During this Winter That Will Not End, we all need something to give us hope. Thankfully, the sun is always shining indoors at the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show, the largest gardening exhibition in the state.
The Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock will be transformed into a gardener’s oasis Friday through Feb. 23, with admission from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Feb. 22 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 23.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens; children 16 and younger enter for free. There is also a three-day pass for $12. Tickets can be bought at the door or in advance at argardenshow.org.
This annual education and shopping event is a showcase for new and old gardening ideas. Encompassing beautifully arrangedlandscaping displays with interesting art, water features, lighting and a trade show with all manner of things to buy, the event is a jampacked opportunity for gardeners.
There will be plants, pots, benches, raised bed gardens, gardening tools, books, art and more.
Everyone is looking for some color to add to the garden. Timed to the season, vendors will offer English primroses, hellebores, pansies and violas. Others will sell fresh herbs, which can be grown indoors and out and are great to use in the kitchen.
Have you got gardening questions? This show gathers many experts in one place, and they have answers. From specialists with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service to members of the Arkansas Master Gardeners volunteer corps, certified nurserymen and well-informed speakers,there will be folks on hand who can talk to you about what you want to know.
ASK AN EXPERT
For example, Extension Service plant pathologist Sherrie Smith will have her microscope there, and she will be ready to inspect and diagnose samples of troubled plants that visitors carry in to show her.
Other specialists will have how-to information for raising chickens in the backyard or starting a beehive. Extension Family and Consumer Science specialists will prepare recipes and let the audience sample the food.
FOR KIDS
Want to interest a child in gardening? 4-H volunteers will bethere to inspire them, and 4-H youth events will be ongoing all three days.
On Feb. 23 only, children’s hands-on workshops will present small-group sessions for 30 participants accompanied by one or more adults; each session will be repeated several times from 11:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
And that isn’t all the education. Hour-long seminars will be held upstairs in the Wally Allen Ballroom on Friday and Saturday, while shorter “how to” sessions will be offered on the showroom floor all weekend (see accompanying stories).
The main speakers are C. Colston Burrell and Nicholas Staddon.
C. COLSTON BURRELL
Keynote speaker Burrell is a garden designer, award-winning author, photographer, naturalist and teacher. He grows hellebore species and hybrids alongside native plants in his garden in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Va.
Burrell holds two master’s degrees, one in horticulture and one in landscape architecture from the University of Minnesota. He is a lecturer in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia and his business, Native Landscape Design and Restoration, provides many services from garden planning to botanical inventory.
He is the author of many garden books and has twice won the American Horticulture Society book award - in 2007 for Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide and in 1998 for A Gardener’s Encyclopedia of Wildflowers. Burrell is a contributing editor for Horticulture magazine and frequently writes for Landscape Architecture and American Gardener. He lectures internationally on design, plants and ecology.
NICHOLAS STADDON
Staddon is the director of the new plants team at Monrovia, a large mail-order plant merchant that also ships to horticulture centers and greenhouses from its own nurseries in different climates (central California, Oregon, Georgia).
Staddon has been a Monrovia craftsman for 20 years. Working with breeders, hybridizers and professional plant explorers, he travels extensively for Monrovia in his quest for new and notable plants for American gardens.
He answers questions for professional garden writers and Monrovia’s retail customers, providing information on plants old and new. He is sought out as a resource and guest for television and radio gardening shows across the United States, and he has created a series of Plant Savvy videos that can be found online.
Staddon was born in England; he studied agricultural science at Otley College of Agriculture and Horticulture in Suffolk. Before joining Monrovia, he worked in New Mexico, managing garden centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
FLORAL DESIGNS
In addition to education and shopping, visitors can seek inspiration among elaborate floral design displays by the Arkansas Florist Association and the Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs Inc.
From huge, extravagant table displays to miniatures, these arrangements offer something to please everyone’s plant palate. In addition, an annual horticulture competition will be on display in the atrium of the convention center.
The Arkansas Flower and Garden Show is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose purpose is to foster horticultural education and to raise money for scholarships given to Arkansas college students majoring in horticulture or a related field. In addition, the Greening of Arkansas program gives grants to communities across the state to beautify public spaces.
The show works closelywith the Arkansas Master Gardeners program, employing hundreds of its volunteers to set up and run the show. In return, the show helps to sponsor the Master Gardeners’ annual statewide conference.
While parking can be congested in downtown Little Rock, it will be free at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, where a shuttle ($1 round-trip for adults) provided by Arkansas Destinations will convey visitors to the show.
So forget about winter - at least for a weekend - and come get a taste of spring.
More information is at argardenshow.org and by calling (501) 821-4000.
Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
HomeStyle, Pages 35 on 02/15/2014