The Garden and Flower Expo (Part 2!)
Disclaimer:
Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics Covered: Live Gameshow, Home Gardening, Growing Groceries, Bird Habitats, Sales and Marketing
What can I say!? Just couldn’t get enough of the Garden Festival… (I mean, a live gameshow… tea… honey!?! Of course I went back!) Great times, family fun, and 36 years of epic garden showcasing. The Garden and Flower expo is so nice I had to go twice this year. Let’s see what stood out on this second visit.
(no ratings today, if you want ratings on this event, go look at the “Garden and Flower Expo” first day, just one blog before this…)
Today’s event:
I really wanted to come back with my daughter. It’s a rainy day and this event was so fun. It’s perfect for an almost 3-year-old, too much to do and see.
Half as crowded as the day before, if not way more. It looks like it’s already over before it’s begun, but maybe it’ll liven up more into the day. I feel frustrated when I see these events not too crowded, though. I think SO many more people/families woudl come if they knew about it. We need better marketing in this city for events.
36th annual (had anyone gone all 36 years? Over 30? First time here?)
Great wonderful show, lots on sale upstairs.
Gardening DIY/ Replace the Grocery Store with Your Veggie Garden
She says she has 3 kids, she’s gardened with them from the get-go.
She doesn’t plant anything toxic or inedible in the veggie beds. In the raised bed, it’s a free for all.
Do your own research, but, you typically need to consume a lot of plants for them to truly be toxic (if we’re talking about like FoxGlove for example)
Leave anything potentially harmful out, they’ll go rogue, eat things, rub them all over our faces.
In the garden we have now, the raised beds have bordered perennials and ornamentals.
Dalia’s are edible, you wouldn’t think to eat them but you could
What is a good companion veggie for potatoes?
She says she loves growing potatoes cause it’s an adult treasure hunt at the end
Shallow rooted plants are the best. Your potatoes are down low
Even onions, chives, lettuce, pansies, chamomile
When I start nerding out about the veggie garden, I think about the foliage. It’ll have a whimsical raised bed (if you care of the aesthetics) then you can do a bunch of spinach and then pansies to make it more polished.
If you have the luxury to think how it’s going to look, there you go!
You have buttery dutch potatoes, main potatoes, and then fall potatoes.
As weather gets warmer, your spinach will like the shade.
Peppers and tomatoes like basil, chives, marigold as their companions.
I think peppers and tomatoes are sorta divas… my last garden was on Southern California though, you had to go late in the season (but I’m in Tennessee now)
Crazy they flew her in here for this!! That’s so expensive, huh?
How many DIY own veggies growers? (More than half the crowd)
How often do you add calcium? Eggshells, etc?
At the beginning of the season, or directly putting gin a transplant.
Kelp, worm casings, compost… a big huge amendment before the season, then side dress with extra amendments
I don’t like fertilizer but wool is good - or straight from the bunny to the bed, rabbit poop.
Small Space Gardening in General,
Potentially replace instead of replenish soil… if there are no more nutrients… you can really feel the life force with your hands.
Put compost for 4-6 interests, then judges it… but don’t disrupt the soil.
But with grow bags, create a new environment. Nothing is being introduced to the actual ground. No network
Ammend your best (but you fail with the soil when you don’t read the ingredients).
There is a quality hierarchy with soil.
If you do have one bed of specific crops, heavily amend it and consider after a few seasons to rotate it…. But most dedicated veggie growers have a warm season and a cool season.
Rosemary and thyme, annual perennials… how do you work with them?
I just leave them in, top dress them… add a little compost and worm castings and the plant is still there, just giving her a little attention..
Liquid seaweed is another great faux-fertilizer that is super organic.
Perinnial herbs are good in the corners for me, it’s where I go snip the herbs. Or it’s in the in-ground borders… with more perennials and flowers in general, and not upset the root system.
Rosemary shrubs can even be ornamental decoration… and they always say “Rosemary by the front gate for good luck”
There’s a good book, “Carrots love tomatoes” - it’s the go-to for companion planting.
Here’s how to think through companions: the pests that are attracted to them (big and small) - what will deter them?
You can guarantee onions and chives are a good companion when all else fails
Pests like to stay away from that.
Wool pellets are so good too cause they decompose over 6 months, slugs and sails don’t crawl over it… they’re the best thing to buy online, a natural byproduct of the wool industry.
Powdery Mildew: uugh!
Even plants where it maybe doesn’t seem normal to prune them… prune them!
I would just prune and create a ton more airflow… gently remove it from the garden so the spores don’t pass on
You must create a better environment for that situation with the airiness.
I crowed my plants and don’t listen to the pack.. and 9/10 it’s fine. Your instincts know what’s too close and not too close… but the other thing to do is research… ask market gardeners about your specific goal. Some cucumbers can give you three times the amount… which specific plant bumps up the yield per plant, then bump it up..
See if you can go vertical, pack it in
Old school = plant potatoes in 12 inch trench and make sure it’s plenty apart… I squish everything together. W’er egging on instinct and squishing it all on and never ever had a problem with it.
“Once you grow potatoes, you will never not grow potatoes”
Ruth Stout potato method: the queen of lazy gardening. Like the Julia Child of gardening. She would bury her potatoes in a trench, throw 3 feet of rotten hay, then end up with crazy potatoes!!
How do you use wool pellets?
It’ll look a little different as they puff up, they create air pockets in your soil then hold onto water. You want the water to slowly observe, shake them out, then loosely pat them in.
Preventative measures for bigger pests?
There are things you can buy that emit noise that is motion sensored and only squirrels can hear it
They also have faux urine.
I once had fox pellets explode in a suitcase… burn everything if that happens.
Bird-Friendly Gardening
The speaker has been friends with the host for years on instagram (they’re in their 50+’s!) and now they’re here.
Make sure your phones are silenced (normally no photography, but this speaker is allowing it if you want)
hahah its funny that she says that, I feel like its usually allowed — maybe not like 10 or 15 or 20 years ago
Author on bird friendly gardening + micro-food gardening, and also a photographer!!
I do like that she takes her own pictures! That kinda seems like “how it shoudl be” if you want
She’s here all the way from Connecticut
There are so many ways to make your garden more bird-friendly, there’s a lot you can do to incorporate native plans and other designs
As a child, grew up in Queens — concrete everywhere, maybe trees? But we put up bird feeders. And as a young girl, I was enthralled with cardinals.
Grew up in a gardening family with her grandpa who was a veggie gardener, her family had roses and pets
As a home owner she started to connect the pieces of how to bring birds into her garden.
As an adult, she started planting intentionally to get more involvement from nature.
More pollinators led to bird and bees… then she saw that the birds were enjoying those same native plants. She had aha moments and realized she loved birds and wanted even more in her garden. She turned her front garden into a bird friendly garden.
So what? What do they do for us?
Studies of hearing bird songs and seeing birds have positive effects on our environment
But also we have lost 3 billion birds since the 70’s. 70% of species have lost 2/3 of their population in the last 15 years. We’re on tract to lost 50% of all birds in the last 50 years.
In the future will we need to go to aviaries to go see birds?
Make your garden more bird friendly
What is threatening birds?
Habitat loss: parking lots, soccer fields, etc
Cats: they are a major, major problem for birds. The fish and wildlife service says 2.4 billion birds are killed by feral and pet cats each year. They hide well and stalk the prey. Then this changes the bird’s behavior. They’re likely to do alarm calls, upset other birds or let predators know a nest is nearby… which then means less food for babies
Cats also live longer when they live indoors, she said
Migration Risks: an average of 600k birds collide with building glass each year. The birds don’t know what is real and what is a reflected duplicate
Sounds like UX and the billboards
In the cities, the light pollution hides the starlight and the birds use the starlight to get to their migration destinations.
Sometimes birds circle, get exhausted, and then end up in the streets
Cats and other predators lead to problems.
Pesticides: lawn pesticides, tick sprays, mosquito sprays, and neonictinoids
11 states are restricting access to pesticides (Washington is doing a good job on this)
It is like putting a carnation in half water, half blue water… then you saw the carnation turned blue….
The pesticides work in this same way, its systemic and makes the entire plant poisonous.
How can we make our property better for birds?
Food: primarily insects to feed their young (native plants)
Variety of plants that give options throughout the year.
Nesting materials and nesting sites: native shrubs, leaving trees standing (even if they’re borderline dying but not at risk to fall) those are really worth keeping. Tehy’re a habitat for so many things (woodpeckers, owls, birds)
Shelter in birdhouses maybe! She has birdhouses in different locations at her house, with the predator garden nearby
Cover: shelter (our state has a lot to offer), protection form rather and creators)
Water: favorite and fun… to drink and take baths. You can even do heated bird baths in the winter. You’ll bring in so many birds… a lot of natural areas are frozen over. The heated birdbath will bring in a lot of variety.
CONTAINER SHOWDOWN: Live Competition Flower Decorating Challenge:
Two people are competing to make container decorations
This was funnier the other day with teams of two (more active audinece)
Suddenly she’s giving away a hydrangea int he audience… you need to know, “what hydragencia shoudl you be pruning right now?”
The peninsula is correct, you just won this hydrangea!
Asks both for a tip: What is the biggest mistake people make when they’re planting containers…
Thinking that the soil is more important than their schedule… oftentimes how we plant the plant should be dictated on how often we can care for the plant. Different types of soil (if full of bark or such) or compact soil, very dense. That determines the moisture amount we hold
Doesn’t need to be all flowers and annuals, not a lot of root depth… it’s difficult to sustain a nice container over the whole season… so she likes to put perennials and edibles.
“I’m ready to play tricks on the nice guy in gardening, telling her some mind games… so now he’s not feeling so bad… so I got a couple tricks up my sleeve in terms of edibles… showered the floor, made backdoor deals, to get some edible plants into the mix that you don’t have access to.”
Time to go scheme
Experts have been coming to this show for more than 30 years.
She pulls out a kumquat tree…
And puts tree in her container!!
Next challenge: sing or switch
Sing a song or which plants with your neighbor
We will, we will plant you (they sing it together and improvise with the crowd)
Next Challenge, a tip: how do you decide which plants to put in your container?
Color combination and how it’ll grow out… think about the process, start small and know that with some time it’s going to get big.
Go and have your fun going around the nursery and find the plants that appeal to you, but don’t run to the checkout before you leave… subtract half of them, or buy more containers.
Someone from the audience yells: buy more containers!!
They dramatically wheel in a dual gift, wheeled in on a platform, it’s just a few small plants. So funny. A self watering planter filled with soil, plants, and everything. Even help bringing it to your vehicle. Cascade water alliance will collect the names
Last Challenge: (no one likes it at all)
You two are way too nice to each other. Someoen from the audience will say what plant from Carissa’s design she must remove and give to march and what from march he must remove and give to her.
He says: “have mercy”
She stole the tree— the little girl had her steal the tree and give it to the guy (the lemon tree) he jokes and asks if he has to use it.
Two flowers equal one tree
My daughter even won a flower!!
The team/woman wins, thy hug.. the host goes, “wow, do you see how kind gardeners are at this show?” 😂
Overall, this event was fun to attend twice!! I learned a little and laughed a lot at the live reality tv show (though I do think it’s better in teams, which was a useful takeaway as well). These types of events are so fantastic to bring your family. I didn’t have AS many notes as usual this time, but I was just busy with my daughter. More notes on the last blog from this event. :)
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
