Festival of flora

Annual Arkansas Flower and Garden show is the place to learn, look at or buy all things botanical

Renate Eubanks and Mike Fisher of Benton explore an indoor nightscape designed by River Valley Horticulture, one of many businesses that erected elaborate displays during the 2012 Arkansas Flower and Garden Show.
Renate Eubanks and Mike Fisher of Benton explore an indoor nightscape designed by River Valley Horticulture, one of many businesses that erected elaborate displays during the 2012 Arkansas Flower and Garden Show.

— The Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock will soon be transformed into a gardener’s wonderland for the 2013 Arkansas Flower and Garden Show.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Elaborate displays of garden furnishings created by vendors at the annual Arkansas Flower and Garden Show show visitors what might be possible in their own backyards.

Homegrown Goodness is the theme of the show. From sample plots and informative seminars to vendors ready to sell garden tools, plants, gadgets, gorgeous flowers, herbs and vegetables, the show is aiming for its usual “something for everyone” abundance.

New this year is a small farmers market featuring fresh products from local growers.

Most of the speakers will be homegrown, too. For instance, the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board is sponsoring native son P. Allen Smith, whose media empire includes TV and books. Allen’s talk is titled “Garden to Table,” and you can hear him at 1 p.m. Feb. 23.

Another central Arkansas native, horticulturist and author Chris Olsen, will speak at 11:30 a.m. Friday on “Thinking and Living Outside the Box: Using Color to Personalize Your Outdoor Living Spaces.”

Olsen, author of Five Seasons With Chris Olsen, is owner and master designer of Botanica Gardens in Little Rock. He will also be the star attraction at a special event Friday night.

Among experts who will travel to Arkansas to speak at the show, Jo Ann and Jigs Gardner of New York have a program planned for 10:15 a.m. Friday on “Solomon’s Garden: The Biblical Roots of Israel’s Herbs, Flowers, Trees and Shrubs.” From the cedar that grows in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows from the rock, Jo Ann Gardner will share some of the couple’s research into biblical plants. She’s the author of several books published by Timber Press; her next book will be titled Seeds of Transcendence: Understanding the Hebrew Bible Through Plants.

The Gardeners will return to the stage at 10:15 a.m. Feb. 23 with a talk titled “Gardens of Use and Delight: Reclaiming a Back Country Farm.”

At 1 p.m. Friday, another Timber Press author, Kelly Norris of Iowa, will share humorous and informative stories from his wide-ranging experience with passionate “plant nerds” he has met around the country. His talk, titled “Homegrown Plants: Stories About Passionate Gardeners and the Plants They Make,” will touch on plant names and where they come from as well as stories about new cultivars that are coming to the market after being bred in backyard gardens no bigger than your own.

Norris will speak again at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 23; that talk is titled “Dig This: Stylish Gardening for Savvy Gardeners.”

And at 2:30 p.m. Friday, a homegrown expert, Lucinda Reynolds of Mountain Home, a Master Gardener educator, will explain how to use beautiful plants to limit the damage insects do in your garden. Her talk is titled “More Than Just Pretty Flowers.”

And of course, yours truly will speak at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 23.My topic is “Gardening in a Changing Climate.”

The roster of speakers and a brief description of their topics can be found online at argardenshow.org, which also sells tickets. That is also the website of the nonprofit created to conduct the annual exhibition as a cooperative project of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service, the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation, the Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs, the Arkansas Florists Association, the Arkansas Green Industry Association and the Arkansas Master Gardeners.

MASTER GARDENERS

Whether your interest is flowers or vegetables, exhibitors will have information available. The University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture display will have a lot of information to share as well as activities for your children, conducted by members of the division’s Cooperative Extension Service 4-H department.

The Cooperative Extension Service agents will have edamame (edible soybeans) and Southern pea seeds for you to try growing at home. And we’ll have ideas for growing vegetables in raised beds, and then canning and preserving the fruits of your labor. You can ask us how to start raising bees or chickens in the backyard.

Learn about ergonomic tools and how to be “water smart” in your home and landscape.

If you have plants that are struggling or need to be identified, bring a sample and our specialists and county agents will try to provide answers. Our plant pathologist will have her microscope handy.

We will also help you find out where your local county extension office is, so you have a resource year-round. And Arkansas Master Gardeners will be on hand en masse. They keep the show going by answering questions, helping set up and take down exhibits and selling tickets. If there is a job to do, the Master Gardeners are there to do it.

JURIED CONTESTS

The Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs will erect their annual floral displays, and visitors are generally amazed by how easy they make it look to pair flowers with dishes. In the horticulture judging area, you can compare how you would award the winners with what their judges have done.

The Arkansas Florist Association will also have a competition among members, and the displays these professionals produce are elaborate.

FOR THE LITTLE BUDS

Children will have plenty to see and do all three days, but on Sunday, special events will be set up just for them in the Fulton and Pope rooms. Hands-on activities involving worms and building a terrarium will be repeated all day Sunday.

FANCY FRIDAY

In addition to hearing Olsen speak during the show Friday, you can meet him at a special event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday. For “Homegrown Entertaining,” he’ll give attendees tips on how to throw a special party, how to pair food and wine and some quick do it-yourself techniques to try at home.

Tickets are required for this event and will be available online or at the door of the show until they are sold out. Tickets cost $40 and include hors d’oeuvres and wine tastings.

SHORT BITS

In addition to the hour long seminars, short gardening how-to sessions will continue on the show floor all three days, covering everything from container gardening and beekeeping to chickens, tree care and flower arranging.

A silent auction will benefit scholarships and the Greening of Arkansas program; it includes items from personalized landscape consultations to containers and plants. The silent auction starts at noon Friday and ends at 3 p.m. Feb. 23.

Each year the show awards several $1,500 scholarships to students attending Arkansas universities and majoring in horticulture or related fields.The Greening of Arkansas program awards grants to communities across Arkansas to help in beautification efforts. This year’s grant winners will have displays showcasing what they have done.

To avoid the hassle of parking downtown, shuttles will take you to and from the parking lot at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock for $1 (round-trip). The shuttle ticket stub also gives you a $1 discount to the 61st annual Home Show, which will be under way at the same time at nearby Verizon Arena (see accompanying story).

2013 ARKANSAS FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW

Location: Statehouse Convention Center Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and Feb. 23 and 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Feb. 24.

Tickets: $8 for adults, $6 for age 60 and above; children younger than 16 free. Three-day pass costs $12.

Special event: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Homegrown Entertaining With Chris Olsen, $40 (501) 821-4000 argardenshow.org

HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 02/16/2013

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