Sunday, January 24, 2010

Cleveland Garden Show

The sky is gray and so is the snow. It's too cold to hang around outside but too warm to freeze. It's just about the time of year we ask ourselves the question "so why did we move to NE Ohio?" But then we remember it's time to go to the Cleveland Garden Show. A color-filled respite from the gray of January awaited us. When we got there we realized that a zillion other people had the same idea.
The crowds and the color hit me as soon as I walked into the show. Every other person seemed to have a camera with them. I'll tell you, I have come to the realization that there are a ton of gardeners that think like me. Or is it that I think like them? A bunch of landscape architecture firms had display gardens set up. They were all fun to walk around in and see how the pros mixed plants and colors. There is always something to learn. I found the lawn ornamentation booth right away. Pat thinks that that is the only reason I go to these things. That's not the case. I also go to find the next new thing I have to have, like an Elvis lamp or something. As we walked around you could hear "it slices, it dices, you never have to sharpen, clean it, replace it, it's the last one you . . . , lose 50 pounds, it's the sledge-o-matic."



Lawn ornamentation heaven. There's one of these places at every garden show. Boy, I love these kind of joints.

The Cleveland Botanical Society had seminars on composting and lasagna gardening.


This display garden had an herb garden. I have passed a milestone. I could name every herb in the garden. We grow most of them.


Pat says "we can do that." Well OK then. What's funny is that we both knew where we would place it. We think way too much alike when it comes to gardening. Even after all these years, it's sorta weird.
These are miniature daffodils. Gotta get some of these.

Gotta get some of these too.

And this one too.

Got these, but we could always use more.

Where could we put one of these? Maybe the front yard?

There's room for one more tree in the front yard. One of these will do.

There is no such thing as enough hosta.


What a nice way to add red.





This would scare the snot out of the boys. It would get stuck in the mud and the boys would attack it.

These are for all you warm weather transplants that need a palm tree fix. I saw them and was speechless. It's beyond bizarre.
Found it. I have a theory that you can find something with Elvis on it at every trade show.


I am a happy camper because Pat let me get some lawn ornamentation.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

HAHAHAHA I knew you'd have to find some lawn ornamentation, the wistful way you were talking about it earlier in the post! And Elvis too, eyewwwwww...No chamwows or slapchoppers?
It is nice to have a garden show to escape to in midwinter, though. We don't have anything here like that, and Canada Blooms bored me when I went 5 years ago, so I just have to wait til spring, and visit other garden blogs for my fix.

Lona said...

They certainly had some beautiful water features. It is always nice to see tulips and daffodils. Did you see any new hosta's ? Looks like fun. Now I cannot wait until the Central Ohio Garden Show.

Jean Campbell said...

I love garden shows. I don't want to attend garden shows, I want to look at the photos that other people take at the shows. I'm less likely to miss something important that way.

Thank you for sharing your pics with us.

Anonymous said...

Dear Jim, I am speechless!

The Redneck Rosarian said...

Jim, looks like you all had a great time. Loved the pictures of the hostas and daffodils. My daffodils are already peeking through the soil....

Noelle Johnson said...

Oh, I wish I was there. I am always impressed with how they create landscapes indoors...

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Seeing these pictures gets me excited to go to our flower and garden show in a couple of weeks. I love all the great ideas, and the lawn ornaments always attract me too! :)

janie said...

I am with you, Jim, the lawn ornamentation always calls my name. I can never resist.

Red is my favorite color, and I loved those red flowers.

Thanks for sharing.

Noel Morata said...

aloha jim, what a nice tour, thanks for showing us the show, i loved all the funny commments and i loved the ending shot with your cool lawn ornamentation, i'm into that also :)

Barbara said...

Hi Jim, blotanical crashed the first time I tried to comment, so hope this isn't appearing twice. I'm like you at garden shows - gotta have this, gotta have that. Well, except for the Elvis lamp! Fun post.

debsgarden said...

I would love to have spent the day at that garden show. I'm wondering how one of those palm tress would look in my front yard. I'm glad you found your lawn ornament; it looks like there was an excellent selection. Thanks for all the lovely photos.

Chloe m said...

You will LOVE those miniature daffofils, they are good for naturalizing. I planted some in my garden years ago and they still perform although not as good as Elvis.
Rosey

Anonymous said...

Ah, a garden show in the middle of winter. Nothing better than that. I think we're down to less than 30 days till the Philadelphia show. Hurrah! Thanks for the welcome on Blotanical - fun to connect with fellow plant-crazed gardners. Nice hosta by the way. Impressive! Kelly