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| Foo Dogs |
So how am I going to get Foo
dogs, the Pope, elephants and kitty litter scoops into a garden column? Pay attention, everyone.
Off to Chicago’s annual Flower & Garden show at Navy Pier with a
friend, we found it somewhat
disappointing. As usual the water
features were great – beautiful koi and falls but of course these were
companies with something to sell. All of
the other exhibits’ plantings seemed a little sparse and fairly tired. Vignettes:
- Charming students from
the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences speaking of their school's
curriculum, their garden at the show and their sister school in Japan (which
some Chicago kids visit and vice versa).
- A rather confused
docent at one exhibit asking ME about plants in a neighboring exhibit: "And what are those big yellow flowers,
sir?" "Those would be tree
peonies, miss. They're perfectly hardy
here but don't cut that little three foot trunk down." "And what're those big grey flowers
behind them?" "Umm, miss,
those would be Chinese stone Foo dog statues." "I think I need new glasses, sir."
- "Good lord,
Sheila! Look at this tree. Young man [?!!], can you read the label up
there?" "It looks like it says
'Wilt Siberian Maple', miss." [The
amazing critter had green and white vertical stripes on its bark.]
- My friend , much
disappointed that the vendor selling exotic dried fruits, veggies and nuts was
not there this year.
- They saw 'SUCKER"
practically tatooed on my forehead when I passed the plant sale section. I bought two crinum lilies (one for my sister
in Kansas) mainly because I really wanted a bulb that was 15 inches long weighing
as much as a small baby. (Crinums have
pink/purple blossoms and can be kept as house plants.) Also snagged some tall purple alliums, fancy
daylilies and some pink lily-of-the-valley.
- I bought a subscription
to Chicago Gardening Magazine (& got freebie copies of sister mags from Wisconsin,
Iowa and Michigan).
