‘COMMUNITY GATHERING’
Capital Region Flower and Garden Expo welcomes spring
TROY, N.Y. » The Capital Region Flower and Garden Expo took to the court this weekend at Hudson Valley Community College’s McDonough Sports Complex.
“It keeps changing, evolving,” said organizer Pennie Gonzalez. “It’s great.”
In its 35th year, the annual program featured seminars, a marketplace, a display room and artwork from groups across the state. Started in 1988 (due to the pandemic, they missed a year), it’s become a community gathering in a way, said Gonzalez, noting that many of the vendors and exhibitors began showcasing at the expo because they heard about it from someone else.
This year’s theme was “Reflection,” something with multiple interpretations and calls back to Michael Jackson’s 1988 song “Man in the Mirror,” said Gonzalez, which was reflected in the art pieces in the lobby. There was everything from a reconstructed Washington Park Bridge to a vanity and chair draped in pink and white roses to mirrors with archways of ivy.
“We’re calling (it) more of a botanical showcase so it’s fewer arrangements but bigger in scale,” she said, rather than the more floral arrangements the show originally had. “The body’s always been flower but (now) with more volume.”
Those were just in the front room. Taking a few steps down the hall, guests could find a giant sandcastle being sculpted in real-time, a wedding archway draped in lilac and white flowers or a camping scene composed of orchids from the North Eastern New York Orchid Society.
“We’re trying to show people that there’s more than just what they see in, like, the grocery stores and really try to get them as addicted as we are,” said Membership Chair Kim Mullinax with a laugh. “We enjoy it; we love talking to everybody, we’re obsessed.”
Like the Orchid Society, several groups and people use it to spread awareness about their passions or ways to make planting better for the gardeners and their gardens. The Home Earth Alliance, for example, had several small areas guests could walk through to learn more about how different aspects like composting, planting native plants, pollinators, and water features for wildlife impact and are important for sustainable gardening practices.
The seminars also offered several lectures on the same topics, with Gonzalez noting
This year’s theme was “Reflection,” something with multiple interpretations and calls back to Michael Jackson’s 1988 song “Man in the Mirror.”
that ecological landscapes had been very popular over the last several years. They covered several other topics as well like floral wedding trends, how to protect your hands while gardening and one seminar called “The War of the Weeds.”
Each seminar has about 100 people in it, Gonzalez said, and remains hugely popular each day the show runs. With doors opening at 10 a.m. and closing at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and closing at 5 p.m. Sunday, it was still slow moving through the exhibits at 3 p.m. on Friday.
The marketplace was the most crowded and exhibited everything from plants to garden gloves to hot tubs to wine. Jackie Zaleski of Saratoga Sod Farm said it’s kind of a place to find everything all at once.
“It’s interesting, there’s a lot of specialty plants available, stuff that you don’t see every day, opportunities,” she said. “You can really put your whole garden together here between getting soil, getting your plants. There’s garden decor, gloves.”
Several of the vendors were local as well with places like Troy’s Landscape Supply Company from Cohoes, Green Scapes from Clifton Park and Toadflax Nursery from Fort Edward all selling take-home ready plants. Gonzalez likened it to a “ginormous farmers market.”
“A lot of networking and being involved in the community helps get people involved and having good team advocates,” Gonzalez said. “They love it.”