Overton Horticultural Field Day to include flowers and vegetables

For the first time in many years, the Overton Horticultural Field Day will include vegetable trials, not just flowers.

That's not to say there won't be plenty of flowers at the field day, said Dr. Brent Pemberton, Texas AgriLife Research horticulturist. Each year, the field day features the East Texas bedding plant performance trials that Pemberton oversees.

The 2009 Overton Horticultural Field Day will be held Thursday, June 25, at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Overton. The field day will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the center's Overton's North Farm site. The tour will continue at the site until about 10:30, then move to the center's headquarters building, where a demonstration garden is located.

Lunch will be served at about 11:30 a.m.

After lunch, the program will move inside with a presentation by Dr. Pemberton and Jimmy Turner of the Dallas Arboretum on the 2009 California Spring Showcase, also known as Pack Trials. The program will conclude by 2:30 p.m.

Close to 500 bedding plant varieties will be featured this year and that includes more than 80 varieties in the container trials. The vegetable trials will include tests on controlling nematodes on tomatoes, powdery mildew on pumpkins and southern blight on tomatoes according to Dr. Karl Steddom, Texas AgriLife Extension Plant Pathologist.

This year, there will be a continuing emphasis on vinca, including two new series that are resistant to aerial phytophthora, a serious landscape problem with this crop all across the South.

The new vinca are the Cora and Nirvana series. A large selection of colors from both series will be on display. These plants have been designated as Texas Superstar selections this year. In addition, there will be excellent displays of geranium, trailing petunias, verbena, lantana and lobelia.

Registration is free and includes lunch. The center is located 1 mile north of downtown Overton on State Highway 3053.

Dennis Smith can be contacted at the Gregg County Extension Office by e-mail at dg-smith@tamu.edu or telephone at 903- 236-8429.