How does your garden grow? Orchard in Bloom show has tips

Want to learn how to raise backyard chickens? Is your outdoor living space too small for a full-size garden, but you still want home-grown produce?

The 23rd Orchard in Bloom garden and art show will offer tips, solutions and demonstrations for advanced and beginning gardeners.

“Forty percent of Americans are growing produce in their own backyard and in containers, and that number is increasing daily,” said Elliott Pruitt, the event’s spokesman. This year, the event, which typically attracts more than 7,000, will offer innovative products and landscape tips.

Among the features are:

The Garden Pavilion, featuring gardens and garden-to-table landscapes.

Micro-gardens, showcasing container gardens and growing options for small spaces.

Garden and natural living symposiums where experts offer tips and demonstrations.

The annual “Containers in Bloom Competition.”

A children’s area that includes outdoor fun and entertainment.

The Garden Cafe, offering meals and snacks made from natural and organic produce.

Exhibit tents featuring more than 100 local and regional vendors.

This year’s featured artist is Brad Cox, 42, who will showcase his home and garden sculptures that combine art and nature.

A certified welder, Cox creates whimsical sculptures from found objects such as iron skillets, horseshoes and assorted industrial parts.

“You wouldn’t believe the parts that come from industrial places all over. I’m going to do seven-foot cattails out of bolts the size of your hand and dragonflies made out of a transmission spline,” said Cox, who lives in Brown County and works in a mill with a wheel that produces fuel for his studio.

He features 85 designs and travels to art shows nationwide. One of his sculptures includes an alligator from a chain-saw blade with a tail made of a railroad spike.

“I enjoy when people know that it is recycled, and I like the look on their faces when they recognize an old part.”