Busy Gardening month

This has been quite the busy month for gardening and love of plants.  In early March, Stacy and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show -- a huge exhibition with speakers, people marketing products, and a free wine tasting!  I was able to log 3 educational hours for my Master Gardener qualification by attending 3 lectures, where I also took extensive notes for this summer!

Beautiful white orchids

Spring in the Midwest!

The show has a theme each year, and this year's theme was Hawaii.  I've never seen so many orchids and anthureums all in one place! 

In addition to the Hawaii-based flowers, decorations, and exhibits, there were also huge plots of flowers, trees, and shrubs from the Midwest and it really makes me want to plant those forsythias this year so I can have the beautiful yellow blooms greeting me next Spring!

Another exhibit falls right in line with a trip that I've been wanting to take to Colonial Williamsburg.  It shows up in all of the travel magazines, but I've never moved it too near the top of the list -- but I will now.  There is a best seller book out right now about Colonial Williamsburg-style vegetable gardening -- and there was an entire garden planted and set up as an exhibit at the show.  The entire plot couldn't have been more than 30 feet square but was planted with tons of vegetables and herbs.


There was a picket fence around the plot and paths made from crushed shells.  The cages for the tomatoes were made from branches.  The whole thing was just really cool and I want to go to Colonial Williamsburg now to see the gardens there as they're being worked and see what other colonial style things take place.  It's not unlike New Salem when there are people there enacting life during Lincoln's time.

We bought some silicone beads in the vendors area.  They aren't much larger than the head of a pin when dry but, mixed with water, get large and beautiful and colorful and you can put them in a vase to hold cut flowers.  Or, as I've done, put them into a bowl with water and a plant.  The water is for the root system, obviously, and the beads hold in the moisture as well as keeping the plant upright.  I may get more of these!

Finally, I also bought a planter that works in tiers, with the top tiers set in a style that helps to water the lower tiers.  They didn't have terra cotta color on hand, so they'll be sent to me and I'm planning to plant mine with succulents.  Here's a display of tiered succulents that I'd love to be able to copy.  Mine will only have three layers, but I think I'll be able to match some of it.

At the end of the evening, we had dinner at The Melting Pot with Melinda Myers and had a really fun time.