I'm coming off a long week spent mainly at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show, which ended yesterday. I have enough fodder for about 20 blog posts, but haven't done any of them because I was so busy hanging around the show wearing about five different hats.
I helped organize a meeting of the Garden Writers Association, wrote a story for the Chicago Tribune, did a couple of shifts as a volunteer at the Ask a Master Gardener booth, spent some time at the booth of Chicagoland Gardening magazine (where I'm a senior editor), and on Friday, March 12, I spoke not once but twice.
In the afternoon I spoke on woodland wildflowers in the garden. Then in the evening I tried something new. They were having a mix-and-mingle event (the show was open until 8 p.m.), and as part of the entertainment I took a bunch of people trooping through the show gardens, using features of the exhibits to demonstrate basic concepts that I was explaining about edible gardening in small spaces.
There were things that didn't work out quite right--the worm bin wasn't where I expected it to be, so I didn't get to demonstrate worm composting. There were two piano players banging away, and I hadn't realized I would be explaining potagers at the same time that a chef was demonstrating a recipe at an adjacent exhibit, setting up a shouting contest in which I (the one without a microphone) got creamed.
But there were more than 30 hardy souls who followed me in a winding path all over the show floor, asked lots of good questions and seemed very charged up with enthusiasm to try vegetable gardening.
Tonight, I'm giving the wildflower talk again at 6:30 p.m. at the Proksa Park Garden Club in Berwyn; it's free at the
3001 S. Wisconsin Ave. My throat is still sore from all the shouting, but I'm hoping my voice holds out until I'm done showing off the spring beauty.
As for people who did get around to blogging from the show, check out One Seed Chicago and Chicago Garden. They are both secretly the same guy -- Mr. Brown Thumb, who was at the show almost as much as I was.
Got a garden question? I recommend you call or e-mail the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, the Master Gardeners of the University of Illinois Extension or the Plant Information Service of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe .
All contents of this post are copyright Beth Botts. Feel free to link or share a brief excerpt with a link, but please do not reproduce photos or any other part of this blog without my express permission.
Monday, March 15, 2010
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5 comments:
You are a great source of gardening information. Keep letting us know what's out there - I appreciate it!
Eileen
Hi Beth! It was great having dinner with you at the show. I blogged about the show and there are links at the end of my post for others who also blogged about it. It was amazing to see how everyone saw different things, which is just one thing that's great about blogging. So many different perspectives!
It was great seeing you at the show Beth!
Next time bring along a spray bottle with which to chase off pesky piano players; a 5% vinegar solution works fine without doing them any permanent harm.
My father was a fireman for 35 years and hated doing this... but it's essential is some areas.
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