If you enjoy doing something, it’s important to put effort into learning how to be more successful at it.
When it comes to being a successful gardener, this certainly applies. We do not know how to garden instinctively. You must be willing to take the time to learn about the plants you want to grow, how to keep them healthy and how to utilize plants and other materials to create a landscape that you find functional and attractive.
SPRING GARDEN SHOWS
NEW ORLEANS HOME AND GARDEN SHOW: Saturday and Sunday (March 28 and 29), at the Superdome, featuring landscaping, gardening trends and outdoor living products.
TICKETS: $15 at the door. neworleanshomeshows.com
CITY PARK SPRING GARDEN SHOW: April 11, one day only, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Botanical Garden. Vendors, plant sales, educational programs, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, live music.
TICKETS: $15 and up. Info at neworleanscitypark.org.
There will be excellent opportunities over the next few months for gardeners around southeast Louisiana to participate in gardening activities designed to educate and inspire. Many plant associations, gardening organizations, public gardens and the LSU AgCenter and their Master Gardener volunteers have garden-related lectures, classes, demonstrations, symposiums, garden shows, plant sales, garden tours and a variety of other events coming up.
Do an internet search using “Louisiana garden shows” or “Louisiana gardening events” to see the many opportunities you have to purchase wonderful new plants and learn from classes, lectures, tours and seminars.
Learning how to garden here in southeast Louisiana is really the most important reason for attending these events. We can obtain information about gardening from TV shows, print articles, radio programs and the internet, but it’s important to understand that gardening is extremely regional. The information from these sources frequently relates to a different part of the country and is not at all appropriate for us.
Even information for “Southern” gardeners needs to be looked at with some caution.
The growing conditions in Virginia are very different from those in Louisiana, yet we are both part of the South.
Yes, I know it’s a very busy season in the garden, and you are loath to put down your shovel, take off your gloves, get cleaned up and go to a lecture or garden show when there is so much to do. But honestly, your garden will be waiting for you when you get back.
The benefits that you will receive are well worth the time spent and the money it might cost to attend.
Educational programs by speakers from Louisiana (or those that approach a subject from a Louisiana perspective) provide you with the locally appropriate gardening information you need.
Local speakers will often provide information that relates specifically to the region of the state where the program is being given and where the gardeners attending live and garden.
This is critical to proper plant selection, pest control and the timing of when garden activities are done throughout the year.
Another reason for attending is to meet other gardeners and talk about gardening.
I’ve always believed that when it comes to gardeners, there are no strangers.
A wonderful quote from garden writer Louisa King (1863-1948) expresses this beautifully: “If my eye lights upon a carefully tended garden, at once I experience the warmest feelings of friendliness for that householder, and wish to know and talk with them about their flowers. For at the bottom there is a bond which breaks down every other difference between us. We are Garden Souls.”
Most of us don’t have unlimited garden budgets (wouldn’t it be wonderful if we did), and we tend to hoard our precious gardening dollars to purchase all those wonderful plants we want to grow.
But given the benefits received, the money we use to attend educational events is well spent.
The money you spend on show entrance fees, lectures and symposia will help you learn how to properly care for your plants.
This ensures you protect your investment in plants by doing a better job of keeping them alive, and that saves money in the long run (feel free to use this argument with a spouse).
These events also help you learn which plants grow well in Louisiana, preventing you from wasting money purchasing plants that will not thrive here.
Don’t be shy about introducing yourself to other people at these events.
Mention something said in the lecture or plants that you particularly like to grow, and I can just about promise you a great conversation.
Also, don’t hesitate to ask the speakers additional questions either during (if allowed) or after the program.
After all, that’s what they are there for; and that way you gain information you can directly apply to your own garden.
Finally, I almost always leave a class, symposium or garden show feeling inspired, and that is a benefit more difficult to define yet no less important.
The old meaning of the word inspire is “to breathe life into.”
Between the programs that make me a better gardener and great conversations with fellow gardeners, I do often feel reinvigorated.
Take some time out of your busy schedule this spring and make it a point to attend as many of these events as you can.
Get some friends together and make it fun but do take advantage of these educational events. There is no use struggling to learn alone when so many opportunities are waiting.
Comments are closed.