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Holtman Family Wins America's Anniversary Garden Contest

   

Holtman Family Wins America's Anniversary Garden Contest Mark McCann (left), director, Virginia Cooperative Extension, presents the America's Anniversary Garden Contest Best Overall Garden award to Danielle Holtman and her grandfather, Jim Holtman, standing next to a photograph of their award-winning garden.

When Jim Holtman read about the America’s Anniversary GardenTM contest in his local paper, he knew he wanted to enter. Jim and his granddaughter, Danielle, do a gardening project together every year, and the patriotic theme appealed to him.

“I thought this contest would be a great opportunity to teach Danielle about the rewards of hard work,” Holtman said. Holtman and Danielle were amply rewarded with the praise of friends, neighbors, and passers-by when their garden was finished and they won an award from the Craig County Garden Club. Being recognized as the overall winner in the 2007 state contest was an additional honor.

They planted a 15-foot by 40-foot bed with over 450 red, white, and blue flowers in Jim and Joyce Holtman’s front yard. Most of those plants were from seed, with some extra seedlings ordered from a local garden center.

Danielle is a student at Craig County Middle School. She commented that her least favorite task of the project was the weeding, but that she is proud of what she and her grandfather accomplished, and enjoyed the time they spent together on the project. “I like working with the plants,” she went on to say.

The award selection committee cited the impact of this project on two generations of gardeners and the legacy that Holtman is passing along to his granddaughter as their reasons for selection.

The contest was the culmination of the America’s Anniversary Garden project begun in 2005 as part of the Jamestown 2007 commemoration. The VCE America’s Anniversary Garden committee included Joyce Latimer, Extension specialist; Bonnie Appleton, Extension specialist; Dave Close, state Master Gardener coordinator; and LeAnne Dubois, Extension agent.