Annual garden show offers more than flowers (02/20/06)

Our annual winter trip to the Cleveland home and garden show was a success. I found the exact potting shed I want for the backyard. It has shelves the perfect height for stuffing plants into brand new containers. It has space for all my flower pots that have accumulated and multiplied over the years. It has planting boxes under the windows. It even has a tiny porch that is exactly the right size for the swing that I found on another aisle of the convention center where the home and garden exhibition was located. Of course, I still have to persuade my husband that I need a potting shed. I have tried telling him that it would make for less grass to mow but I don’t think he is convinced quite yet.

There were several things that surprised me about the show this year. One of the unusual things was the number of animal adoption booths. There were three animal shelters represented. One had several dogs awaiting new homes, one had cute puppies that I couldn’t resist petting, and one had a huge cage full of kittens. If people would spay or neuter their pets there wouldn’t be such a need for so many shelters.

Then there was the parrot protection booth. Several colorful parrots sat on their perches looking gorgeous while a very earnest lady explained why we must protect these beautiful creatures. I found it ironic that the birds weren’t allowed to fly free.

Just down the aisle from the parrots was a display of sugar gliders. I had never seen one of these creatures before. They look like miniature designer squirrels. One of them was climbing around on the top of its cage when it suddenly got tired of being stared at and hopped into some guy’s front pocket. He seemed surprised so I don’t think he was part of the display.

I’m not quite sure what all these animals have to do with a home and garden show. Animals are part of our daily lives but seeing them tucked between displays of fireplaces and gutter systems was a bit disconcerting. They would have looked more at home in the flower part of the building but the elaborate displays there were full of multi-hued posies and full-sized trees with no room for puppies and kittens.

As usual I found several plants, shrubs and flowers that would be at home in my yard. I can’t pronounce most of their names but I do know what to look for in the catalogs. It was the middle of February so it was the wrong time to bring them home even though they all went on sale that evening after the show was over. Plants that are forced into blooming, as those were, seldom thrive. I suppose that is their revenge for being tricked.

After walking around all day gazing at gardens that would make a botanist jealous it was time to rest awhile before heading to our favorite restaurant. We learned to frequent only the eating establishments recommended by the hotel after we stopped at one place that was the worst restaurant on earth. The smoking section took up most of the place as evidenced by the blue haze over the salad bar. We were led through this pollution to a tiny area in back that was labeled non-smoking. The food was only half-cooked and the waitress couldn’t understand why we didn’t take advantage of the salad bar. Somehow the idea of ashes in the lettuce wasn’t appealing. After that experience we learned to rely on the recommendations of others instead of advertisements that fail to mention how nasty a place is.

We usually meet family for supper but this year they had other plans that couldn’t be changed. We missed catching up with them. I’m hoping we can get together some other time.

Sunday we took the long way home through a couple of winter snowstorms and included a stop at a craft shop for some much needed supplies. Now I am searching through catalogs for some of the plants we saw that I am now determined to own. I am also working on plans to duplicate that perfect potting shed. I have to come up with some excuses — I mean reasons — as to why a potting shed is a necessity rather than a luxury. Any ideas?[[In-content Ad]]