Date: Fri 28-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A9

Quick Words:

flower-show-garden-Hosta

Full Text:

State Flower Show Brought Spring To Hartford

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

HARTFORD - Whether you fancy gardening, landscaping, flowers, a greenhouse or

gazebo, horticulture or landscaping, floral crafts or garden accessories, the

16th Annual Connecticut Flower Show tickled everyone's fancy, and presented

spring in winter last weekend.

If the idea of visiting a flower show wasn't enough to draw people to the

show, the sweet scent of hydrangea was more welcoming than any exhibit, poster

or advertisement.

A garden show appeals to more senses than one, and, while seeing the bright

bulbs of tulips or the range of colors marigolds turn out is always appealing

to one's eyes, the scent of spring's flowers at a winter garden show is as

enticing as homemade bread fresh from the oven.

While the winter of 1996-97 has been mild with little snow, it is still winter

in the minds and on the calendars of everyone. To have such an event to look

forward to has become a favorite beacon marking the end of winter for 16 years

for gardeners of all backgrounds and ages. This year's annual event was

presented February 20-23 at the Hartford Civic Center Exhibition Hall by North

East Promotions.

Exact numbers were not yet available by Monday morning, but, according to

Kristie Gonsalves, show manager/sales for North East Promotions, more than

30,000 people attended this year's show.

"We had a great turnout," she said.

The traditional entrance to the show - down the stairs from the main lobby of

the Civic Center, into the Exhibition Hall - is a landscaped display. This

year showgoers were treated to a scaled-down model of Hartford's Elizabeth

Park, which is now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The exhibit welcomed viewers with an archway into the park's world-famous rose

garden, with a path then leading to one of the park's greenhouses. Gardens of

annuals and roses were on either side of the path and hanging plants were set

up inside the greenhouse. Most inviting was a bench beside the exhibit, where

people were welcome to rest.

Inside the show itself, the Exhibition Hall had been divided into a standard

garden show and a standard flower show, both under the auspices of The

Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut; 17 landscaped exhibits, representing

competing displays by garden centers across the state, judged by CT Flower &

Garden Show Landscape Judges, Professional Grounds Management Society Judges

and Federated Garden Clubs of CT Landscape Design Critics Council Judges; and

a large section of lawn, garden and floral product exhibitors.

Newtown was represented at the 1997 show with the Town & Country Garden Club

of Newtown re-creating two special exhibits first presented in the spring of

1996 at the club's spring show. The exhibits, along with six others by garden

clubs or gardeners from across the state, were included in the Standard Garden

Show's new special exhibits section of the Hartford Flower Show.

Last spring, Felicia Valus, a member of Town & Country, was awarded the Brown

& White Educational Award by judges from the State Federation of Garden Shows.

The award was for her Hosta garden, which she calls "Shady Ladies and

Companions." In Hartford, a display of photographs of the garden brought Mrs

Valus' Newtown property to the state capital, albeit temporarily. The Hartford

show program noted Ms Valus' creativity as "of particular interest," as

cultivating plantings in generally shady areas is a longstanding battle for

most gardeners.

Also on the program in Hartford was Barbara Finnell's butterfly garden, which

she had charmingly titled "Frequent Fliers." Also, an educational/special

exhibit at the 1996 Newtown show, Ms Finnell had been presented with a

Connecticut Judges Special Award for her talent.

Exhibitors in Hartford this year seemed to have taken over a larger proportion

of space in the Exhibition Hall than in past years, which had its positives

and negatives. While it allowed showgoers more opportunity to be tempted to

purchase products ranging from lawn equipment and patio brick to copper

sculpture, garden portraits or even specialty foods, it did detract from the

space devoted to the show's focus: flowers and gardening, whether in

competition or on display.

Shirley and Joe Woytach of Newtown were at the show Friday. Their first

interest was the gardeners' competition, not the expanse of vendors.

"In my opinion, for eight dollars ... it's not worth that, just to find out

who can sell you what. It's only six dollars to get into The Big E, and it's

only two to three dollars to park your car," she said. "Here, it's another six

or seven dollars for parking, on top of the eight dollars to get in.

"It's not worth that, just to find out who can sell you what. If there were

more flower and garden show entries, I would have enjoyed it more. They just

need to expand on a few things. I'm glad I went, but I won't go next year."

On the other hand, Mrs Woytach said, she and her husband were also looking for

information on building a backyard pond, which they plan on building this

year.

"This also helped us to see whether we want to do a cascading one or a flat

one," Mrs Woytach pointed out. "For us, the presentations were great. Rather

than call around from the Yellow Pages, we were able to talk to the people. It

really helped us out. If you're going there to find information, that's the

place."

While visitors to the Hartford Flower Show know it's never too early to start

thinking spring - there is approximately one month left on the calendar before

the beginning of the season - it is also never too early to start thinking

about next year's flowers and gardens, either.

The show dates for the 1998 Connecticut Flower Show, February 26-March 1, are

already on the calendar. In ink.