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The 2010 Chicago Flower & Garden Show—which runs Saturday, March 6, through Sunday, March 14, 2010 at Navy Pier—makes it possible for proven and novice gardeners to learn from leading experts in a series of seminars. Attendance at all seminars is included in the price of show admission. The roster of some five dozen speakers underscores the show’s mission to inspire, educate and motivate home gardeners, helping them enhance their skills and better understand every aspect of a garden environment.
Here are some of the landscape, horticulture and gardening experts presenting seminars for the 2010 show. To confirm seminar times, dates and subjects for these and others experts, visit chicagoflower.com.
Craig Bergmann, a registered landscape architect and garden designer, will talk knowingly about Making Art in the Garden. Since 1982, his company, Craig Bergmann Landscape Design Inc., has specialized in putting a Midwestern, modern-day twist on the classic garden designs of Europe. His award-winning work has been featured in several books, as well as on PBS-TV’s ””The Victory Garden” and on HGTV’s “Gardener’
Vegetable gardens thrive
Author, syndicated columnist and host of PBS television’s “GardenSMART”
If you like this theme, you’ll want to hear Nancy Pollard speak about Farming on Your Patio. A horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension in Cook County, she oversees the South Suburban Master Gardener program.
And Charlie Nardozzi, a nationally recognized gardening author and radio, web video and television personality, will share tips from his latest book Vegetable Gardening for Dummies.
Author Terra Brockman—who combines her experience growing up as a member of the 4th generation of an Illinois farm family with her expertise in biology, literature, philosophy and history—has another point of view: Beauty, Pain and the Love of Local Food—How to Grow Your Own (and Sell Some Too).
Can’t get enough of this subject? Then listen to garden and food authors Jean Ann Van Krevelen and Amanda Thomsen, whose newest book is titled Grocery Gardening. They co-host a humorous garden podcast called “Good Enough Gardening,” which you can visit at www.goodenoughgardening.com.
Then there’s The Power of the Kitchen Garden—500 Years of Gardening and Cooking, a topic Ethne Clark, Editor-in-Chief of Rodale’s Organic Gardening, knows well. A horticulturist and garden historian, Clark shares her insights as the author of 15 books, including the recently revised edition of Hidcote: The Making of a Garden, originally published in 1989.
Oh no, not again: Perennials
Another perennial favorite of the Chicago Flower & Garden Show crowd is Wisconsin-based author, educator and PBS television host Melinda Myers. This year her subject is Planning and Plants for a Small Space Garden. A nationally known gardening expert, Myers has more than 30 years experience and has written more than 20 books, including Can't Miss Small Space Gardening. Host of the nationally syndicated "Melinda's Garden Moments” and "Great Lakes Gardener,” Melinda will sign copies of her books after the seminar.
Master gardener Greg Bartoshuk, an award-winning daylily hybridizer and past president of the North Shore Iris and Daylily Society, is back again by popular demand. His now-annual talk focuses exclusively on perennials, Perfect Perennials for Perpetual Color for Real Lazy Gardeners. Then, separately, Mary Samios-Russell picks up the gauntlet when she talks about Fabulous, Fantastic and Fun—Perky Perennials to Plant. She and her husband Charley started Contrary Mary’s Plants & Designs 12 years ago on their farm in Minooka, Ill.
Jim Ault, the director of Environmental Horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the recipient of 2009’s American Horticulture Society’s Luther Burbank Award for plant breeding, adds his insider tips with Confessions of a Pollen Dabbler: Developing New Perennials for Midwest Gardens. And C.L. Fornari, author of four books and a self-described out-of-control plant person, reflects on her passion, Perennial Garden Maintenance—
About the show
Show hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. Adult admission is $15 weekdays and $17 weekends. Tickets for children 4-12 years are $5 every day. Tickets can be ordered online at www.chicagoflower.com, where no service fee is charged. They also can be purchased at the door.
Group discounts start at 15 or more tickets. They can be ordered by calling 773-435-1250, or by downloading a Group Reservation Form at chicagoflower.com, which also has information on special hotel packages.
All-day discounted parking is $14. For details about CTA bus service to Navy Pier, call 836-7000 (any local area code) or visit the CTA Web site at transitchicago.com. For Metra travel information, go to metrarail.com for train schedules and phone numbers of the various rail lines serving downtown Chicago.
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FYI To schedule an interview with any 2010 Chicago Flower & Garden Show speaker, email chicagoflower@
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
