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2011 NJ Flower Show

Monday, February 7, 2011

EDISON, NJ—The curtain goes up on a new season of warmth, color and high spirits when the 9th Annual New Jersey Flower and Garden Show opens Feb. 17 – 20 at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison with a rousing salute to “Gardens on Broadway.”

Starring Mother Nature in her alluring spring finery, the show captivates visitors with dazzling displays of tulips and daffodils, overhead canopies of flowering trees, sparkling fountains and scented bouquets. This show ticket transports you out of the cold and into an enchanted landscape as fully realized as any Broadway set.

In a stroke of showmanship, the Great White Way is the inspiration this year for top landscape designers responsible for 10 full-scale display gardens that are a favorite attraction for winter-weary plant-lovers.

The uplifting cheeriness of “Mary Poppins” is recreated in a landscape of flower-strewn hills surrounding a pond where an umbrella-shaped fountain reminds you of Mary’s famous parasol. A step away is “Tarzan’s Man Cave” set in a jungle of soaring tree trunks hung with vines and alive with birdsong. A hidden clearing within, carpeted with moss and blossoms, makes you feel that the ordinary world is far away.

Stroll to a syncopated urban beat through “West Side Story,” where conflicts between hard-edged city life and the sweeter charms of nature are finally resolved. The Jets and the Sharks can retreat to separate areas, one with a fully-equipped outdoor kitchen and one with bubbling water to soothe away tension. Stick with the city experience in “Above Broadway,” a display styled after a New York City roof garden complete with outdoor café seating tucked among the skylights.

It’s show time every day at the flower show. From 3 to 5 p.m. on Feb. 17, Mark Viette of WOR 710-AM will be on the show floor taping episodes of his weekly program “Easy Gardening” for future broadcast. Viette recently stepped into his role as WOR’s garden guru after the retirement of Ralph Snodsmith, a regular at the New Jersey show. Come prepared with your gardening questions for the “Ask Mark” segment.

Last year’s popular introduction, the floral competition known as the Container Challenge, is back again, but bigger and better. Here’s where a pair of talented designers chosen from a pool of applicants goes trowel to trowel, creating container arrangements while the clock ticks down.

This year there will be six bouts instead of four, with events Friday and Saturday nights, as well as every afternoon.

The Garden Club of New Jersey, an affiliation of more than 5,000 local clubs, returns with its show-within-the show, a magnificent judged exhibit of floral arrangements. “Regards to Broadway” includes division for every artistic bent – and for kids and the public, too.

Do you have a way with flowers or beds of exceptional winter greenery? Learn how to participate at the club’s web site, gardenclubofnewjersey.com, and bring in entries between 8 and 9:30 am.Feb.17

The flower show’s educational programming is enough to win a standing ovation from gardeners eager to get a jump on spring. Gardening experts with a broad range of talents appear in two separate formats every day: “Gardeners Go to School” is a program of hour-long seminars on topics ranging from perennial garden design to edible landscaping; the “Bouquet of the Day” offers quick takes emphasizing practical garden tips and tricks.

Among featured speakers and their topics are Ray Rogers, founder of the international Coleus Society, on “Sensational Container Plants,” Melinda Myers of Birds and Blooms magazine on eco-friendly landscape makeovers and Kerry Ann Mendez, author of “The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Top Ten Lists,” on low-maintenance perennial garden design.

There are special activities in store for young sprouts, too. Laurie Sindlinger of the New Jersey Audubon Society teaches youngsters easy techniques for starting a wildflower meadow for birds and other wildlife. Margareta Warlick, an instructor at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton Township has a variety of workshops planned including painting with natural pigments, creating mini-greenhouses from recycled plastic bottles and making garden sculptures from found objects.

What gardener couldn’t use a little shopping therapy? Head for the Great Garden Marketplace for the latest in garden tools, unique garden ornaments, hard-to-find plants and an array of professionals from pond-builders to deer-control specialists. Here’s just a sample of what you’ll see:

A fully-equipped, 5,400-square-foot garden center transported to the show by Matawan World of Gardening. Included are displays of outdoor furniture, Weber grill, sprinklers, wind chimes, garden gloves, hats and shoes, 1,000 imported pots and much, much more.

A huge cross-section of tools from a noted national dealer, Lee Valley Tools. From pruning saws to shovels, garden forks to trowels, it’s all here. Don’t miss the new line of bonsai tools and accessories.

Unusual specimens from Atlock Farm of Somerset, home of “cool plants.” Stir some garden envy among your friends with selections from this unparalleled array of orchids, tropicals, ferns and more.

Jewel-like framed tropical butterflies from E.F. International, as pretty as any picture. These are not captured from live populations but are culled from insects at the end of their natural lifespans.

There won’t be another chance to luxuriate in the spirit-soothing sounds, scents and sights of nature until spring itself arrives. Get a jump on the calendar and head for a preview of balmier days ahead at the New Jersey Flower & Garden Show. If you need a pick-me-up in the dead of winter, this show’s for you.

Show hours are 1 to 9 p.m. Feb. 17, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 18 and 19, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at the New Jersey Convention Center, 97 Sunfield Ave, Edison.. Admission is $15 for adults, $6 for children 12 to 17, and free for kids under 12. Seniors can attend for $10 on Feb. 17 and 18, and “date night” specials admit two adults for the price of one after 5 p.m. on Feb. 17, 18 and 19.

Included with the price of admission is a free 1-year subscription to Better Homes & Gardens magazine (a $6 value) to inspire ideas for the season ahead. Get details at the show.

Downloads:

PDF File
Click here to download: Flower Show Overview.pdf

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