Black History Month

When it came to understanding how to excel in all things gardening, renowned horticulturist Asa Sims clearly got the memo. In 1908 he arrived in the Tidewater area, a place he would call home for over six decades. Sims aspired to become a painter. Instead, the teenager enrolled in agriculture classes at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now known as Hampton University.) A position at the university greenhouse would last three decades with Sims rising to the role of General Manager.

To celebrate Black History Month, we are highlighting some of the many contributions of African-Americans to the horticultural industry. Today we share a story especially important to the Hampton Roads community, the story behind the WPA Memorial Garden located in the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Content from Norfolk Botanical Garden

As we celebrate black history month, we'd like to highlight the achievements of black men and women in horticulture. We'd like to thank Abra Lee with @conquerthesoil for this image and story from June of 1870, which features the Flower Farmers in D.C.

Black History Month is an annual, monthlong celebration in February to honor and remember the achievements of the African American community and recognize their role in our history. It all began in 1926, when historian and scholar Carter G. Woodson chose February 7 for the first celebration of Negro History Week- an event to encourage scholars to engage in the intensive study of the Black past, a subject that had long been sorely neglected by academia and in U.S. schools.