By KAREN BINDER
Illinois correspondent

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Any hint that interest in agriculture may be waning faded as quickly as the spring sun burned the morning mist away as more than 600 high school students attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s sixth annual Agriculture Industry Day.

Nearly 50 high schools were represented.

FFA judging contests remained one of the main educational components of the morning’s program April 16, but organizers also incorporated several timely workshops that focused on nutrition, lawn care and landscaping, just a few of the college’s top-rated programs. The College of Agriculture Sciences has seen its enrollment growing by at least 5 percent a year.

For Karen Midden, landscape design professor at SIUC, these next several weeks mark the start of a period of pure fun for landscaping enthusiasts.

“When you’re at the stage of figuring out what you want to do, coming up with design ideas, that is like the really fun part. Get to your garden centers now, access the Internet and garden magazines for ideas, and then treat your plants as your paints,” Midden said.

“We are fortunate here in this region in that we have the ability to have something blooming all season, so you can design your walkway or other areas to include different colors all season long,” she continued. Some basic tips Midden and graduate assistant Mary Fisher shared during the workshop include:

•Understand your climate zone and what plants will thrive. “Obviously you won’t want to try and grow an orange tree here, although I’m trying now to get a fig tree to make it.”

•Know which plants require more shade than others. “You don’t want to plant hostas in full sun,” Fisher shared.

•Learn when to cut back certain plants. Such trimming leads to stronger blooms the following year.

•“Dead-heading” is good for most plants, Midden said. Breaking off dead blooms “saves the plant energy for next year’s bloom.”

•Think of creating “rooms” as you begin thinking about landscape ideas. “When you look outside, think of how you can see defined areas. It’s like creating additional rooms outdoors,” Midden said.
The event culminated with an address from Chelsea Doss, vice president of the FFA’s southern region and a Saluki Barbecue provided by Illinois beef and pork producers.

“These are educational events, so the students learn teamwork, they learn leadership and they learn specifics about animal breeds and breeding characteristics,” said Seburn Pense, a professor in plant and soil sciences at SIUC. “It helps develop the kids for their career.”