Lots of ‘Local Roots’
Nearby and neighborly is Arkansas Flower and Garden Show theme
We seem to be switching seasons every week. Our gardens don’t know whether it is winter or spring, but they are moving ahead. If you are ready to get gardening, too, then you won’t want to miss the 26th annual Arkansas Flower and Garden Show, Friday-Feb. 26 at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock.
“Local Roots” is the theme for 2017, showcasing models for beautifully landscaped gardens, a full lineup of garden seminars, flower competitions, educational exhibits, children’s events and an opportunity to shop from garden vendors.
A new twist on the 26-year-old event is a gardening throw-down between brothers Buddy and Chris Olsen, who own separate landscape/nursery companies. Buddy owns Horticare in Little Rock, and Chris owns Botanica Gardens in Little Rock and Plantopia in North Little Rock.
Each will erect a small landscape in front of a backdrop depicting an average house. Their landscape challenge begins at 10 a.m. Friday, just as the doors open to the public at the Statehouse Convention Center. The two will have four hours to assemble designs as attendees watch.
Photographers will create a time-lapse video of the event.
ROCK ON
The show opens at 10 a.m. Friday and closes that day with a special event, “Rock in the Garden,” from 5 to 7 p.m. It includes music and food trucks.
Saturday’s hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday the show opens at 10 a.m. and ends at 4 p.m.
Tickets are $10 (children 12 and under admitted for free). A three-day pass is $15. Tickets can be bought in advance at argardenshow.org or at the door.
The show features educational sessions all day Friday and Saturday in the Pope and Fulton rooms downstairs in the convention center.
Visitors can choose between concurrent sessions Friday and Saturday. In addition, short topics will be addressed in how-to talks on the show floor throughout the weekend. Here are the longer sessions.
FRIDAY: FULTON ROOM
10:30 a.m. “Arkansas’ Magical Botanical Garden of the Ozarks,” Lissa Morrison, Botanical Garden of the Ozarks manager and designer
11:45 “Let’s Get Growing, Vegetable Gardening Is Cool Again,” Janet Carson,
University of Arkansas horticulture specialist
1 p.m. “Healthy Yard/ Healthy Planet, Sustainable Gardening,” Morrison
FRIDAY: POPE ROOM
10:30 a.m. “The Pollination Life of Birds,” Dan Scheiman, bird conservation director, Audubon Arkansas
11:45 “If Trees Could Talk — Oh Wait … They Do,” Jane Gulley, Pulaski County Master Gardener
1 p.m. “Birding Basics,” Scheiman
2:15 “Building a Successful Farmer’s Market From the Ground Up,” Debra Bolding, co-manager for Howard County Farmers Market, Miller County Master Gardener
SATURDAY: FULTON ROOM
10:30 a.m. “Creating Living Landscapes,” Douglas Tallamy, professor and chairman of the department of entomology and wildlife ecology, University of Delaware
11:45 “Building Pollinator Populations at Home,” Tallamy
1 p.m. “Growing Berries in Your Backyard,” Amanda McWhirt, assistant professor, horticulture department, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
2:30 Screening of the documentary film Hometown Habitat, Stories of Bringing Nature Home, sponsored by the Arkansas Native Plant Society
SATURDAY: POPE ROOM
10:30 a.m. “Cool Plants for Tight Spaces, Nooks and Crannies and Other Areas You Haven’t Thought About Before,” Todd Lasseigne, president and chief executive officer of Tulsa Botanic Gardens
11:45 “Easy Growing Succulents for Patio or Porch,” Richard and Andrea Cleaver, Culberson’s Greenhouses
1 p.m. “Year-round Gardening by Knowing Your Plants and Pushing the Envelope,” Lasseigne
2:15 “Terrific and Tough Annuals for Your Garden,” Richard Cleaver
GOT A SICK PLANT?
The UA Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service will have a large display showcasing raised-bed vegetable gardening, backyard poultry, water conservation, beekeeping, container gardening and more.
If one of your plants is ailing, clip a sample to take with you when you attend the show. The state plant pathologist will be on hand to diagnose plant problems.
Also, family and consumer science agents will be there with tasty food demonstrations and tips on food preservation.
Arkansas 4-H will have hands-on activities for kids of all ages, all three days. Master Gardener volunteers will be all over the place volunteering in many capacities at the show.
COMPETITIONS
The “flower” part of the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show is highlighted in blooming plants displayed in model gardens and flowering plants for sale, and also through the efforts of the Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs and the Arkansas Florist Association.
Both have spectacular displays.
The Garden Clubs are presenting “ART-rageous,” an advanced standard flower show. Many beautiful floral arrangements, plant specimens and educational exhibits will be on display.
The Arkansas Florist Association hosts a tabletop contest with competitors creating their masterpieces Friday morning in front of attendees. Once created, these elaborate displays will be on view for the remainder of the show.
FOR CHILDREN
Sunday is Family Day. Kids can attend one of two free hands-on gardening workshops every hour from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A project explaining seeds, “Gone With the Wind,” will be taught by Junie Harris in the Fulton Room and Debbie Howell will explain “The Wonderful World of Wiggly Worms” in the Pope Room.
These make-and-take projects will delight the young gardener.
Members of the Arkansas 4-H program will be at the show all weekend with learning activities for youngsters.
To help children age 12 and younger stay interested while you enjoy the show, download the Family Scavenger Hunt checklist from the website. Children can earn points by checking off items as they see them. Try to earn all the points, just for fun.
PHILANTHROPY
The show is produced by Arkansas Flower and Garden Show Inc., a nonprofit volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the discussion, dissemination and exchange of the latest information and ideas on gardening, landscaping and horticulture practices through educational programs and materials, demonstrations, displays and exhibits.
Managed by a 14-member board of directors, the show has five partners, including the UA System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs, Arkansas Florist Association and the Cooperative Extension Service’s Master Gardeners program.
Proceeds from the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show support the Greening of Arkansas grant program, which provides money for community-beautification projects throughout the state.
Since 2006, more than $50,000 has been given to community groups to beautify public areas such as parks, community entrances and schools. Grants are awarded to nonprofit and civic groups for projects on public land. Grants range up to $1,500, and 50 percent of the funds must be used for horticulture (trees, shrubs and flowers).
The show also supports college scholarships, given annually to students majoring in a horticulture-related field at an in-state school. More than $60,000 in scholarships have been awarded in the last decade.
The show also works closely with the Arkansas Master Gardeners program, whose hundreds of volunteers set up and run the show. In return, the show sponsors the Master Gardeners annual state conference.
For more information or to buy tickets, go to argardenshow.org or call (501) 8214000.