Five shows with blooming gardens are coming up in the next three weeks within day-trip range.
It’s nirvana for cabin-fevered plant-lovers
– no fewer than five indoor garden shows coming up in the next three weeks
within day-trip range of Harrisburg.
The blooming string kicks off Feb. 22-24
with the Pennsylvania Garden Expo in Harrisburg and then hands off to the
Pennsylvania Garden Show of York (March 1-3); the Maryland Home and Garden Show
in Timonium, Md. (March 2-3 and March 8-10), and the Pennsylvania Home Show in
Harrisburg and gargantuan Philadelphia International Flower Show (both March
2-10).
HGTV’s John Gidding (of Curb Appeal fame) is headlining this year’s Pennsylvania Garden
Expo at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. Check out all of the details on this show and its 13 display gardens, 35 talks and 150 exhibitors on Pennlive.com.
Here’s a rundown on the others:
Pennsylvania
Garden Show of York
* The
Basics: Takes place in the Toyota Arena of York Expo Center, 334 Carlisle
Ave., York.
Cross Creek Farm’s display garden at the 2012 York show.
The format is similar to the Pennsylvania
Garden Expo with seminars, display gardens built by local landscapers and marketplace
with more than 100 exhibitors.
One additional feature: the Garden Club
Federation’s Floral Rhapsody Flower Show, which moves to the center of the show
floor this year. Garden clubbers display some of their best plant specimens and
arrangements.
* 2013
Highlights: Author Tovah Martin is doing programs March 1 and 2, including
a terrarium workshop March 2(extra fee for that). More than 30 talks in all are
planned (http://pagsy.com/seminars-workshops for the
schedule).
Eleven display gardens are on tap this year, and
a new “Candyland” exhibit has candy growing on trees and Kool Aid flowing over
landscape rocks.
The 2013 show theme is “Nature’s Symphony.”
* What
Else to See and Do: Puppet shows for kids; tea events (extra fee); wine and
cheese samples; live music; working artists and a fairy garden workshop (March
3, extra fee).
* Hours:
March 1 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 2 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; March 3 from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m.
* Tickets:
At the door, $11 for adults; $9 for ages 62 and up; kids 12 and under free.
Advance tickets $9 ($8 for seniors). See http://pagsy.com/tickets for details.
Free parking.
* More
Information: www.pagsy.com or 717-848-2596.
Maryland Home
and Garden Show
* The
Basics: Held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium,
about a 90-minute drive from Harrisburg.
As the name suggests, it’s partly
home-focused and partly garden-focused – kind of a hybrid of the Pennsylvania
Garden Expo and a builders show.
This one runs 5 days over two consecutive
weekends, cutting out the Monday-Thursday between.
* 2013 Highlights: More than 300
exhibitors (the majority home improvement) will be on hand this year. Sixteen display
gardens are being built by northern Maryland landscapers.
Discovery Channel’s Dr. Lori will appraise
your flea-market finds March 2 and 3 as part of a lineup of nearly two dozen
talks and programs.
The
2013 theme is “Films in Flowers.”
* What Else to See and Do: Maryland Orchid
Society show and sale (March 8-10); bonsai show and sale (March 8-10); more
than 125 craftspeople in a section called the Maryland Spring Craft Show; a
“fan cave” built by Dr. Basement.
* Hours: March 2 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.;
March 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 8 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 9 from 10
a.m. to 9 p.m., and March 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
* Tickets: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors;
$3 for children ages 6-12; under 6 is free. Free parking.
* More Information: www.mdhomeandgarden.com/spring or
410-863-1180.
Pennsylvania
Home Show
* The Basics: Sponsored by
the Homebuilders Association of Metro Harrisburg, this show takes place in the
Exhibition Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex along Cameron Street,
Harrisburg. People still call it the “Builder’s Show.”
Crowds milling through the Pa. Home Show.
It’s primarily geared to builder and
home-improvements, albeit with a decent outdoor-living presence and several
display gardens.
* 2013 Highlights: For gardeners,
there’s no designated “display garden” area this year, but landscapers such as
Blouch’s Landscaping, Dreamscapes Watergardens, Hemlock Landscaping and Outdoor
Expressions are building gardens in several featured areas. Plus several more
will have smaller gardens at their booths.
There’s also landscaping around the Showcase
Home and Log Home Exhibit.
In addition, this is a good place to talk
ideas and get estimates on hardscape and other outdoor-living projects from
specialists in sunrooms, paver patios, fencing, pools, outdoor kitchens, lawn
care and landscape edging.
Seminars will include energy savings, birds
of prey, work-saving tips in the landscape and geothermal heating. The schedule
is at http://pahomeshow.com/Calendar-Of-Events.asp.
Special events include Senior Day on March 4
($5 admission); “A Night to Wine” wine tasting on March 8 from 4 to 8 p.m.;
Free Parking Day on March 8, and Kids Day on March 9 (clowns, pitching booth
and a hands-on workshop sponsored by Home Depot).
* What Else to See and Do: Builders Lane
and Remodelers Row is loaded with home contractors of all sorts.
Canstruction pits four teams of designers
against one another in building structures out of canned goods.
Five student teams compete to design and
build an outdoor storage unit for less than $2,000 in the Design It-Build It
School Challenge.
New for 2013 is an Art Walk on March 9 and
10 that displays glasswork, watercolors, oil paintings, photography and other
focal-point art for home interiors.
* Hours: Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8
p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 4-7 (Monday-Thursday) from noon to
6 p.m.; Friday, March 8, from noon to 8 p.m.
* Tickets: $6 for adults. Kids 12 and under
are free. Parking is $8.
* More Information: www.pahomeshow.com or 717-232-5595.
Philadelphia
International Flower Show
* The Basics: This one is the
world’s biggest, oldest indoor flower show (184 years old) and attracts 270,000
visitors from all over the world. It’s held over 10 sprawling acres inside the
Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets, Philadelphia.
The display gardens at the Philadelphia International Flower Show are among the most elaborate anywhere.
The 40 display gardens are as elaborate as
any you’ll find anywhere, especially the handful of lead ones right inside the
main entrance.
The Marketplace is huge and popular with 180
vendors at the opposite side of the show floor from the gardens. In the middle
is a judged horticulture competition with awesome specimen potted plants grown
by amateurs.
* 2013 Highlights: The 2013 theme
is “Brilliant!” focused on British gardening. The main entrance will feel like
London with palace gates, English roses, a birch allee and even a sculptural
replica of Big Ben. Other gardens will tip a hat to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party,
rolling British hillsides, foggy London gardens and a manicured cricket club.
The show adds an extra day in 2013… now
running two full weekends for a total of 9 days. Also new for 2013 are pre-show
sneak peek packages to see the show being set up and “The Backyard,” a room
devoted to decks, patios, grills, fire pits and garden tools.
* What Else to See and Do: Large (and
free) wine-tasting by dozens of wineries, plus an in-show wine and spirits
shop; scores of talks both in seminar rooms and on the show floor; “British
Village” offering goods from British vendors; new plant introductions; “make
and take” workshops to craft your own British fare to take home; cooking
demonstrations; a Kids Zone to give kids a play break; garden teas (extra fee);
TV-style floral-arranging contests, and pressed-flower and miniatures displays.
Philly’s Reading Terminal Market is next door.
* Hours:
March
2 from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 3 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 4-8 from
10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 9 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and March 10 from 8
a.m. to 6 p.m.
* Tickets: $32 for adults and
$22 for students (ages 17-24) at the door. $28 and $21 in advance on the www.theflowershow.com web site.
Children ages 2-16 are $17 at the door and $16 in advance. Parking can run
$15-$20 in surrounding lots.
Or go
on one of four bus tours led by Pennlive garden writer George Weigel that drop
off at the door and include tickets… see www.georgeweigel.net/georges-talks-and-trips for details.
* More Information: www.theflowershow.com or call
215-988-8800 or email phs-info@pennhort.org.
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