It was Show Time!
“The Spice of Life” at the 2010 CT Flower & Garden Show
was held Thursday, Feb. 18--Sunday, Feb. 21
2010 CHS Flower Show A Success
March 14, 2010_Congratulations to all who helped make the CHS exhibit at the 2010 Connecticut Flower & Garden Show with its “Spice of Life” theme an overwhelming success.
Thanks especially to Flower Show Committee Chairman Nancy Brennick and Hosting Chairman Fran Schoell and their cadres of volunteers. The efforts paid off handsomely: CHS won several awards for its display and the Society gained more than 55 new members.
To recap on the awards front: The CHS exhibit won the Federated Garden Club of Connecticut’s Award for Excellence in Design, as noted in the March CHS Newsletter. The exhibit also won five awards from the show organizers: Whimsical, People’s Choice, Greatest Diversity of Plant Materials, Strongest Expression of Show Theme, and Appreciation for Exhibiting.
Each year, CHS presents a plaque and check for $200 to the exhibit that “stimulates an interest in horticulture and inspires the home gardener through the use of distinctive plant material and good design.” Thanks to Awards Committee Chairman Ginny Gingras for handling the details of that award, which went to Aqua Scapes of CT in Portland.
Here are a few words each from Nancy, Fran and Ginny:
From Nancy Brennick, CHS Flower Show chairman:
I must express sincere gratitude to a core group of committee people. These are the rock-solid, dependable, “do it or die” volunteers who really make the show happen year after year. They include Katie Shipman, David Smith, Joan Stubenrauch, Anne Holcombe, Leslie Shields, Fran Schoell, Nancy and Bob Shipman. Also, a special thanks for their multiple contributions goes to Steve Silk, Lynn Cavo, Deborah Kent, Elizabeth Morin, David and Julia Hayes, Faith and Bill Geist, Lee Melcher, Donna Erikson and Ken Stubenrauch. And finally, thanks to some new volunteers who really made a difference: Elaine Widmer, Fairlee Latawic and Don Ahlberg.
Thank you all for the brilliant execution of our 2010 Flower Show display. There was no CHS standard of the past that wasn't met in design, educational purpose, entertainment, efficiency and results. You met the “speed bumps” of execution with hardly a sweat—testimony to your being creative problem solvers and a group of individuals who sees what needs to be done and gets to it. Bravo for a terrific job done.
The first flash accounting has been done: through controlled spending, good borrowing and well-executed plant sales, we will deliver expenses at 20 percent better than we planned. We stand at 57 new members, with some promises of membership still outstanding.
From Fran Schoell, CHS Flower Show Hosting chairman:
I want to thank all of the volunteer hosts and hostesses who worked at the flower show. It was so easy to work at the exhibit because every time you walked by the display something different popped out.
Thank you to Nancy Brennick and her great committee of volunteers. Nancy stated in the last newsletter that it took 1,300 volunteer hours to plan and execute the exhibit, but look what we had to show the public.
From Ginny Gingras, CHS Awards Committee chairman:
CHS awards an exhibit at the flower show that “stimulates an interest in horticulture and inspires the home gardener through the use of distinctive plant material and good design.” The exhibitor receives a plaque to display and a check for $200.
This year’s winning exhibit, “Welcome Home,” was created by Rob Townsend and Jennifer Horgan of Aqua Scapes of CT in Portland. An outstanding feature of their exhibit was the espaliered Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’), which provided attractive screening of the patio. The water feature was a fountain set to music surrounded by landscape plantings of Erica x ‘darleyensis’ (heather), Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘King’s Gold’ (gold mop cypress) and Juniperus squamata (‘Blue Star’ juniper). A mix of perennial plants, trees and shrubs of varying heights and textures was used. Glossy foliage played against broadleaf evergreen conifers. They included five Leyland cypress with three azaleas, leatherleaf mahonia, Forsythia suspensa, ‘Emdee Gold’ honeysuckle, blue compact Japanese pine, ‘Album’ rhododendron, ‘Carousel’ mountain laurel, and a variety of hosta: ‘Praying Hands’, ‘Halcyon’, ‘Fragrant Bouquet’, ‘Blue Angel’ and ‘August Moon’.
Aqua Scapes had two landscaping exhibits, providing the public with many ideas and inspiration. Both exhibits won awards.
A special thank you to CHS judges John O’Brien of O’Brien Nurserymen in Granby and Kevin Wilcox of Farmington Valley Nursery in Avon.
February 14, 2010_Fairy houses, tropical bananas, 40 boxwood shrubs, 300 white tulips, more than 600 bulbs—they'll all be stars in the CHS display at the 2010 Connecticut Flower & Garden Show, themed around “The Spice of Life.”
Several months and hundreds of person-hours ago, we began planning for the CHS exhibit. We decided that what gives life its spice is a fertile imagination. We developed a concept in which three neighbors, with three very different imaginations and tastes, execute their garden plans.
A view of the gardens of three neighbors reveals that they share a love of all things horticultural. Marlowe, Andi and Beate share plans, pots, perennials, bulbs, art and frequent strolls through each other's garden. But that is where the similarities end. Each gardener has mastery of her own style as seen in these essays: earthy and fairy-like; formal and refined; fabulously flamboyant. Each gardener has followed her imagination to create a landscape that reflects a distinct signature.
We think you'll agree that the exhibit design by CHS member Katie Shipman, of B&B Landscaping & Design in Glastonbury, is broad in its appeal – amusing, stunning and a bit fanciful, much like the exhibit’s imaginary women who live and garden there.
Even thought lots of work remains, it’s not too early to thank the many flower show committee chairs and prominent CHS member-volunteers who have helped create the exhibit. They include David Smith, bulb magician, raiser of funds, and patient taskmaster; Katie Shipman, designer and chief hammer-wielder; Joan Stubenrauch, ringleader of all things growing; Leslie Shields, props master; Anne Holcombe, woman who wears many hats; Deborah Kent, plant potter; Nancy Shipman, historian and answer lady; Bob Shipman, staging foreman, shrub finder and “Robert of all trades.”
Also, Steve Silk, Mr. ‘Flamboyant’, who never missed a meeting – anywhere!; Faith and Bill Geist of have-truck-will-travel fame; Fran Schoell, all things hostessing; Elizabeth "How Can I Help" Morin; Elaine Widmer, booth detail; and Fairlee Latawic, right hand.
Donors of space, time and plant material to whom thanks are due: White Flower Farm, Litchfield; Growell, Inc., Cheshire; TK & Brown Flowers, Rocky Hill; Glastonbury VOAG; Farmington Valley Nursery, Avon; John O'Brien Nurserymen, Granby; Broken Arrow Nursery, Hamden; and Moore’s Sawmill, Bloomfield.