HOUSTON At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Diane Ballentine, a Harris County Master Gardener and project coordinator of sorts, was a nervous wreck.
Sure, the caterer was busy in the kitchen preparing hors d’oeuvres and most of the garden’s flowers were in full bloom. It didn’t matter that over three months had gone into preparing for the dedication, things still had to be just right.
As it turned out, things went very well. More than 40 people attended the ceremony to thank sponsors and volunteers and to have the first look at the site.
This night (May 22) marked the grand opening of the Millennium Display Garden at the Harris County office of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. The garden was a two-year project that involved more than 60 volunteers from the Harris County chapter of the Master Gardeners Association.
According to Bill Adams, the county’s horticultural agent, the millennium garden project was a great success. The celebration was only icing on the cake.
“Before, there was this soggy grassy area with a few flower beds,” he said. “Rather than just renovating the flower beds, the volunteers came up with this great idea.” Adams serves as the coordinator of the Master Gardener volunteer program, which is an Extension Service-sponsored project.
Ballentine asked fellow Master Gardener Dave Mason to design a garden that would allow other Master Gardeners to develop and maintain individual areas. The garden also demonstrates varieties of plantings that extend well beyond the typical vegetable patch or flower garden. Each area is equipped with a mailbox filled with information about the section’s plants and growing requirements.
A large planting, the garden measures 220 feet by 55 feet, and actually comprises these seven gardens and hundreds of plant varieties:
-Heirloom garden, includes flowers such as paper white narcissus and antique roses.
-Meditation, incorporates some of the principles of Feng Shui, an ancient method of landscaping design, and is located in the far corner of the area.
-Bog and water, includes a pond with live fish, several types of water lilies and other species of plants that flourish near water.
-Drought-tolerant, includes Society Garlic, bi-color iris and freeway daisies (osteospermum).
-Color border, runs along side the fence that shapes the entire garden.
-Part-shade, created from existing trees. There is place for visitors to stop and take a “break in the shade”.
-Day lily, includes various forms of the day lily such as Ida’s Magic, Little Joshua, Tata and many more.
With a $3,000 donation from the Garden Club of Houston and profits from the Association’s flower sales, the project was completed with little funding from the city or county.
“This could have easily been some government project that two employees were assigned to work on,” Adams said. “But in this case it was a lot more community involvement, which will ensure that it will be kept up.”
Ballentine, the association’s treasurer, said the project was also supported by donations from the Lone Star Koi Club, Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, and many others. Additional help came from prisoners on work release and volunteers.
The Millennium Display Garden is open to the public Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. It is located at the Extension office, #2 Abercrombie in North Houston.
Under Extension’s Master Gardener program, volunteers are designated Master Gardeners after completing course work as well as volunteer hours.
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