Penn State Master Gardeners of Berks County have created multi-faceted educational gardens at the Berks County Ag Center. These are free and open to the public at all times and are handicap-accessible.
The Master Gardener Demonstration Garden
The Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens got their start in 1993 as a single planting area of small trees and woody ornamental plants, with select perennials and groundcovers providing visual and textural interest throughout the year. Over a span of three decades, the original single planting area was expanded then renovated then expanded again to include a Rock Garden, a Native Garden, and an Annual Bed, which, for a period of time served as a Trial Garden to evaluate multiple varieties or cultivars of select annuals.
Further expansion in recent years has resulted in a Wall Garden, a Wood's Edge Garden, an extensive entry planting in the Long Oval Island of the driveway, a dedicated Pollinator Research plot, and of course a Vegetable Garden. A working compost park near the Vegetable Garden recycles about 95% of the yard waste produced by these Demonstration Gardens. The resulting compost is then distributed among the gardens or is sold at the annual Spring Plant Sale. In addition, four large concrete planters along the front of the building showcase 4 seasonal living works of art.
The newest addition to the Demonstration Gardens is a Slope Garden on the east facing side of the Agricultural Center. The Master Gardener Basic Training class of 2022 were challenged with the task of designing and installing a garden to demonstrate how a neglected sloped area, hill or embankment can be transformed into an eye-catching garden using a variety of herbaceous perennials and deciduous shrubs which control erosion while providing 4 seasons of visual interest.
Throughout the gardens, plants which attract a wide variety of bees and other pollinating insects, have been incorporated into the landscape helping to qualify the property as a whole, a Penn State Pollinator-Friendly Garden.
The criteria for inclusion in the Demo Garden are that a plant have at least three seasons of interest, be drought and wind resistant, be disease and insect resistant, support itself with little maintenance, thrive in Berks County soils, and be readily available in the nursery trade. In short, the plants here are a demonstration of what homeowners can grow successfully on their own properties.
The Demonstration Gardens are free and open to the public. Ample parking is available and convenient Parking is abundant and close, and most of the gardens are handicapped-accessible.
