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Sarah Dickert, Supervisory Horticulturist, Smithsonian Gardens - Did you know Smithsonian Gardens has a Victory Garden exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC? Victory gardens were vegetable gardens planted during the world wars in order to ensure an adequate food supply for civilians and troops. Roughly one half of all American families had a victory garden during World War II. There were at least 20 million victory gardens covering more than 20 million acres of American soil by 1943. 40% of the nation’s produce was supplied by victory gardens by 1944. American families had grown approximately 8 million tons of food by the time the war ended in 1945. While the gardens themselves are now gone, posters, seed packets, catalogs, booklets, photos and films, newspaper articles, diaries, and people’s memories still remain to tell the story of victory gardens. Since the early 2000's, Smithsonian Gardens has been sharing these stories and memories through their own World War II inspired Victory Garden, featuring heirloom and novelty vegetable and flower species. This lecture will discuss the past of victory gardens and imagine their future in our own communities.