Staff Photo by John Rawlston -- Patsy Bowles works with other Master Gardeners on an exhibit for the Hamilton County Fair. The Master Gardeners of Hamilton County are constructing an exhibit that will demonstrate greener gardening techniques.

Hamilton County’s Master Gardeners are using their green thumbs to teach people at the Hamilton County Fair about a different kind of green.

The gardeners have spent about 1,500 hours building an exhibit called “Gardening Green,” for the fair, set for this weekend at Chester Frost Park in Hixson. The exhibit will offer instruction on building rain barrels, composting and creating living roofs. The fair is set for this weekend at Chester Frost Park in Hixson.

“We wanted to set up recycling bins and talk about low-wattage bulbs, but that’s not really our mission,” said Bud Hines, the Master Gardener who designed the project. “Our mission is gardening.”

Using reclaimed wood from a discarded boat dock and storm-downed trees, the group built a facade of a cabin, 8 feet wide, 8 feet tall and 3 feet deep. They will set it up with the eco-friendly demos when the fair kicks off Saturday, Mr. Hines said.

“Reading it in a book is one thing, but seeing it makes it attainable,” said Master Gardener Gretchen Rominger, of Hixson, as she stained a bench for the exhibit last week.

Ms. Rominger said the rain barrels and living roof should be particularly interesting to local gardeners.

“Prices are going up with the water,” she said. “We’re just not able to water our plants.”

To demonstrate the living roof, the gardeners will place flat trays of plants on their exhibit’s tin roof, according to Mr. Hines. The plants not only absorb rainwater that would run off into drains, but they insulate the roof to keep heated or air-conditioned air inside the building, he said.

The rain barrels in the exhibit will show gardeners how to collect rainwater to use in watering their plants, he said.

Several volunteers mentioned that water conservation was key during last summer’s drought.

“I think most of us guys who are serious about planting had a huge water bill,” Mr. Hines said.

Other exhibits will focus on composting with worms, raised beds and xeriscaping, the practice of growing native, drought-resistant plants.

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