You
know we’ve turned the corner on winter when the garden shows start sprouting.
No
fewer than five garden or chlorophyll-containing shows will take place within
day-trip range of Harrisburg over the next three weeks.
Harrisburg’s
own Pennsylvania Garden Expo starts the blooming Feb. 21-23 at the Pennsylvania
Farm Show complex, followed by the Pennsylvania Garden Show of York at the York
Expo Center (Feb. 28-March 2), then the world’s biggest and oldest indoor
flower show at the Philadelphia International Flower Show (March 1-9), then the
Maryland Home and Garden Show in Timonium, Md. (March 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9), and finally,
the Pennsylvania Home Show, also at the Pennsylvania Farm Show complex (March
6-9).
Here’s
a preview:
Pennsylvania
Garden Expo
View full sizeThe Hummel Landscape and Dreamscapes Watergardens display garden from Expo 2013.
* The Basics: A classic (and
home-grown) winter garden show with three main prongs – indoor display gardens
built by local landscapers, a marketplace filled with plants and gardening
products for sale, and a lineup of talks and hands-on activities.
Harrisburg-based
Journal Multimedia operates this 3-day show out of the North and Northwest
Halls of the Pennsylvania Farm Show complex along Cameron Street, Harrisburg. PSECU
sponsors it.
* 2014
Highlights:
A dozen landscapers are building 11 elaborate display gardens, including water
features, paver patios and most welcome of all – lots of flowers in bloom.
The
Market Faire marketplace will have some 120 vendors offering fare from seeds to
landscaping services (plus tools, plants, garden books and no fewer than nine
local wineries this year. Apparently gardeners especially value grape-growing).
Dozens
of seminars and how-to talks take place in three locations throughout the show.
* What Else to
See and Do:
The Garden Club of Harrisburg and Penn-Cumberland Garden Club are staging a
judged flower show, themed “Musical Magic.”
Central
Penn Parents Family Night is Feb. 22 from 5 to 8 p.m. with hands-on,
family-friendly activities throughout the show floor.
* Hours: Fri., Feb. 21,
and Sat., Feb. 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sun., Feb. 23, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
* Tickets: $13 at the
door, $10 in advance at Stauffers of Kissel Hill garden centers or $10.79 per
ticket online. Tickets are good all three days. Parking is $8.
* More
Information:
http://www.pagardenexpo.org or 717-236-4300.
Pennsylvania
Garden Show of York
View full sizeJohn’s Landscaping display garden from Pa. Garden Show of York 2013.
* The Basics: This 3-day show
moves to a new location in 2014 – Memorial Hall of the York Expo Center instead
of the larger Toyota Arena (now Utz Arena) across the Expo Center grounds at
334 Carlisle Ave., York.
The
format is similar to the Pennsylvania Garden Expo with display gardens built by
local landscapers, a marketplace with more than 100 vendors and dozens of
seminars and special events.
* 2014
Highlights:
This year’s theme is “Fairy Tale Gardens,” featuring storybook characters on
Family Fun Night (March 1 from 5 to 8 p.m.), a workshop to make your own fairy
garden, and a contest to transform shoes into fairy-tale footwear.
Garden
Club Federation District IV will stage a judged flower show tied into the theme,
called “Once Upon a Time.”
Landscapers
are building 10 display gardens.
More
than two dozen seminars are scheduled, including two by radio host Mark Viette,
who will broadcast live from the show floor on March 1 from 8 to 11 a.m.
* What Else to
See and Do:
Music and dance performances, working artists, a bluebird workshop (Feb. 28 at
5 p.m.), a spring fashion show (March 1 at 6:30 p.m.), and a Doggie Fantasies
Fashion Show (March 1 at 3:30 p.m.)
* Hours: Feb. 28 and
March 1 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and March 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
* Tickets: At the door, $10
for adults; $9 for ages 62 and up; kids 12 and under free. Advance tickets $9.
Multi-day passes are $15. Free parking.
* More
Information:
http://pagsy.com or 717-848-2596.
Philadelphia
International Flower Show
View full sizePetals Lane Florists did this garden-party setting at the 2013 Philadelphia International Flower Show.
* The Basics: Here’s the big
mama of them all – the 185-year-old world’s biggest, oldest indoor flower show that
takes place over two weekends and 10 sprawling acres inside the Pennsylvania
Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets, Philadelphia.
It’s
got 40 of the most elaborate indoor display gardens you’ll find anywhere, plus
a huge marketplace with 200 vendors and a judged horticulture competition for
skilled amateur growers.
* 2014
Highlights:
The 2014 theme is “ARTiculture,” and it uses some of the world’s top art
creations and collaborations with top art museums as inspirations for this
year’s display gardens.
The
main entrance puts visitors inside a series of large frames to become part of
the garden art, which features topiary and trimmed plant re-creations that are
themselves art made out of fresh and dried flowers, stone and fabric.
Seven
times daily, the California dance troupe BANDALOOP will perform above and on
top of the frames.
* What Else to
See and Do:
Cooking and floral-design demos on the show floor; free wine-tasting by dozens
of wineries; scores of gardening talks and seminars; “make and take” workshops
to make your own wearable craft or terrarium (extra fee); pressed-flower and
miniatures displays, and art exhibits in the Grand Hall. Philly’s famous Reading
Terminal Market is next door.
* Hours: March 1 from 11
a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 2 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 3-7 from 10 a.m. to 9
p.m.; March 8 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and March 9 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
* Tickets: $32 for adults,
$22 for students (ages 17-24), and $17 for ages 2-16 at the door. $27, $20 and
$15 for the same in advance (plus service fees) on the show’s web site. Parking
can run $15-$20 in surrounding lots.
Or
get there via one of four bus tours led by Patriot-News/Pennlive garden writer
George Weigel that drop off at the door and include tickets.
* More
Information: http://www.theflowershow.com or call
215-988-8899.
Maryland Home
and Garden Show
*
The Basics: Held at the Maryland
State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium, about a 90-minute drive from
Harrisburg.
It’s
a hybrid garden and builder/home show, combining some 300 home-improvement
exhibitors and booths with display gardens built by landscapers, gardening
seminars and garden-products and plant vendors.
This
show runs 5 days over two consecutive weekends, cutting out the Monday-Thursday
between.
* 2014
Highlights:
17 display gardens are on tap for the 2014 show with a theme focusing around
“Color My World.”
Baltimore
Orioles head groundskeeper Nicole McFadyen highlights the speaker lineup with
talks on how you can get your lawn to look like a baseball-stadium lawn (March
1, 2, 8 and 9 at 2 p.m.)
* What Else to
See and Do:
The Maryland Orchid Society show and sale takes place in a neighboring hall
March 7-9. There’s also a bonsai show and sale and a petting zoo those same
three days only. And 125 crafters set up shop in booths in neighboring
Exhibition Hall, adding another dimension to this show.
* Hours: March 1 from 10
a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 2 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
March 8 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and March 9 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
* Tickets: $12 for adults;
$10 for seniors (over 62); $3 for children ages 6-12; under 6 is free. Free
parking. Craft show only is $6.
* More Information:
http://www.mdhomeandgarden.com/spring or
410-863-1180.
Pennsylvania
Home Show
View full sizeThe Showcase Home at the 2013 Pa. Home Show.
* The Basics: This 40th
annual show by the Homebuilders Association of Metro Harrisburg (still called
“the builders show” by locals), drops down to four days over one weekend this
year from its traditional two-weekend run.
It
takes place in the Exhibition Hall and Equine Center of the Pennsylvania Farm
Show complex along Cameron Street, Harrisburg (i.e. “the new part”).
* 2014
Highlights:
Nearly 300 exhibitors will have booths.
Builders
Lane focuses on plans, trends and techniques for new construction and offers
examples of designed interiors.
Remodelers
Row has everything related to home improvements – kitchen and bath makeovers,
ideas for additions, new countertops and flooring, new doors and windows,
heating and other energy-savers, garage makeovers… you name it.
For
the outside, several landscapers and hardscapers will have exhibits, and
assorted outdoor-living companies will display ideas on the latest in lawn
equipment, landscape lighting, sunrooms, pools, spas, sheds and fencing.
The
traditional Log Home Exhibit also returns.
* What Else to
See and Do:
On March 6, seniors get a $1 discount and a lineup of talks of interest to that
age group.
March
7 features A Night of Wine (tastings from local wineries) in the evening, and March
8 is Kids’ Day, where Home Depot offers wood-working projects (11 a.m. to 3
p.m.)
Art
Walk is March 8 and 9 in which eight local artists display works in fabric,
glass, photography, painting and more.
Seminars
take place March 8 and 9, including talks on gardening, flooring, home comfort
systems, geothermal heating and birds of prey.
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.
* Hours: March 6, 7 and
8 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., March 9 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
* Tickets: $7 for adults
but parking is now free on site. Children 12 and under get in free.
* More
Information: http://pahomeshow.com or
717-232-5595.
Speak Your Mind