The 2002 Vermont Flower Show

The 2002 Vermont Flower Show, which is rated one of the top ten winter events by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for March 1, 2, and 3 at the Sheraton Inn and Conference Center in S. Burlington, the same locale as the past few years.  The theme of this year's show is "Legacy Gardens."

 The show, with its massive, colorful displays of flowers, trees, gardens, and a model garden railway, is the perfect place to get a taste of spring.   There's a floral design competition for professional florists, special activities for kids, and educational seminars every day of the show, as well as dozens of vendors of horticultural products.

 Hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday.  The cost is $10 per day for adults or $15 for the weekend.  Seniors pay $6 per day, $15 for the weekend.  Admission for children ages 2 to 12 is $2 per day, younger than 2, no charge.  Parking is free.

Admission covers all aspects of the show, including any of the 30 seminars led by experts from the University of Vermont (UVM), the Nature Conservancy, garden centers and nurseries, state agencies, landscaping firms, and other organizations.  Topics will include biological lawn care, growing herbs for home use, Siberian and Japanese irises, landscape and garden design, control of invasive exotic plants, landscape shrubs for Vermont, bonsai, bulb gardens, and raising orchids.

 Other talks will focus on gardens of Europe, growing cut flowers, creating a backyard wildlife habitat, tree selection and maintenance, water gardens, unusual annuals and perennials, and nighttime landscape lighting.  Visitors also will learn about what's new at the Vermont Community Botanical Garden, Vermont's public space legacies, how to raise native butterflies, and Cyrus Pringle, Vermont's first great plant explorer.

 The 2002 Vermont Flower Show is sponsored by the Vermont Association of Professional Horticulturists in cooperation with UVM Extension; the Vermont Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets; and others.  For more information call (802) 865-5979 or visit the official Vermont Flower Show Website at http://pss.uvm.edu/vfs/vfs.html.

Source: UVM Extension