HomeAndGardenShows Archives

Paul Busse, the creator of the most fantastic garden train displays that grace major botanical gardens in the U.S., received a career boost when he made an award-winning display for AmeriFlora, an international garden show. With the temperatures taking a nose dive this week, and the gray of winter lingering, I’m thinking that a trip to a garden show may be a perfect way to pep up. They’re where top landscapers and gardeners strut their stuff.

Spring does begin in March, but at a garden show, it comes sooner than later. Gorgeous flowers and plants arranged in landscapes offer a respite from outdoors. Also, they’re perfect for picking up ideas for creating a sanctuary back home.

Here are eleven different events beginning this coming weekend and through March:

Columbus, Ohio. Central Ohio Home & Garden Show: Feb. 28-March 8. With the Oscars still fresh, here’s some movie magic. There are themed gardens inspired by movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark; Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon; Mama Mia, Lord of the Rings, Cast Away, Mary Poppins and more. I’m thinking China, Greece, a tropical island, Egypt, Great Britain and so on.
Fort Wayne Home & Garden Show: Feb. 26-March 1. If you have any junk and want to see if it’s an antique worth something, bring it along. A canned good will give you $1 off admission.
Philadelphia Flower Show: March 1-8. This year’s show is themed Bella Italia. Italian wine, food, and Italian gardens.
San Antonio Home & Garden Show: Has a 15-ton sand scuplture and birds of prey demonstration besides garden details.
Buffalo Home & Garden Show: Feb. 28-March 8. Has a staycation element to show you how to create a garden that makes you not mind staying closer to home.
Charlotte, N.C. Southern Spring Home & Garden Show: March 4-8. For a touch of Japan, check out the bonsai display and Ikebana flower arrangements.
Minneapolis Home & Garden Show: March 4-8. This show includes nine gardens. Get tickets off the Web site and save $3 a piece.
The same organization puts on the Home and Garden Shows in these cities in Texas. Dallas Home and Garden Show, March 6-8; Ft. Worth Home Show: March 13-15; Houston Home and Garden Show, March 20-22. Access all through texashomeandgarden.com. Look for vacation and leisure related displays at the show in Dallas.
St. Louis: Builders Home & Garden Show: March 5-8. Like the other shows, this one has a kid’s area to keep children busy. Also has an entertainment stage.

When I lived overseas some friends of mine, who also lived overseas, complained that when they were in the U.S. on vacation, they couldn’t relate to what excited people.

For example, one friend said that a friend of hers in the U.S. was excited about getting a new deck. My friend didn’t think that getting a new deck was exciting news. Planning an adventure vacation was exciting, however–unless you are a person who enjoys staying home enjoying a party on your new deck.

I did point out that for people who live overseas, buying items like carpets and unusual furniture can also give one that new things rush and that people like to show off at their parties. She agreed.

Once we moved back to the U.S., I discovered that we were fresh meat when it came to people trying to sell us stuff for home improvement. Let’s just say we have a whole house water improvement system that we have to feed salt, because we lived in two countries where we couldn’t drink the water. I have become more savvy since that purchase. Still, there are always home improvements that loom while we are off traveling.

This is the time of year when, now that vacation fun is fading into the past, the need to nest before winter kicks in begins to build. Somehow, each fall, I’m hooked into some “Let’s spruce up the place” endeavor. A friend who is a handy fellow is doing some plaster repair work today.

Because my friend who was less than impressed with decks has not moved back to the U.S., she is unaware that there are places to go dedicated to decks and other wonders of home improvement. Home and garden shows are a nesting bonanza. This month kicks off a flurry of fall activities geared towards getting people to focus on the place where they live.

At such shows, I’m one of those people who picks up brochures just so I can imagine what a sunroom might look like in the backyard. I won’t actually put a sunroom in the backyard, but the brochures are enticing. I also like to tour model homes and trailers. It’s not like I’d actually like to live in one, but it’s like visiting a movie set where you can imagine another kind of life.

A home and garden show, to a traveler, is a place to fantasize what your house might look like if you were ever home enough to fix it up–or what life would be like if you lived in one place.

Of course, a travel show opens up the possibilities of where you might go if you didn’t need to fix the leaky roof, or felt the draw of energy efficient windows. With some financial juggling, it is possible to take the trips and do home improvements.

The Home and Garden shows listed here are some of the ones I found for September and October.

Although there is an admission price, check local grocery stores or other venues for discount tickets. For example, the Best of Fall Show in Columbus, September 12-14 has free tickets at Krogers.

One thing I noticed about the Columbus show is that there are exhibitors specific to Ohio such as Longaberger baskets, as well as local celebrities. Chances are, if you go to a home and garden show, it’s a way to learn a bit about the state where the show is located. The one in Columbus also has travel related exhibitors which illustrates the fix up the house AND travel lifestyle.