Master Gardener Demonstration Garden

The Master Gardener Demonstration Garden was begun in 1993 as a single planting area of small trees and woody ornamental plants, with selected perennials and groundcovers.

Over the ensuing years, the orginal plot has expanded east to west and has been joined by additional beds:  a Rock Garden, a small Herb Bed, a Groundcover Garden, a Native Garden, and an Annual Bed, which often serves as a Trial Garden, where we evaluate multiple varieties or cultivars of a chosen annual. 

Throughout the gardens are plants attractive to bees and other pollinating insects, qualifying it as a Penn State Pollinator 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 Garden is free and open to the public at all times.  Parking is abundant and close, and most of the beds are handicap-accessible.