Lewisburg library to host free landscaping advice program April 28

Lewisburg homeowners trying to avoid wasted fertilizer, waterlogged beds and unnecessary tree trimming will get a free chance to ask questions when Flora Eyster brings practical landscaping advice to the Public Library for Union County. The session is set for Tuesday, April 28, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., a timely window as spring planting season gets underway and yardwork decisions start to matter.

The program is designed to cover the kinds of problems that show up in ordinary yards across Union County: which plants fit a property, when pruning actually helps, how to handle lawn and turf care, and when soil fertility testing should come before any new planting. Penn State Extension says soil fertility testing is often the first step toward healthy plant growth, and its Union County Garden Hotline is available free to answer local gardening questions about plant selection, native plants, pollinator-friendly plants and common plant problems.

Eyster brings local horticulture experience that stretches beyond one season of garden work. Bucknell University says she spent nine years as the Biology Department greenhouse caretaker and another 2.5 years as the Native Plants and Classroom Garden Outreach Coordinator at the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment. Bucknell also notes a deeper family connection to regional plant work: her great uncle, Dr. William Eyster, was a Bucknell professor who worked with Burpee on hybrid plant development at Bucknell grounds and the Eyster family farm in Sunbury.

For homeowners with private wells, springs or cisterns, the advice can go beyond what is growing in the yard. Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania Department of Health say free private well water testing is available, and the state estimates that about 26% of Pennsylvania adults rely on private well water as their main drinking water source. Penn State Extension also says its drinking-water lab has test results collected since 2007, sorted by county, giving residents another tool for judging water quality before they plant or landscape around it.

The Public Library for Union County is at 255 Reitz Boulevard in Lewisburg, PA 17837. The Union County Library System lists the library’s phone number as (570) 523-1172. For a borough where shade trees, small lawns and close-set homes shape the streetscape, the free program offers a practical chance to make better decisions before spring work is already in the ground.