The Master Gardener volunteers of Orange County are raising funds to develop new demonstration gardens at the Bonnie B. Davis Environment and Agriculture Center in Hillsborough . The gardens, which will help local residents learn how to deal with garden challenges, are named in honor of the late Ms. Davis, a longtime family and consumer science agent for the Extension service in Orange County. The EMG volunteers are raising funds to develop the BBD Gardens. If you’d like to support the gardens with a donation, read more at Donor Request.

The North Orange County complex completed in 2021 includes the Bonnie B. Davis Environment and Agricultural Center, which provides offices for the Cooperative Extension; the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation; Farm Services Agency; Soil and Water Conservation District; and the Orange County Forest Service. The Center was dedicated to Bonnie Briley Davis, a Family and Consumer Science Agent who dedicated her career to Orange County residents. It is the first county building named after a Black woman, and the only Center named after a Family and Consumer Science or Home Demonstration Agent.

The existing landscaping at the complex was minimal when the building opened. Mart Bumgarner, Orange County Horticulture Agent, and the NC State Extension Master Gardener (EMG) volunteers saw opportunity in the nearly empty grounds for what was to become the Bonnie B. Davis Demonstration Gardens (BBD Gardens).

The goal of the BBD Gardens is to demonstrate good-gardening practices for the varied interests of Orange County gardeners. The original five gardens were designed by the EMG volunteer Intern Class of 2022 as part of their training program. The Orange EMG volunteers’ Advisory Committee approved the gardens as an official EMG volunteer project and members of the intern class prepared the garden beds under the direction of the Extension Agent. They subsequently have propagated plants, sought funding for other plant materials and supplies, created raised beds, trellises, a composting site, and began plantings.

These initial gardens offer solutions to different challenges facing Orange County gardeners:

• The D’Sign Garden examines the challenges highlighting a physically low sign identifying the building complex with plants that can withstand the hot, dry, yet humid heat of North Carolina summers.
• The Slope Solution Garden offers solutions to problems of high summer heat and rain runoff on steep slopes.
• The Creative Containers Garden showcases both temporary and permanent exhibits of planters in a patio area with challenges of variable shade and sun, as well as the need to move planters to facilitate alternative uses for the space.
• The N.C. Native Plants Garden offers a display of plants native to our region in a largely shaded area.
• The Year-Round Edible Garden features a variety of edible plants with yields at various times of the year.

Because education is the primary purpose of the gardens, EMG volunteers anticipate undertaking additional gardening initiatives in response to educational needs.