News 2005 Archive

Scarlet & Gray Ag Day - Added 2005-05-20

On May 20th, the Agricultural Education Society at OSU hosted the 7th annual Scarlet & Gray Ag Day with the theme "Agriculture... leading the Nation." The mission of Scarlet & Gray Ag Day is to "educate the consumers of tomorrow" about the United States' #1 industry - Agriculture. This year's event offered 25 agriculture-related sessions on a variety of topics, given by 70 presenters and educators, supported by more than 160 OSU student volunteers, and attended by over 550 Columbus area 4th-6th grade students.

The OPGC was privileged to offer a presentation on seed conservation. In 5 sessions, we had a total of 110 student visitors from 6 schools. Art Wells gave a step-by-step presentation on how to conserve and regenerate seeds, followed by a time for questions from the students. They were then given the hands on opportunity to transplant Rudbeckia seedlings from plugs to cell packs that they could take home to begin their seed saving projects. Students were then given a handout entitled "Seven Steps of Seed Saving" complete with growing tips on the reverse.

Scarlet & Grey Ag day (Microsoft Word Document, 692 KB)

To read more about Scarlet and Gray Ag Day visit The Lantern

Mums Research - Added 2005-05-19

The Green Reserve recently featured an article by Andrea Mowery on Mum Research in the Learning Gardens, featuring Chadwick Arboretum's Learning Garden.

"Mum Research in the Learning Gardens" Article (Microsoft Word Document, 27 KB)

OPGC Mums (Microsoft Excel Stylesheet, 19 KB)

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OPGC Reviving "Old-Style" Petunias - Added 2005-04-12

Petunias with blooms of white, purple, pink, red and yellow populate greenhouses at Ohio State University's Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center (OPGC). Petunias are not uncommon, but what makes these so special is that they haven't been in the public eye for nearly 40 years.

Researchers at the OPGC, located on the campus of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, are restoring the seed viability of heirloom petunias. The seed, which has been sitting in storage at the U.S. Department of Agriculture since the 1960s, was recently transferred to the OPGC.

"We were told that the viability of the seed was very low," said David Tay, OPGC director. "It was our job to try and save that seed and produce germplasm of the cultivars produced for future research and perhaps renew market interest."

So far, five different open-pollinated heirloom petunia cultivars have been restored and researchers are working on another 25. The plants come in a variety of flower colors and sizes. The petunia, a summer annual, is known for its diverse colors and easy maintenance, both in the landscape and in gardens (including container gardening).

"These plants are frozen in time. No one is growing these cultivars anymore," said Tay. "I think there is a renewed interest in some of the old-style flowers. Many people want to grow them but they are just not in the market."

For more information on the project, contact David Tay at (614) 292-3708 or tay.9@osu.edu, or OPGC curator Susan Stieve at (614) 292-3726 or stieve.1@osu.edu.

The OPGC, a cooperative effort between Ohio State and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, was developed to save, assess and promote the use of herbaceous ornamental plant germplasm. It is the first such undertaking in the world. To date, over 2,700 plant accessions have been collected.