The Garden Worm blog Digging up the best dirt on gardening!

Today it is wet and dreary, but the calendar says it is supposed to be spring! Ok, yes, the bulbs are poking their leaves up and the snowdrops are blooming gloriously, but the weatherman says temperatures dropping to freezing with possible/probable snow showers through the rest of the week. Yuck! I am sooooo done with this weather.

We made our annual foray to Greater Rochester’s Flower and Garden Show, GardenScape 2011, this last weekend and it was so nice to see some spring flowers! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures so bear with me as I try to describe a few of the sights. The big attraction this year was the combined presentation by Oriental Garden Supply and Twin Oaks Lawn and Landscaping. And it was gorgeous! The theme of the show was “Rock the Garden” and their display of massive rocks and spectacular plants with some sweet water features thrown in for good measure was breathtaking. Designed by Chris Law of Oriental, it took two and a half days to install with tons of sand and other infrastructure to build the “mountain.” I found this picture over at the Your News Now (YNN) site.

Picture taken by Your News Now (YNN)

The picture shows only part of their display, and certainly doesn’t do justice to it, but perhaps you can catch a glimpse of the breadth of the plantings. Then they had one day to tear it down – good opportunity for lots of man toys and noise! I found this picture of the tear-down at the Upstate Gardener’s Journal Facebook site.

Picture from Upstate Gardener's Journal Facebook site

The magnificent display combining bonsai and rocks by the International Bonsai Arboretum and the Bonsai Society of Upstate NY also captured my attention. I spent a bit of time watching my cousin, Mark Arpag, skillfully dissect a deformed juniper shrub into a windswept tree form of bonsai. The Japanese-style dry garden associated with their display showed off some of the most precious bonsai specimens and the to-die-for flowering wisteria so beautifully.

This year’s GardenScape was significantly different than in past years when the big landscaping companies designed displays that were so fantastic that, I think, a homeowner looking for ideas found few connections between their own piece of the earth and those laid out at the Dome Arena. In these hard economic times, I believe the show co-chairs did a great job in adjusting and the smaller companies featured at this show offered somewhat more practical solutions and ideas. Although I didn’t come away with any cool ideas (or photos!), I thought the show was rockin’ with something for everyone, lots of interesting seminars, and fun entertainment on the main stage.

On a last note, the tulips and daffodils tucked in and among all the displays were in terrific shape this year, even on the last day of the show. I don’t know who supplied them, but they held up well. Unfortunately, memories of those bright bits of color will have to suffice as the snow starts falling again . . . until spring finally arrives here!