Garden show celebrates spring
The spring Garden Show is the Calgary Horticultural Society’s celebration of spring, as well as its premiere annual fundraiser. “It’s a chance for the Society to gather gardening enthusiasts together and get ready with optimism and good cheer for spring,” says the Society’s events manager Cassandra Christie. “Especially in early to mid-April, it’s exciting to be around flowers, smell soil and talk to other gardeners about the new season. It’s a lovely little trip to the country and a nice reminder that spring is just around the corner.”
The Garden Show offers many different things to see, do and experience.
Always a highlight are the featured speakers, “a quality lineup of fantastic gardening experts,” Christie says.
The speakers include Joe Lamp’l, host of Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network and GardenSMART on PBS; Donna Balzer, horticulturist, author and radio and TV personality; Owen Dell, an international sustainable landscaping expert; and several other. Check the schedule on Page 7 for details.
You can also learn about gardening at the How-to Clinics, which feature 45-minute presentations by lo- cal experts on a variety of topics ranging from getting started to lasagna gardening.
One of the show’s little gems, according to Christie, is the Ask an Expert feature. “There are profoundly helpful and intelligent gardening experts standing by, ready to sit down face-to-face and discuss your garden queries,” she says.
In addition, “we are fortunate to have some of the best vendors of garden and outdoor living products to help celebrate spring. It’s also a great opportunity to meet local groups such as the Alberta Regional Lily Society, Friends of Reader Rock Garden and others.”
On Sunday morning, Let’s Talk Gardening will broadcast live at the Garden Show.
For those who would like some hands-on experience, they can sign up for a workshop (space permitting). The workshops, which require a fee to register, include:
Green Roof Birdhouse, presented by Kath Smyth, will see participants creating a green roof for a prebuilt birdhouse. “It’s a really fun opportunity to dabble in the basics of green roof design, and take home a beautiful living environment for the birds in your neighborhood,” Christie says.
Living Wall Containers, with Tricia Ingram of Cobblestone Garden Centre, is back by popular demand. Living walls are all about vertical gardening, one of the newest, hottest trends in horticulture worldwide.
Countryside Garden Centre will
present a workshop on Terrific Terrariums, featuring ferns and mosses.
Gorgeous Container Gar
dens, presented by Golden Acre Garden Sentre, will take workshop participants step by step through the process of creating a sun- to part shade-loving planter.
Check calhort.org for details.