The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show 2015

Hello you all! Spring has sprung in Tennessee-even with a freeze expected this weekend do not let that worry you--spring is here! I ventured out to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show a few weeks ago and it was ever so nice to see some flowers, because on the day I went (Saturday) we still had a lot of snow on the ground. In fact, I daresay the show was a bit lacking in visitors on the first two days of its opening (Thursday and Friday) due to the snow; tho I can't say for sure. In the thirteen years or so since I've been going to the show this has never happened before. We've had tornado watches, cold weather, rainy weather, but never a snow storm!

Saturday's visitors more than made up for the snow days because it was practically standing room only on Saturday. Everyone was very nice and would talk about the weather and spring and flowers and they all seemed to have a great time moseying along the aisles enjoying the gardens and what wares the vendors had for sale-it was a lot!

Each year I visit I tend to take a shot of a pond. A pond very similar to this one was my initial inspiration when I built my first pond back in 2012.

Gardens were well done. Can you imagine all the work required to build this garden and then to take it down after only one week? Impressive.

One of the trees had decorative fruit hanging from it. It was quite the eyecatcher.

Stone pillars are a favorite of mine. I love this one!

A nice place to sit that looks as tho it is straight out of the northwest.

There were also good places to eat! The show has everything anyone could want to get their spring started....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The 2014 Nashville Lawn and Garden Show

Good morning! This has been such a busy week for me I can't tell you how tired I am but it is a good tired I suppose. Yesterday my friend Vonna and I traveled to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. We had a really wonderful day at the show and in Nashville. Of course, Vonna is one of those friends I always have a wonderful day with! 

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show is one of those 'I can't miss gardening events'. If you are planning to go you will have fun! It is open today, tomorrow and Sunday so there is still plenty of time. Sunday is often a day the vendors will make you some good deals so they don't have to haul  their stock back to their businesses, but any day is a good day to visit this show. 

I'm going to share with you all some pictures of things that interested me at the show. The above sculpture was quite a departure from the show. In years past I can't ever remember seeing a sculpture like this in the garden. The display was quite eye catching.

This year's theme is 'Wine and Roses' and I believe there will be a wine festival in conjunction with the show that starts today and goes through Saturday. Vonna and I did not sample any wine but we saw lots of wine bottles. This display was very innovative. I loved it!

The set up was so simple but yet so eye catching. The lights surrounding the bottles were simply a section of rope lights. 

I also enjoyed this swag across a doorway complete with a shelf of wine bottles. I did not check to see if the bottles were full or not....

Each year I snap a picture of a water feature at the show and each year that picture is always a frequently Googled picture. This one was a bit different than usual in that it had a waterfall coming off the roof of a 'hut' on a pond. Very nice.

A gazebo contained a whole bunch of orchids. Loved it!
 
A little pocket garden fits into this spot perfectly.

On our way out we noticed this beautiful rose and wine set up. It's the perfect spot to sit for a while--but please do take the time to smell the roses as every single one of them was real! And ever so gorgeous. The colors shine in this display and it was a touchable display. So beautiful...

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The 2013 Nashville Lawn and Garden Show

Are you ready for your annual virtual visit to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show? If so, come along with me!

The show did not disappoint. I fell in love with this hanging bottle tree. The bottles themselves are beautiful and the 'tree' was quite substantial and held 20 bottles. I'll have to find a sturdy spot to hang mine. 

A central part of the show is the gardens. This particular designer group actually had their fully drawn and colored design on display. Very neat.

Whimsy abounds. The cute little scarecrow man was sitting with a friend around a faux fire. The fire was actually orange LED lights.

This fire was for real and really rocked!

I will close with a very nice display that had a large mural behind it. The display showcased a colorful beehive. Beehives seem to be all the rage this year in gardening. 

Hope you enjoyed your virtual tour. There were vendors galore, some really good speakers, and lots of things to see and do. Like always, I had a ball at the show....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Giveaway and Coach In the Garden's FaceBook

  Good morning! Scooter, the local Canada goose who escorts visitors across the Cumberland River, says hello! Local folks may recognize his picture from the local newspaper talking about this unique goose who rides the ferry between Cumberland City and Indian Mound each day. I have seen him myself on the ferry (it is my picture above) and what a treat! So, to shamelessly promote my FaceBook page I thought I'd ask for his help in introducing a little giveaway. 

It is simple, all you have to do is like my Coach In the Garden FaceBook page found here. Or you can click through via the FaceBook badge on my sidebar on this blog. You may leave a comment here, or there, or not, that is up to you. Benefits of liking Coach In the Garden are that you will get updates from this blog, interesting local garden information, information on workshops in the garden, and all sorts of neat ideas-directly to your FaceBook account. Plus you might win a free ticket (value $10)! My FaceBook page along with this blog are the way I get information about my business (and passion) out into the world. All new and old likes will be entered into a drawing for a ticket to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show which starts Thursday, February 28th and runs through Sunday, March 3rd. The drawing will be Tuesday at 9:00 AM. I must be able to contact you-which should be no problem through a FaceBook message once you like my page. Please make sure your message settings on FB are set where anyone can message you. Once I get your address after contact I will announce the winner publicly. I will then put a ticket in the mail to you that same day! Or, if you are local I can make other arrangements. I will be at the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show Thursday so meeting there is an option as well. If you are unable to go to the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show or are not local, I will be happy to oblige that situation by providing the winner with a $10 gift card to Lowes. Giveaway is open to United States citizens only. If we get an awesomely incredible amount of new likes I may provide for more than one ticket or gift card so don't be afraid to share my page. Thanks! And good luck! See ya at the show....

in the Garden....

While you are liking my page you may wish to look at not only the Nashville Lawn and Garden website but their FaceBook page as well. It can be found here. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The 2012 Nashville Lawn and Garden Show & Local Garden Opportunities

Have you ever heard of the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show? It is one of the premier gardening events of our state and comes every year around the first weekend of March. I have attended it each year since 2003. That year was a memorable event for me. I was due to deploy to Iraq within a day or two but felt I had (read I would die if I did not) to attend the Lawn and Garden Show. That year was a cold year during the show. I found a lot of good buys and had no way to carry them around the show. Thinking I would take a shortcut I quickly exited a nearby door which I thought would be a shortcut to my car. Ha! The joke was on me and I was nearly in tears by the time I found my car. I wound up walking all around several agricultural buildings in a freezing cold wind all the while trying to carry things like iron letters and iron work. Never again have I made that mistake. This year the weather was simply splendid and the company good. I am now familiar enough with the venue (after all these years) that I don't get lost and can easily traverse all five huge buildings the show is housed in. 


The first building one enters upon entering the show contains all of the display gardens. The other four contain the vendors and lecture areas. The gardens are always a splendid sight to see. It seemed this year the big trends were ponds (as always) and fire. Rustic living seemed to be a common trait amongst the gardens as well. The tree in the above picture (believed to be a weeping spruce of some kind) was nicely displayed across the arched entryway of the fence. When one enters the fence he or she is taken into a rustic retreat that is reminiscent of the Great Smokey Mountains.

This waterfall caught my eye because it is exactly the view I have for my small pond!! We are not done with our waterfall but once I get another pallet of rocks I will be working on creating this waterfall in my own garden.

I love ponds that have the rocky bottoms. This one caught everyone's eye as they walked by. I don't think it is practical for ponds that are used though. In my experience ponds will need to be cleaned and I just can't imagine walking into this pond on all those rocks. Nonetheless my pond will have some areas with rocks like this-just not the whole pond. Firms that set up these displays at the show have the luxury of setting up dream ponds but they just aren't always the reality at home. I say enjoy the gardens for the concept and dream and then tailor the ideas to fit your lifestyle and capabilities and needs.

Fire was the next big theme. I have a particular fondness for glass gems so this gas fireplace was very catchy to my eye.

These pillars with the nearby faces of 'stone' were also pretty neat. I can just imagine the ambiance of a garden after night with these cool lights to illuminate the evening.

Now this sedum table is a special table. The whole display in this area was set up by the Davidson County Master Gardener Association. My friend Doris from PPSMT owns this table and was kind enough to move it here for the display. Don't you just love master gardeners? They are ordinary people who have a bit of training in gardening related subjects, but mostly master gardeners are volunteers who share their love of gardening with others simply to spread the word about horticulture. This is what Doris has done by loaning her cool sedum table to the display.

The floral design gallery is always a cool place to visit. While I am not much into designing with flowers I do appreciate bringing flowers into the home so I do tend to look at the displays in this gallery. This particular display was more of a horticulture related thing rather than a flower design in my humble opinion. It is a living wall framed to look like a picture. How cool would that be to have in a sunroom or breezeway? It is an absolute piece of living art.



This is the kind of art I want to see. These iris reticulatas were stunning next to the hellebores. This picture was taken on the first day of the show and they glowed. When I went back on the last day of the show (Sunday) these irises were not looking too good. Personally I think that is is okay to show the good and the bad in gardens and the fact these irses had grayed and gone by kind of added to their charm, although I do prefer the brilliant purple of them when they were at peak. 


I always attend the show with a few of my good friends. On Thursday I went with Helga, Geri, Vonna, and Naomi. I normally attend only one time per year but this year I had vowed to see some seminars. Ensuring I saw some seminars meant another trip to the show. My choice was to see Jeff Poppen of The Barefoot Gardener fame, and host extraordinaire on Tennessee's Volunteer Gardener. Jeff was scheduled to appear on Sunday, March 5 at 2:00 pm. He was the last speaker and I am sure the timing of his presentation was purposeful and it worked. Thursday's show saw the crowd as very thin but by Sunday it was practically standing room only. Jeff Poppen was a delight! He stated that every year he speaks at the Lawn and Garden show the organizers choose a subject for him to talk on. And every year Jeff simply stands in front of the crowd and opens up the floor for questions. It was kind of funny but you know he kept the crowd mesmerized for a full hour. After the presentation Jeff graciously signed his new book and gave away some kale seeds. Geri and I were fortunate to get a few. Once the kale begins growing I'm sure I'll note where it came from again. 


I highly recommend the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show if you live in Middle Tennessee and are into gardening. It and the Summer Celebration Show at UT Jackson are the two can't miss shows on this gardener's list....


in the garden....

This Saturday from 9-3 there will be an excellent opportunity for local gardeners to hear some top notch speakers speak on the very subject of gardening. The annual Montgomery County Master Gardener Association Short Course will take place at the extension hall in Cumberland Heights. The cost for the all day program is $40. For that you get lunch, door prizes, networking, the opportunity to buy garden related items from local experts and vendors, and networking! I'll be giving a talk about perennials at 1:00 pm and I'll also be selling some of my wares to include hypertufa pots, marker stones, leaf castings, and window paintings. I'd love to see you there so hurry and call Karla to register for the course! Some of my friends have already signed up and I promise you that you won't regret coming to the course~!
 
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show

From In the Garden

Me and a few of my friends made our annual trek to Nashville to attend the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show. This show is, in my humble opinion, one of the best garden shows in our area if not the best. I've attended the show ever since 2003 when within days of the show I would find myself on a big jet plane heading to Iraq by way of Kuwait. That was the best darned show and rest and relaxation I could've asked for myself because I spent tons of money and still have tons of booty in my garden to show for it! All the rest of the shows pale in comparison to my memory of my first show (when I got lost OUTSIDE of the huge buildings and had to walk carrying heavy heavy stuff) but I still enjoy attending each year. 

I thought the above photo would be perfect to open this post. The guitar in the garden was in honor my son Jimmy. He loves guitars and I love gardening so we meet in the middle.

From In the Garden

This lemon tree was literally dripping with huge lemons. It was most cool and almost seemed too good to be true. My friend Geri was looking for wires to see if the lemons were actually wired on. It was quite a small tree to have so many lemons.

From In the Garden

A little known area of the show is the flower design section. Those of us who adore growing plants sometimes forget that there is a whole other arena to plants besides just growing them. The Nashville Lawn and Garden show has a whole building that is cloaked in black and set up so that flower designs are arranged along the walls of the building. It is quite dark in the area with the only lighting mainly being spotlights on the designs. And wow on the designs! Anyone who knows me will tell you I do not like designing with flowers but I can still appreciate beauty. And beauty was all about in the flower design section of the show. I favored this design for its uniqueness. It is all in water-how cool is that?

Geri, Namoi, Vonna, Tina

From In the Garden

And finally I'll close the show with a picture of me and my great gardening friends; all of whom I adore and enjoy spending time with. During my years in the Army if I had one good friend I considered myself lucky. Now that I've settled down and put down roots I consider myself very lucky to have several close friends....


in the garden....


Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Crocuses and My Favorite Bulb Source

Crocus chrysanthus 'Goldilocks' (Species crocus)

From In the Garde

Those diminutive harbingers of spring have begun blooming in my garden here in Tennessee and they are most welcomed. In addition to the crocuses blooming the spring peepers have begun their peeping. Can spring be far behind?

Crocus tommasianus (Species Crocus)

From In the Garden

Today I thought I would not only share some crocuses but also talk about my favorite bulb source. I love bulbs. The anticipation of planting those bulbs in the fall with visions of sweeping vistas of color come early spring is rite of my fall gardening. The joy I get seeing the bulbs poke through the snow or grass or mulch is not only one of relief (the voles didn't get all the bulbs), but one of anticipation. How will all the bulbs look once blooming? When will they bloom? Did I make good choices when choosing my bulbs?

'Blue Pearl', 'Cream Beauty', and 'Goldilocks' species (Chrysanthus) crocuses.

From In the Garden

I've always been an adventurous gardener and tend to choose plants based on their uniqueness. Years of gardening have taught me this is not always the best method to choose bulbs. I must first consider my environment and what kind of bulbs will do well here, then I must consider the track record of the bulbs, and finally the price of the bulbs. Most of us don't have unlimited garden funds so I try to be thrifty with what bulbs I purchase for my garden. Bulbs more than anything else can be a hit or miss plant and I don't wish to waste money on the misses so I've begun focusing on a bulbs proven stamina. I want long lasting bulbs that will not slowly pitter away in my garden. They must not only be strong but I'd like them to spread and naturalize here in my woodland style garden. Knowing what I want from a bulb and what kind of garden and environment I garden in makes it most easy for me to think about the bulbs I'd like to grow. Van Engelen then does the rest with the best prices I have found.

Van Engelen is a sister company to John Scheepers bulbs. I like both companies but Van Engelen is a bit cheaper. Most likely due to the bulb size or quality but honestly, I can't tell the difference and all bulbs I have ordered from Van Engelen have been top notch bulbs that bloom well. 


I've done a lot of checking out bulb catalogs and actually sit down and compare prices on all bulbs I wish to order by catalog. This usually means I have about 5-6 catalogs open to the same bulb before I make a decision. The places I have ordered bulbs from are: Jung, Brent and Becky's Bulbs, and Netherland Bulb Company. I am going to list some price differences of one of my favorite bulbs here on this post. I am only comparing my personal experiences with bulb purchasing to the companies I have actually purchased bulbs from. I will give you an example of the price differences: 


Van Engelen:     100 fritillaria meleagris   $16.50 Size 6 cm/up
John Scheepers: 100 fritillaria meleagris   $18.50 Size 6 cm/up
Competitor 1:    100 fritillaria meleagris   $31.00  Size 7 cm/up
Competitor 2:    100 fritillaria meleagris   $40.75  Size not listed


As you can see there is quite a price range for these bulbs and this is only one type of bulb. I have personally ordered and researched this particular bulb but similar results are available for other bulbs. Most of the websites I visited did list the size of their bulbs and as you can see the more expensive bulbs are a slight bit bigger. Bigger is always better unless you want quantity, then price must trump size.  I can attest for the smaller bulbs growing just fine and personally I don't think a 15% size difference accounts for a nearly 50% price difference, but each person has to make their choice on what they want for their gardens. Me, I'm economical and go with the cheaper priced bulbs for my garden and feed the bulbs very well.


I will say one other great thing for Scheepers/Engelen. Their catalogs are the best I have found for variety and information listed. Under all bulbs; which are categorized by type such as species crocus, hybrid crocus, etc; the date the bulb has been introduced is listed. For my garden I like to buy the bulbs that have been around a long time so the date of introduction is very important. I also prefer species type bulbs and this is also listed in an easy to understand format. The Scheepers catalog has beautiful color pictures of all bulbs but the Van Engelen catalog does not. I usually use the Scheeper catalog to shop then go to Van Engelen to make my order. The quality of both sister companies is the same but Scheepers is more expensive and quantities available for order may vary between the two companies.


The species (Chrysanthus) collection of crocus bulbs I ordered are stunning in the garden and are growing well. I am looking for them to multiply and spread around a bit too in the coming years. I have been most pleased with my orders from Van Engelen and while most folks order bulbs in the fall, you might be one who orders spring bulbs. If so, check out Scheepers/Van Engelen for all of your bulb needs. The other place I usually order from is The Netherland Bulb Company. They are a good company that has good prices for a large amount of bulbs and their customer service is outstanding.


In the coming weeks I'll be showcasing some other bulbs from my Fall 2010 bulb purchase from Van Engelen and I hope they shine as the crocuses do....


in the garden....

I received nothing from Van Engelen or Scheepers to write this post. 


Tomorrow is the Nashville Lawn and Garden show and I, along with a few of my friends will be in attendance. I am so excited as this is one of my can't miss garden events of the year. The other being Summer Celebration. I hope to post on this year's show this Friday. For now, I'm in the garden...




Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show

From In the Garden

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show is going on at the Nashville State Fairgrounds off I65 in Nashville. The last day will be Sunday, so hurry if you wish to see some really super fun gardens, buy some great plants, books and what nots for your gardens and spend the day in gardening world.

I had the pleasure of attending with my good friend Vonna yesterday. Geri was unavailable and I missed her so much I kept calling Vonna by Geri's name. Good thing Vonna is such a good sport. I must be getting old or I'm truly a creature of habit and was too used to Geri going to the show with me.

Vonna loves to plant shop and was great fun! I can see us doing this show annually. She is truly a plant addict and purchased a bunch of African violets, some geraniums, and many herbs. She also purchased a few hellebores, as her garden is lacking this wonderful plant. Each time she sees my hellebores she longs for them, so we were quite happy to find some at the show today. She purchased a red hellebore and is such a sweetheart she bought the one pictured above for me-against my wishes I might add. You just can't say no to her though. She knew how much I wanted a 'freckled' hellebore. I also picked up a couple of double hellebores to go along with the one above.
The theme for this year's gardens was something like "Flavor of Gardening". I really didn't spend too much time on the gardens, but did get a snapshot of this child friendly garden. The 'engineer' was present and in costume. He enjoyed participating in this garden show. All gardens had to incorporate some kind of plant that could be used for culinary purposes. His garden had rosemary and a few other herbs tucked into the planting. The 'engineer' himself really had no idea what the plants were; which cracked me up. I think he was there to run the village and train only.

One of the most popular booths at the show has always been The Rustic Greenhouse booth. They are from Sewanee, Tennessee and can be reached at: (931) 598-9059. Linda, the owner, is very knowledgeable and I have purchased numerous plants from her over the years. Her plants are always top quality and good performers. This year I picked up some foam flowers for my new 'Secret Patio' garden. Does anyone recognize this cultivar pictured above? It was simply labeled 'foam flowers' so I did not get the cultivar name.

I also picked up a 'Hummelo' lambs ear, Selaginella (Spike moss), Rocky Mountain Penstemon, and a Rose Foxglove from her. Selaginella is usually a big seller at this show. It looks like a moss, but is classified as a 'fern ally'. According to Wikipedia, fern allies are not flowering plants, but also not ferns. They are similar to ferns in that they multiply by shedding spores. They prefer to grow in the same conditions as ferns and mosses. It is a unique plant that looks like a cross between a fern and moss, and one I've not had luck with in the past. Here's hoping to success this time around.
I was absolutely thrilled to find a 'Rainbow' Leucothoe catesbaei (fontanesiana). This shrub is evergreen and is in the Ericaceae family. As such it requires the same growing conditions as rhododendrons, pieris, azaleas and camellias. That is: an acidic, well drained, moist soil in a partly shaded area. The shrub is loaded with buds, which I believe will turn into lily of the valley type flowers, very similar to pieris flowers. My 'Rainbow' is joining the hellebores and foamflowers, foxglove, and penstemon in my 'Secret Patio' garden.

Additionally, a sweet surprise from a vendor at the show came my way. Geri and I each purchased a tree peony at last year's Lawn and Garden Show. My lovely yellow tree peony died. I stopped at the same booth and was looking at them this year when the manager came to talk with me. Surely he was looking to sell me another tree peony. I told him the one I purchased there last year died, so I did not think buying another would be a good idea. He quickly took one off the shelf and gave me a replacement tree peony! Gee, I sure hope I don't kill this one as well. And I might add that this year's tree peonies are a tad more expensive than last year. The vendor earned my loyalty and respect for going the extra step simply because he wanted to.

When we arrived back to northwest middle Tennessee, Vonna and I both downloaded our new acquisitions and I was able to plant almost all of the new plants. Additionally, I checked on my plants under the house. Several were ready to come out and go into a hardening off area in the garden. These included: gerbera daisies, brugmansias, and an agapanthus. All showed new growth even under the house! To say yesterday was a most wonderful day in the garden, would be an understatement. Let the gardening season begin!

One more thing, if you intend to visit the Nashville Lawn and Garden show, you can visit their website and print off a $1.oo coupon. The entry fee is $10. Every little bit helps. There are also lectures at this show, a flower arranging/design contest, many societies are on hand to give away freebies and to answer questions, and much much more than just what I have posted about here. Check out their website for more information. Enjoy and here's to happy gardening!

in the garden....