cruser would conceive of the various themes for each bed, design the beds and write up all requirements for implementing the gardens, from irrigation plans to digging the beds and acquiring the plants. In other words, the paperwork for creating 14 theme gardens for the experimental station would be Cruser's thesis.
But Cruser did not stop there. Although she's not required to do more for her degree, she's volunteered to supervise the installation of the gardens and with other experimental station volunteers to plant and care for them.
She has the full support of the experimental station staff. The station features an arboretum and annual trial gardens that also are open for local gardeners to visit, but the majority of the work at the station is basic plant research, developing new species and new gardening techniques for the nursery industry.
The Virginia Nurserymen's Association, which supports research at the station, also supported the theme gardens by donating the irrigation system. Local nurserymen, pleased with the prospect of having unusual plants on display in gardens where the public could see them, provided the plant materials.
Cruser's attractive diamond, kidney and other gracefully shaped flower beds are small and suitable to replicate in any homeowner's yard. None is more than 400 square feet. The gardens are adjacent to the experimental station's trial gardens and arboretum.
Although Cruser's gardens are not complete yet, she is ready for you to come see what's there if you like. She has already planted a butterfly garden, perennial bed, day lily bed and a four-season bulb bed among others. She has plans for a bog garden and an elevated garden as well as edible landscape, native plant and vine gardens.
The texture and fragrance garden is one that's almost complete. Ferns are among the plants planted for texture. A viburnum that has red stems, ridged leaves and tiny blue berries is an interesting plant all the way around, but especially for texture. Lilacs, ginger lilies and gardenias are among the fragrance plants..
The four-season bulb garden features arum, a jack-in-the-pulpit-like plant that blooms in December, along with the traditionally early spring blooming crocus as well as the crocus that bloom in fall. The oblong perennial bed is arranged to show gardeners how to take a flower bed from cool to hot colors.
The day lily bed is in full bloom now. Full of color, it features lilies in burgundy, tangerine, peach and lavender as well as several shades of off-white. ``I want to show people how many colors of day lilies there are,'' Cruser said. There are shrub beds, too, among them a bed of rugosa roses, that don't need to be pruned or clipped, a real time saver for a busy homeowner. ``I am using shrubs in a more natural shape rather than shearing them and I am using smaller ones that can be used in suburban yards.''
Cruser really wants homeowners to come and look at her gardens to see if they would like to have certain plants in their own gardens. ``The idea is for the general public to go and see the plants growing in the ground instead of in a pot,'' Cruser said.
Folks are welcome to stop by the station any time at 1444 Diamond Springs Road or call 363-3900 for an appointment with Cruser.
P.S. OTHER GARDEN NEWS: Norfolk Botanical Garden is on-line. Educators can communicate with the garden's education department via the Learning Link Internet connections, kane-nbg(AT)whro-pbs.org. Select ``V'' from the main menu. The garden's horticulture department's address is NBG(AT)infi.net.
Norfolk Botanical Garden also is sponsoring Nature Discovery Camps from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, July 10-14 and 17-21, and Aug. 7-11. The first two sessions are for children 7 to 9 and the August session is for young artists, 10 to 12. Call 441-5838 for registration information.
KIDS, 8 TO 12, CAN LEARN HOW TO CHURN BUTTER and play Colonial games among other hands-on activities from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at Lynnhaven House.
The fee is $5. Call 456-0351 or 481-2145 for reservations. ILLUSTRATION: Holly Cruser, a horticulture graduate student at Virginia Tech,
is supervising the installation of themed gardens, including this
viburnum, at Hampton Roads Agricultural Experimental Station.
Photos by
MARY REID BARROW
by CNB