Local gardeners from the area gathered Friday at MSU to participate in the annual Garden Day. The event featured a variety of workshops, plant vendors and keynote speakers, gardeners share their experiences in the day.
There was a unique aroma Friday afternoon on the first floor of the Plant and Soil Sciences Building, but it wasn’t that of food — it was of plants.
Dozens of different plant species filled the conservatory, along with gardeners observing and purchasing many for their own gardens.
Friday was the annual Garden Day at MSU, led and organized by the MSU Horticulture Gardens, and with a dozen workshops and two keynote speakers, including the director of the MSU Horticulture Gardens, Art Cameron.
The day is an opportunity for the public to learn how to be successful gardeners, program coordinator Jennifer Sweet said.
“It’s a great thing for the community because it educates (the participants) about gardening,” Sweet said. “They can come and get all sorts of different information about tons of topics that we offer here. It’s a good chance for them to know what’s going on in the community (and to) interact with other people who are gardeners.”
Lansing resident and active gardener Cathy Cottrill has been attending the annual event off and on since 2002, but the day renewed her love for gardening, she said.
“It has been a very worthwhile, educational (and) inspirational experience so far. It gets me really motivated,” Cottrill said. “Sometimes I’m excited, then my motivation kind of falls back. Then after coming today, I get real focused again, my motivation gets much more focused and I know where I want to go (with gardening).”
The experience of MSU’s Garden Day is not only about learning how to improve a garden, but meeting with other local gardeners as well, Cottrill said.
“It’s a really good way to learn more, they always bring in really interesting speakers and workshops,” she said. “It’s always a way to learn more about gardening in the community and also to meet other gardeners.”
The annual event is something she looks forward to, where the day is a catapult for coming back to her garden with new ideas, she said.
Cameron said the day is a combination of instructional and motivational messages in the gardening field that reaches new audiences every year. Gardening is key to introducing some positivity to our citizens in their respective residences, he said.
“I definitely feel that plants are good for the soul and good for the communities, and good in many different ways,” Cameron said. “Everything from natural ecosystems to the food that we eat. It’s a great outreach program for us today, the gardens really are about inspiration and education, so today we hope to get a little of both those across.”
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