A covered wagon will be available for visitors to tour the 600-acre agronomic and vegetable research areas of the experiment station. Featured presentations will be held inside air-conditioned meeting rooms. Among the featured speakers, James Miles, Shelby County Extension agent, will talk about how to incorporate traditional edible plants in non-traditional settings. For example, he plans to show the crowd how to use fruits like strawberries and blueberries, and vegetables and herbs as groundcovers and hedges. Linda Seals, a member of the UT Institute of Agriculture Gardens staff, will talk about the challenges of gardening with purple plants.
Purple foliage is popular and trendy in gardening.
In the trial gardens in Knoxville, we experiment with using purple plants in different settings. The contrast of colors creates drama in the garden. Seals assures attendees that all of the information she presents at the Summer Celebration about growing purple plants will apply to the conditions in the area around Jackson. Other special features of this year's celebration include a youth adventure, a 4-H dress revue, and a presentation on creative ways to add peaches to your diet. At the youth adventure, the young and young at heart will test their knowledge of plants, wildlife, and safety at a series of interactive exhibits.