Everything's Comin' Up Roses

 

So Bob and I went to the Flower and Garden Show at The Hartford Convention Center. We got slightly "lost" (more like turned around)and had to back track and wound up accidentally on the right street, right in front of the Convention Center. I must say (*1) that who ever designed this concrete monstrosity of a parking garage and convention center was lacking just a bit in the ease/aesthetics department. After parking your car, you wander in an endless frigid expanse of cement and crosswalks, searching for an elusive elevator. One nice consideration was the above sign which helped us recall exactly where our car was located in the cement wilderness. For this we can be grateful!

We had pre-purchased tickest and thought we'd be whisked straight into the exhibit, but seems everyone else pre-purchased tickets so we stood cheek-by-jowl with hundreds of other plant nerds, inching our way forward all the while serenaded by a young woman folk singer with and oddly tiny guitar. Not quite sure what she had to do with horticulture... I guess it was to keep us calm as we shambled forward.

Here's Bob pretending to be a giant as he impishly pranked holding what was in reality a giant watering can turned fountain. There were several impressive displays featuring large flowering trees and giant pieces of equipment (also turned into fountains) and lots and lots of forced bulbs and shrubs and primroses and hellebores. Yes, there were plants for sale but it struck us as a hard time of year to purchase plants because you'd have to hold them unitl it was warm enough to dig and plant them outside. But there was a stellar flower arrangement area where we were asked to vote on our favorites. Some pretty far-out arrangements, many incorporating odd materials and crazy color combos.

The sheer number of non-garden related tchoctchkes available was also impressive and inexplicable. Wind up dogs and cats (!?), clothes (and not garden related), jewelry... although I admit the only things we purchased were a bottle of an interesting Hibiscus liquer and a pair of alpaca socks. We ran into the nice people at The Connecticut Gardener magazine (Hello Anne and Will!) for whom I write entertaining garden humor. Also, we encountered a woman with whom I used to work at the auction house, lo these many years ago. Unexpected!

And speaking of flowers and roses, I recently made the above bed for our beloved princess Robin the Good. Poor Robin was sleeping on a bed that Mommy made for Frank the Dog (*2) and it was getting thin and probably not all that comfortable. She seems to really like it and nothing is too good for our little angel!

(*1) Sounding altogether like Ed Grimley if you remember him!

(*2) Both long gone! Frank the Dog was resident canine way back in Bridgewater; that's like 20 years ago! He's still missed. A quirky fellow, but brave and true! Although an amusing aside is that Mommy embroidered his initials (for Frank Valley Keating) in such a way that it reads like FUK. I always appreciated that detail!