Chicago Flower and Garden Show

Today we took a daytrip to Chicago for the Flower and Garden Show which continues through next weekend.  I was quite excited to see my photos on display.  Here are my two photos and photos I took of the photo competition display.

 

Abstract Category

Best in Show

The Loveliest Smile by Chrapin Pongtornpipat

Some of the Macro Category

Another neat thing about the show are all the gardens to give you ideas.  Here are a few of my favorites.

This was Show Garden #9 designed by Brian Helfrich of Aquascape Designs.

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This was Show Garden #15 designed by Erika Allen and built by Growing Power, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was Show Garden #17 designed by Susan White, Joe Vandervlugt, and Patrick Romijn.  I just love tulips!

Here are a few unique ideas from Show Garden #20 (collaborators Hudson Valley Seed Library, ILASLA, and LiveWell).  I never would have thought of using gutters as a planter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture from Show Garden #19 designed by Patrick Ewing and Mark Kanazawa.

And finally, hyacinths from Show Garden #14 designed by Susan White, Joe Vandervlugt, and Patrick Romijn.

I also attended a couple of lectures.  One, titled Easy & Affordable Makeovers, was presented by Melinda Myers.  She used to live in the city of Milwaukee with a small city lot but has recently purchased a home in Waukesha with a lot more yard.  She has published various books and is an editor for Birds & Blooms.  She was a really great presenter and I purchased her book entitled, Small Space Gardening.  She also had a couple of books specific to Wisconsin that looked really interesting.  Some day I want to spend some time re-designing a our backyard….