Although winter is still here, gardening enthusiasts should look ahead and plan for the region’s upcoming growing season.
And they can do so at the 17th Annual Gardening Show on January 21st at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso.
“We’re very excited to have the show back,” said LuAnn Troxel, the show’s PR chair. “We missed two years,” she said, referring to the event’s halt due to the pandemic.
Troxel said there will be many features and activities to engage the public at the event. Everything from plant and garden supply sales to presentations, demos and a seed fair will be in the spotlight. More than 120 vendors are participating in the show.
“It’s not much different than previous shows,” she said, adding that they listened to feedback from previous show attendees about what they loved about the event.
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Troxel said they expect a good audience because so many people have become fans of gardening lately.
“During COVID, a lot of people took up gardening,” Troxel said. She added that people are also becoming more interested in creating “special places” at home, adding to the gardening boom.
The Gardening Show, sponsored by the Porter County Master Gardeners Association, began as a seed fair and grew from there.
Even today, the seed exchange is a popular attraction at the fair. Attendees of the event will receive tickets that they can exchange for packets of seeds.
“There is a lot of interest in trading and collecting seeds,” Troxel said.
The agenda of speaker presentations at the show includes lectures on Indiana Dunes wildflowers, garden pollinators, ornamental shrubs and trees, succulents and other topics.
Hands-on demos include seed starting, plant propagation and more.
There will also be a garden photo contest and a raffle for a granite garden bench. Guests can also purchase lightly used gardening books and magazines on site.
A free children’s activity area will be featured. Suzie’s Cafe will also have food for sale at the event.
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