Rain barrel and split rail demonstrations, plus seed giveaway

The Master Gardener Display Garden in Evansville is the place to be Saturday morning, October 8.

Master gardener Kay and Mike Haller will show how to install and use rain barrels at 8:00 a.m., and Shawn Dickerson, Evansville City Arborist, will demonstrate the art of splitting rails and building split rail fences at 9:00 a.m.

The 1.2 acre Display Garden is located south of Lloyd Expressway between Stockwell Road and Vann Avenue, next to the Eykamp Scout Center.

Throughout the morning, master gardeners will be working in the Display Garden and available to answer questions about growing flowers and vegetables. Of special note is the All-America Selections (AAS) Garden, one of only 200 AAS gardens in North America.

AAS is a national organization formed in 1934 to test newly introduced flowers and vegetables and then promote the winners. After testing plants throughout the continent, only the best are selected as AAS winners; the Master Gardener Display Garden in Evansville features the past five years of AAS winners. In addition to sharing gardening tips, master gardeners will be giving away free AAS seeds to garden visitors that morning until the supply is depleted.

The demonstrations and AAS seed giveaway are sponsored by Southwestern Indiana Master Gardener Association. SWIMGA includes over 400 trained volunteers sharing their expertise in a wide range of community garden projects and public education. More than 20,000 hours are donated to the community each year.