The Penn State Extension Demonstration Gardens are located in North and South Parks. Both parks were established in the spring of 1927, with North Park being the largest park in Allegheny County covering 3,075 acres and South Park 2,150 acres. Both gardens feature annual display beds and pollinator gardens and offer ideas for homeowners to implement in their own gardens. An edible teaching garden is located in the Point Breeze area of Pittsburgh. This garden includes both fruits and vegetables and includes a variety trial garden for peppers. Master Gardeners are also involved with vegetable breeding on tomatoes, peppers, and squash.
The primary purpose of the gardens is to showcase flowering plants that perform well in our climate and soils with minimal maintenance. The gardens include annual display beds of over 125 varieties of annuals. At the end of each season, the plants are evaluated based on their performance in the garden (see links below).
Each site also includes an herb garden and a pollinator garden. The pollinator garden is part of a statewide Master Gardener initiative to promote bee-friendly gardens and educate the public on the importance of pollinators.
No herbicides, insecticides or fungicides are used in the gardens; however, deer repellent is applied to the pollinator gardens as deer are a serious problem. A few annuals that were severely damaged right after planting were also sprayed to allow them a chance to get established. Plants that are damaged by deer for three consecutive years are not used again. The deer population forces us to try new plants every year, while keeping the tried and true.
The gardens are planted by the first week of June, and the spent annuals removed at the end of the season. The gardens are designed for self-guided tours, so each plant is labeled with its botanical name, and common name. There is a mailbox at each site where visitors can leave comments or questions.
The Demonstration Garden is sited in front of the Veterans Memorial; the semi-circular stone monument and historic cannon provide a unique background for the flowers.
In 2022, a team was assembled to redesign the demonstration garden at South Park. Many and varied talents came together to address the task. Oh, what an exciting journey this has been!
The Edible Teaching Garden (ETG) is an urban garden in the East End of Pittsburgh maintained by Master Gardeners for horticultural educational purposes.
