Gardeners browse show to dream and plan
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: March 14, 2010
MANCHESTER – Vermonters on the brink of mud season went looking for inspiration and dry ground Saturday at the "Gorgeous Gardens and Green Living Show," an almost-spring exhibit organized by the Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association.
Offerings ranged from lectures by world-famous landscape designers, to warnings from the Department of Agriculture about the blight that ruined many vegetable gardens last summer.
Julie Moir Messervy, whose landscape firm is based in Saxtons River, urged a standing-room-only group to look to their own memories when designing their own landscape.
"Where did you go as a child to daydream?" she asked, suggesting people should recreate that same spot outside their own homes.
Messervy, who moved to Vermont six years ago after establishing an international reputation as an author of six garden books and as a garden designer, said garden design doesn't necessarily mean high-priced designers or landscapers. She urged gardeners to create rooms outdoors using the same creative and design skills they use inside their homes.
The goal, she said, is to get people outside and away from the screens that dominate 21st century life – computer screens, television screens and video screens.
Messervy said landscape design doesn't have to be hard or expensive. Vermonters have to consider the effect of the wind and the hilly nature of the state. And the needs and desires of every member of the family, including dogs and cats, have to be taken into consideration, she said.
"This isn't hard, you can do this," she said.
Lewis Henderson of Newfane came to Messervy's lecture to pick up tips to solve his own gardening design problems.
"Basically I'm looking for new ideas," said Henderson. He said he was particularly interested in Messervy's advice on creating "open air rooms" outside the home. Henderson said he lives outside the village of Newfane, on a mountainside where ledge and water drainage is a challenge.
Equinox Valley Nursery in Manchester had a prominent booth, featuring blooming star magnolias, heathers and primroses, a heavily budded crab apple tree, and a tiny patio made of paving stones.
Roger "Chip" Preuss said that visitors to the booth were interested in the blooming magnolias, which are some of the earliest shrubs to bloom in the northern New England climate.
The show at the Riley Rink was a combination of garden show, flower show and lecture series on topics including agriculture, design and sustainability. Vendors displayed everything from birdhouses to pressed flower prints and offered information on landscape design services, sustainable gardening and passive solar design.
Ed Burke of Rocky Dale Gardens in Bristol, a member of the sponsoring Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association, said the two-day show is an attempt to offer people and association members in the southern half of the state the best of the Vermont Flower Show, which is held alternate years in the Burlington area.
The show, which will continue Sunday, is an opportunity for association members to meet potential clients and for potential clients to learn about new vendors.
Burke said it is still too soon to say how the garden and landscaping sector of the economy will fare as the economy begins to recover from last year's recession. The landscaping business is closely tied to the housing industry, he said, which has been hard hit.
He said he's heard that people are trading expensive vacations for improving their homes and gardens. In 2009, he said, growth in the plant industry was in edibles – fruit trees and shrubs, and vegetable plants. People are not splurging on big ticket items such as trees and conifers, but are spending money on smaller, less expensive garden plants.
The show itself was a striking success, said Joan Lynch, chairwoman of the show, owner of The Inner Garden in Pittsford. The Vermont-certified horticulturist and professional landscape designer said that people are weary of winter.
"People want to see some sights of spring, what the new plants are this year. They want to get ideas and learn something," said Lynch. With more than 1,000 people checking in by 2 p.m., the show had "an overwhelming response."
She said she expects an equal number of gardening enthusiasts on Sunday.
The show will return next year, she said, although it might be in a different location in southern Vermont.
The show runs through Sunday, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Riley Rink on Route 7a, north of Manchester. There is an admission fee. For more information, visit the association's Web site, www.greenworksvermont.org.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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