Gardenline Gardenline is a call-in service to answer your gardening questions. The Penn State Cooperative Extension Demonstration Gardens primary mission is to educate home gardeners about annual bedding plants, perennials and ornamental grasses that perform well in western Pennsylvania. The gardens are located in North Park and South Park. The gardens provide area gardeners with an opportunity to see new and unusual varieties of bedding plants as well as heirloom varieties. The gardens are planted and maintained by Penn State Master Gardener volunteers.
Maintenance consists of watering, deadheading and weeding one night a week at each site.
Pesticide use is minimal, mostly to help with weed control. The gardens are open and unfenced. No effort is made to keep deer and other wildlife out of them. The gardens are planted the first week of June and the annuals torn out in late October. This is a new program for plant evaluation, display, education and promotion.