The Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) is completing its hundred years this year(2014), which is a landmark and a milestone. VCE has been helping garden-lovers for a CENTURY!
I am a Virginian for the last twenty-two years. Originally I came from India. In the house I grew up in India had several fruit trees like Mango, Jack fruit, Blackberry, Bananas, Gooseberry ( All tropical Fruits). We also had a nice flower garden. We had roses, gardenia, jasmine, Hibiscus, Plumeria, and so many other flowers. My mother had a vegetable garden and a special herb garden.
Thus from my childhood I started loving trees, shrubs and plants. Luckily, my home in Roanoke County also has several fruit trees, like apple, cherry, pears, plum, and apricot. I have several flower plants and of course Virginia’s state flower, Dogwood. I kept a name for each of my trees and all of my flower plants. I call them by their names. You can easily understand how much love I have for them.
Whenever I faced any problem with my trees and plants, I went to the Brambleton Ave office for their suggestion and they helped me.
In particular, this year I will not forget the help I got from Ms. Barbara Leach, who is Program Assistant, Horticulture Technician in that office. My favorite apple tree (whose name is Sonali, an Indian name), which gives me very sweet yellow apples, got affected with some insects/ bugs and the branches started becoming brown and then dying.
I became very much worried about the tree. I was thinking who can cure these problems? I went to Brambleton office to get some help. Ms. Barbara Leach listened to me fully, then explained everything how to get rid of this problem, and wrote down the name of a medicine to be applied.
Unfortunately, I misplaced the paper in which she wrote medicine’s name. I was really ashamed about it and was very hesitant to approach Ms. Barbara Leach again. But I decided to meet her again. I was relieved when she gladly explained everything again to me and wrote the medicine’s name. She told me to wait till the spring of 2015 for applying the medicine. Now I am looking forward to spring of 2015.
Thank you, Ms. Barbara Leach for your kind help. I wish you the very best. Also I am thankful to Virginia Cooperative Extension Program!
– Geetu Sarkar / Roanoke
