
DATE: Sunday, June 29, 1997                 TAG: 9706280082

SECTION: HOME                    PAGE: G1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  149 lines

HAMPTON ROADS AGRICULTURAL CENTER SEE HOW THEY GROW ACRES OF PERENNIALS, ANNUALS, HERBS, SHRUBS, TREES - EVEN WEEDS - LET YOU OBSERVE HOW PLANTS FARE IN OUR AREA

THE NAME - Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center - is a mouthful that signifies little to local gardeners.

The center's location on Diamond Springs Road near the intersection of Northhampton Boulevard in Virginia Beach is far from pastoral. Tractor-trailers lumber to and from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and commuters whiz in and out of Norfolk along Northampton.

Nothing about the setting evokes a gardener's curiosity. But it should. Many a secret garden lies behind that daunting name and place.

There are five acres of perennials, annuals, herbs, shrubs and trees showcasing what grows well in Hampton Roads. The gardens and arboretum are open to the public as is one of the center's nearby plant introduction nurseries.

For about two decades this public area, called the Virginia Tech Display Gardens and Virginia Tech Tidewater Arboretum, has been a colorful and educational adjunct to the center's main research mission which is geared to the horticulture industry.

But not many locals know about this free resource, said Holly Cruser, a Virginia Beach Master Gardener volunteer who oversees perennial theme beds at the center.

``Visitors always say, `I had no idea it was here,' '' Cruser said.

The gardens are not meant to be secret. You are invited to wander through at will during daylight hours, said Peter B. Schultz, center director and a Virginia Tech associate professor.

You can peruse the 12 theme gardens - anything from a native plant garden to a texture and fragrance garden. You can check on the latest annuals and how they grow in Hampton Roads or mosey through the shady arboretum looking at trees that grow well here. There's even an unusual weed identification bed to help you figure out which weeds are thriving amongst your flowers.

``Garden center managers also will come and look to make purchasing decisions for the next spring,'' Schultz said.

To visit the gardens and arboretum, visitors bypass the research facility and its offices. Just look for a sign that says ``Virginia Tech Tidewater Arboretum'' on Diamond Springs Road, just north of Northampton Boulevard. Immediately afterward, you'll see a sign that says ``Virginia Tech Display Gardens.'' There, smaller signs indicate parking on a grassy plot just off the road shoulder.

Pull up on the grass, get out and start looking around. It's a do-it-yourself tour. Most of the plants are marked. An information signboard is in the middle of the gardens, and guides to the trees are in a mailbox in the arboretum.

If you want to talk to a person, the best time to go is Thursday mornings when master gardeners are out working in the beds. The beds are conceived and cared for by volunteer Virginia Beach Master Gardeners under Schultz's direction. The arboretum is under the direction of Thomas J. Banko, Virginia Tech associate professor, with the help of the arboretum's friends' group.

Cruser recently received her master of science degree in horticulture from the center's graduate program under Virginia Tech's auspices. She developed the theme beds as her master's thesis project. If a garden club or other group wants a tour of the gardens, you can call the research and extension center, 363-3900, and they will contact Cruser.

``But we're always out there on Thursday mornings,'' Cruser said, ``so if you have any questions, that's the day to come.''

You don't need a Master Gardener, however, to have an enjoyable visit. A shady gazebo invites you to sit down and soak in the beauty of the flowers all around. Butterflies hover over the blooms, and bluebirds are active in a nearby birdhouse. Young rabbits enjoy the gardens in their own inimitable fashion.

The plants are labeled, so you can check out the All-American annual selections you heard about last spring. You can visit seasonally to see what blooms when in the Hampton Roads climate. For example in the annual gardens, overseen by Master Gardener Gloria Winiker, early bloomers like pansies are replaced by hot-weather plants, like zinnias.

You can see what takes full sun and what will grow in shadier spots. You can compare colors and other features too.

``It's not often you give people a chance to distinguish different types of foliage and the height of flowers,'' Cruser said.

Take the Perennial Contrast Garden, one of Cruser's 12 theme beds. You can compare, for example, the huge range of perennial salvias now available. Russian sage grows near the beautiful All-American selection called Strata that starts out with white blooms that develop blue tips.

Strata is thought to be an annual, but it wintered over last year, Cruser said. You also can walk over into the annual garden and see the true annual salvias in shades of lavender, rose, pink, purple and white.

A butterfly garden is planted to attract butterflies in spring, summer and fall. ``This garden doesn't miss a beat, because Scabiosa or pin-cushion flower only takes February off,'' Cruser said. ``It really is a hard working plant.''

A daylily bed will take your breath away. Sixty-seven varieties of daylilies in almost every color, except blue, provide continuous blooms.

``I would like to see flowers in a mature form, rather than in a pot at a nursery, and see them in a landscape situation when they are blooming at the correct time,'' Cruser said.

Along one side of the arboretum, Drake, a lacebark elm with etched bark and an interesting twisting growth pattern, shades a bed filled with ferns and other shade lovers. A walk under the tree canopies in the arboretum is cool and serene.

Suddenly you emerge into the bright sun and are transported to the desert. A mound of sandy soil creates a hot dry bed where desert plants grow. A cow's tongue cactus looks exactly like its name implies.

The 70-acre Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center under various names has been at its Diamond Springs Road location since 1907. The center's main mission over the years has been to provide the nursery and landscape industries with information from its research and extension program.

Blueberries, for example, were not grown here commercially until various varieties were tested at the center. Now, thanks to its scientists and horticulturists, the area has successful pick-your-own blueberry farms.

Over the years, the scientific research has all but obscured the perennial and annual gardens and the arboretum. But the opportunity for the general public is there too, day in and day out.

``There are so many great things to see,'' Cruser said. ``People just need to take the time to go and see.'' ILLUSTRATION: TING-LI WANG COLOR PHOTOS/The Virginian-Pilot

Carol Roll places an identification tag in a perennial garden. Roll

and other Virginia Beach Master Gardeners tend the beds at the

Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center on

Thursdays.

Holly Cruser, a Virginia Beach Master Gardener, oversees 12

perennial theme gardens at Virginia Tech Display Gardens. Daylilies,

above and right, are abloom in many colors now.

Photos

TING-LI WANG/The Virginian-Pilot

Master Gardener Irene Davis weeds a bed of Early Sunrise coreopsis

in a perennial theme garden at the Hampton Roads Agricultural

Research and Extension Center in Virginia Beach.