BY MIRIAM JABOUR

Special to The Vicksburg Post

Gardening has deep roots in our rich Southern cultural heritage. Essential gardening skills as well as treasured heirloom seeds were passed down from generation to generation and often meant the difference between life and death to our ancestors. The Warren County Master Gardeners’  Know  Your Roots project, funded through a $10,000 Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area grant, has allowed the group  to share gardening traditions utilizing The Heritage Demonstration Garden with students, Junior Ranger campers, teachers and historic property owners from various areas across the state.

To celebrate the project’s success, on Tuesday, from  4-6 p.m., area residents are invited to a Know Your Roots: Community Night at the Heritage Demonstration Garden. The event is free and open to the public.

“We have four storytellers lined up,” Anita Schilling, chairman of the Heritage Demonstration Garden and Know Your Roots project, said. “Amie Clark who along with her children, Morgan Gates, David Harris, and Michael Logue, will share details of life in the 1800s. There will be period music provided by Wandra Evans and the dulicimer group, plus Jason Smith with his gourd banjo. Master Gardeners will be on hand to answer questions and conduct garden tours with MG Linda Baudo giving a special seed saving/sharing talk. Dr. Shaun Broderick, Mississippi State Extension Service, who is in charge of the ornamental gardens at the Crystal Springs Truck Crop Experiment Station, will also be on hand. We’ll have some seed giveaways and several old-fashioned children’s games to play. This should be fun for the entire family.”

To obtain the $10,000 Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area grant, the Master Gardeners agreed to provide 400 man hours plus a matching cash contribution.

More than 500 volunteer hours have gone towards the Know Your Roots project since Jan. 1 of this year and will continue to accrue through the end of September. Plus, an additional 300 hours have been spent in 2017 on the weekly gardening chores associated with the upkeep and harvesting of the garden by 17 dedicated local Master Gardeners. Grant funds were used for the installation of an irrigation system, signage and social media in the garden, as well as workshops for various groups.

“Our vision is to show off the Heritage Garden with ten tall green QR (Quick Response) message stands,” Schilling said. “Several QR reader or scanner apps are available on both iOS (iPhones) and Android platforms, but you don’t have to have a QR scanner to learn something about the garden.  Each QR message has a photo, information, and then a separate activity or more information (usually from MSU Extension) embedded in the QR scan.  Our current topics feature Old Blush China Rose, Lamb’s Ear, No Mosquito Herbs, Mississippi Heirloom Cotton, Camellia, Echinacea or Coneflower, Confederate Jasmine, Malabar Spinach, Scoville Heat Index (Pepper), Three Sisters, and Summer and Winter Squash.”

Schilling said that more topics are in the works including Annuals & Perennials, Gourds (Nest Egg & Birdhouse), Hyacinth Bean, Composting, Accessible Gardening, Marigolds & Tomatoes, and additional Herb information.

“We only have ten of the green QR stands, but we plan to change the cards out depending on the season and what we have growing in the future months,” Schilling said.

Education is a key goal of the Master Gardener program. People can read the new QR messages and learn more about plantings without an MG being on site. The MG website and Facebook page are more visible to the public and there’s also an Instagram account:MSWarrenCountyMasterGardeners.

“Further expanding the educational aspects of the Know Your Roots project was the Know Your Roots: Grow Your Business, a one day short course, which we offered in June with Kathy Castellane as our major lead, and the Train the Teachers Workshop for continuing education units that Barbara Hill and Bobbie Carlisle facilitated” Schilling added.

Without the co-operation from various groups and individuals, the Know Your Roots project and the Heritage Demonstration Garden, may have never happened. Master Gardener Michael Logue and MSU Extension County Agent Anna McCain wrote the original grant application. The funds were sent to the MSU Extension Service to manage the project. When McCain resigned earlier this year, her successor Sandy Havard  stepped in to assist with implementing the grant.

“We recognize our partners in this endeavor:  Vicksburg National Military Park with Sara Strickland, VNMP Natural Resource Program Director, serving as our liason; Warren County Extension Service,  Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area, and of course, Warren County Master Gardener volunteers who supplied the manpower,” Schilling said. “This is the seventh year of the partnership between Warren County Master Gardeners and the Vicksburg National Military Park and it has been positive for all of us.”

Miriam Jabour is a Master Gardener and local freelance writer.