News
Gearing up for the Successful Gardening Show

Mar. 29, 2012, Mississauga, ON — Enter into a garden fairy tale at this year's International Home & Garden Show and Successful Gardening Show.

Providing out-of-this world celebrity advice, magical shopping opportunities and new insight to help transform gardening visions into reality, visitors will walk away inspired to grow their own enchanted forest. As a bonus, visitors can pay one admission fee and gain access to two great shows: the International Home & Garden Show and the Successful Gardening Show.

Entries so petite they fit in your palm stand alongside sprawling, seven-foot tall greenery that sends visitors down the rabbit hole at the Ontario Horticultural Association’s Plant and Flower Competition. With over 60 competitions and 300 entries, visitors can take a stroll through the flower show, viewing gorgeous geraniums and fair ferns developed by talented, amateur horticulturists from across the province.
 
Just as Sleeping Beauty awoke from her slumber, nature is awakening at this year’s competition. 

“Musical harmony inspired us to create this year’s theme: Spring Symphony,” said Flower Show Chair, Heinke Thiessen. “Musicians play their instruments together to create harmony; horticulturists fuse flora and foliage together to craft beauty in the same way.”
 
Steps away, visitors can join March Hare, Dormouse and the man of the hour, the Mad Hatter at the Mad Hatter Tea Party. Offering a Zen escape from the show’s buzzing atmosphere, the tea party, sponsored by TASSIMO and Ontario Prevention of Elder Abuse, allows visitors to partake in tea-tastings within an indoor garden. Visitors can rejuvenate, sipping calming samples of tea while taking in the surrounding botanical beauty.
 
The show will also feature Celebrity Garden Theatre. This year's line-up includes:

• Spring 2012 planting tips:  HGTV and Landscape Ontario’s Denis Flanagan helps visitors’ gardens grow up, up and up. Flanagan will offer up answers on how to respond to the unseasonable weather and share his thoughts on how to make backyards multifunctional. Factoring in water bans, he will discuss creative gardening solutions that require little to no watering. Flanagan will speak April 15 at 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm.
• Bug-free gardens naturally: "The Real Gardener," Cristina da Silva, will provide natural solutions to fight off pesky critters. She will cover the importance of ideal conditions and help visitors choose the right type of soil and explain the art of plant placement. Her talk will also touch on chemical-free remedies. Da Silva will appear on April 12 at 4:45 pm.
• Condo-sized vegetable gardens: Breakfast Television’s Frankie Ferragine will provide vegetable gardening solutions for condo-dwellers, talking about how to grow your own terrace container veggie garden. His helpful tips will explain which vegetables are beginner-friendly and elaborate on container trends and design options. Ferragine will speak April 14 at 2:00 pm.

With over 500 exhibitors, the Successful Gardening Show offers the answers to visitor’s gardening questions. Industry pioneers line the pathways of the Paradise Backyard zone and Green Street, offering exciting new products and valuable services that will make green-thumbed fantasies comes true.
 
Appealing to the green-conscious shopper, the show also features several sustainable options.
 
The International Home & Garden Show and Successful Gardening Show both kick off April 12 and run through April 15 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ont. 

For more information, visit www.home-show.net/homeandgardenshow/index.html .