Niagara Flower and Garden Show

I'm wondering if any DGers will be attending? I'll be going with my DW, DD, and DS.

We're leaving here Saturday morning and coming home sometime Sunday.

If any here are going and would like to try and meet up somewhere, send me an email. It'd be nice meeting any DGers going to the show!

http://www.niagaraflowerandgardenshow.com/index.htm

TC...

I wish I could!! We're headed to SC next week. Sounds like a great time. Have fun!!!

Now, listen here there mister...don't you take no clippins off those plants. LOL

Contact ziekertail - he lives just down the road from Niagara Falls in Ft. Erie. Maybe he's going!?!

LOL SLEDDER!! Hmmm, I hadn't thought of doin anything like that, till now!

I lived in South Carolina five years while in the Navy. Loved it there. Y'all have a safe trip and plenty of fun too!

TC...

Tc- I'm not going to the show, have other plans but looks like a good time, use your credit card for any purchases, you'll get the best rate at any given time, its the easiest safest way to shop in Canada without getting different exchange rates here or there. Have a good time.

Thanks for the buying tip s-pig, I appreciate it.

koog, I'll try contacted ziekertail and see if he/she is goin.

TC...

Can you pack me in your suitcase? I'd love to go. There are going to be such a great variety of speakers, too. Do you have any speakers in particular that you're going to seek out?

I'd be happy to have ya come along smiln! You could sit right up front though, no need to stuff ya in a suitcase. ;~)

I think the main dude I'll definately be checkin out is hosta man Kevin Walek.

Here's a little bio on him:

Kevin Walek, of Washington, D.C., is a well-known hosta grower and hybridizer. He is past Editor in Chief of the Hosta Journal (The national journal of the American Hosta Society), a judges' instructor for both Exhibition and Garden Judges, Senior Exhibition Judge and Garden Judge for daylilies and he is a hosta judges' Instructor and Master Judge. His garden was the 1995 winner of the Gretchen Harshbarger National Hosta Landscape Award, it is an American Hosta Society National Display Garden and an American Hemerocallis (Day lily) Society National Display Garden.

By the way, I got in touch with ziekertail and he might be meetin us Sunday for Mr. Walek's presentation.

TC...

kewl! It's always great to share an obsession! :)

I thank you again kooger for providin his id name to me.

Now, I have to figure out a way to subtely ask Mr. Walek about an "ugly" hosta for the secret trade.

TC...

You're most welcome! If you're doing any shopping, be sure and keep your receipts. If you spend over $50. in one store, you can apply for a GST refund. Also is a good idea to read customs regulations before heading across - eliminates unhappy surprises on the return trip. :) P.S.Who wants an ugly hosta?

I'll keep that info in mind kooger, thanks again. You're a wealth of information!

Here's where the "ugly hosta" thing got started.

http://davesgarden.com/t/434825/

TC...

I sure won't claim to know everything, lol, but 28 yrs. of 2-3 yearly trips home, ya pick up a few things, ya know!?! One year DH brought home three garden tractors. One to keep, one for his cousin and one to sell. We filed to get the tax back and got a check for over $800. A nice surprise!

The 'ugly' hosta trade is a hoot! When I go thru the Bridgewood Gardens on-line catalog, I see a few that I would file in that category. Definitely some 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' cultivars!

I hope you have a SUPER time! Don't buy too many plants....you'll need a trailer hitched to your truck to haul them all back home!

I'm looking forward to seeing all your pictures of the show when you get them posted!

Drive safely and have a wonderful time!!

P.S. I'm so jealous! I wish I could go!! So many plants, great speakers, vibrant displays, and plants, plants, plants...!!!

This message was edited Jun 12, 2004 11:29 AM

TC,

Don't keep us in suspense....how was your trip?

Made it back folks and had a great time!
Unfortunately, I must've missed ziekertail. I didn't see him anywhere before Mr. Walek's talk started.

I could use another garden tractor here koog! I have to switch from the mowin deck to the tiller about three times every spring. That gets old!

Shirley, I'll be gettin my photos ready to post in a thread over in the Photos forum. And we didn't buy but three plants. Most were quite expensive.

I looked for 'Out House Delight' but it had sold out everywhere, so I'm still lookin for an "ugly" hosta for the trade.

TC...

TC, glad you made it make home safely. Hope you enjoyed garden show and all the great speakers! Looking forward to seeing all your pictures posted in the Photo forum.

If you're looking for another u-g-ly "Out House Delight" Hosta for the swap, you could always contact Tony Avent, the hybridizer of that thar Hosta. However, Plant Delights Nursery, is not known for it's "cheap" prices, but they certainly do have some really unqiue & bea-ti-ful Hostas!

I've already checked with PDN Shirley. I emailed and got a reply sayin they'd be out of em till fall.

I asked around at the flower show and most price quotes on 'Out House Delight' was around 18 bucks.

I'm sure it'll come down in price soon.

TC...

Glad you has such a great time!! Can't wait to see the pics. Got a couple more tractors for sale, tc. :)

TC, you drove right by here and didn't stop!! I didn't see this until today, but next time you head up this way, give me a holler and I'll tell you how to get here. I could even give you some ugly old hostas.

Well say no more Kathleen! I'm so sorry! Had I known...well, you can bet yer ugliest hosta Id've stopped in!

And you can be sure the next time I'm up in yer neck of the woods I'll let ya know before I come.

Smiln, the talk Kevin Walek gave on hostas wasn't quite what I expected. He really got into the different ways new hostas are developed. Mixin plaintains, sielboldainas, and all that jazz. I think most of the folks there, which wasn't very many, were a bit confused, myself included.

I took a few notes:

2/3 of hostas are not shade plants.
Hostas are monocots.
Get a box turtle for slugs.
Cutworms are a main cause of leaf damage, not slugs.
You'll see brown tissue damage within three days if it's slugs.
Slugs make raspy tears, cutworms make nice, smooth cuts.
More sun = smaller leaves, shorter petioles, smaller clumps; less sun = just the opposite.
In Walek's opinion, overwatering causes an unnatural look.

I would have enjoyed his presentation more had he gave less technical info and more practical info.

I'll be postin photos here soon.

TC...

So what are you supposed to do with the box turtle? Grab the slugs and feed them to it? or let it roam in the hostas finding them itself? that might do considerable damage also! :) What does one do about cutworms? If 2/3 of hostas are sun plants but they are smaller leaved, shorter petioled and smaller clumps, wouldn't one draw the conclusion that perhaps they should have a tad more shade? :) just some pondering here...

Kooger, Mr. Walek did mention several times that it depends on personal preferences as to how you want your hostas to look. But we all knew that already. ;~)

I reckon the turtle just roams around in the hostas and finds the slugs on its own. Walek said that he keeps several of them around in his garden. As for dealing with cutworms, he said to just accept the damage rather than use pesticides that could cause harm to beneficial insects.

Before we visited the flower show, we stopped at the Falls.

DW, DD, and DS.

Another view of the Falls.

Maid of the Mist.

I'll be addin more photos later on.

TC...

1st and 3rd pix are American Falls and 2nd has Am. on the left and Horseshoe on the right. (Think they named them after Shoe?) lol Quite a few years ago, maybe 25-30, can't remember exactly, the powers that be dried up the Am. Falls by diverting all the water over the Horseshoe Falls. They wanted to see if they could find a solution to the erosion problem that the Am. Falls has. You can see the rocks quite a ways up in your pix, tc. I don't know if they did do anything or not, can't 'member if I heard anything about it. :) Interesting tho.

Yes, that is very interesting kooger. So, the rocks were added then? They're not natural?

TC...

Before we entered the exhibit area of the flower show we walked around and took in a few other sights.

I like the looks of this arbor.

The rose gardens were beautiful.

No, I believe the rocks are what are falling down all the time, erosion, from the edge of the cliff the water comes over. Both falls recede a certain amount every year. I'm not sure why it was perceived to be a problem for the Am. Falls. Perhaps because the Horseshoe Falls are higher so you don't notice it as much? I'm just guessing!

Here's another view.

Beautiful roses! Everything is so beautiful there - such a moderate climate! Where was the flower show? close to the falls area? Do they still have all the fuchia topiaries down the median by the falls? They are so pretty!

We were there in Jan., after we got married, and it was surreal! Everything is covered with ice! The 'fence' your family is standing by was only 2-3 ft. high in some places because of the thickness of the ice (mist freezing!) Spooky! Slip and over you go! All the shrubs and trees have teepees built over them with wood poles and tarps to keep the ice off of them. Definitely different than a summertime view.

It'd be neat to research just how much erosion has occured over the years as the Falls wears their way over the cliffs.

DD on the left and DS on the right.

The show was at the Butterfly Conservatory/Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada.

We didn't see any fuchia topiaries along the median kooger. They had lots of other flower arrangements all over the place though.

Here's a rose we're definately gonna be pickin up soon. Talk about aromatic!!

Hybrid Tea 'Sutter's Gold'

Here's a couple of shots of the vendor's areas.

And...

Hey TC say hi to mrs. TC and the little 'uns. Nice looking family!

What little I can tell you about the falls is that they were originally at the mouth of the river falling directly into Lake Ontario. Of course, it wasn't Lake Ontario then, we're talking 50,000 years or so, I think. there has been a great deal of geologic research on them and I think either the History Channel or the Discovery Channel have a couple of good documentaries on how they were formed and how they will eventually disappear into Lake Erie.

They were known as Thundering Water and the French called the Niagara, Beau Fleuve. the city of Buffalo was misnamed Buffalo from a fractured English rendering of Beau Feuve.

Ok, that's all of the useless info I have today!

Useless info?? No way is that useless info Kathleen! Very interesting to me. I didn't know Buffalo was mis-named, that the Falls were formerly called Thundering Water, or that the French called Niagara Beau Fleuve.

I thank you for posting this!

TC...

Here's a site with some REAL info:
http://www.infoniagara.com/other/history/

the falls are only 12,000 years old - I tend to hyperbole!