We're here at the Navy Pier in Chicago and we're here for the Chicago Flower
and Garden Show. And the theme this year is, "Flower Tales - Every Garden Has A Story".
That's what we're gonna find out - what the story is with these gardens. So pretty
excited to see how they do all this indoors. You're allowed to come and go as
you please throughout the day as long as you have your hand stamped when you leave.
Donna what do they have here today. It says 20-plus inspiring Gardens.
It's gardens, activities, home and garden, marketplace, and gourmet cooking
demonstrations. Flowertales! It's our first time here! So, let's go see it!
As you first walk in, this is garden number one - Garden Trilogy.
They have recorded crickets here. I like how they have different books spread throughout the
garden. There's some children's classics.
And the whole walkway is lined with books.
I like that one; "Snow White And The Seven Garden Gnomes".
This is Bernie's book bank. They collect books for at-risk children in Chicagoland.
Wow! I wish our backyard looked like that! Yeah, it's nice.
I'm sorry but I'm not a real lawn guy.
Cool book tree.
There's some really unique plants.
All the plants, trees, and flowers are marked,
so you'll know what you're looking at. Like for instance, I don't know for sure
what this tree is. And it says here it's a Firebird Sargent Crabapple tree. Very pretty.
And one of the first things you see when
you come in is this Wizard of Oz display. And a Flowertales Subaru. And of course
the Subaru is a Forester. It fits in real good. Garden number two is, "Foresters,
Outbacks, Legacys - Oh My!" There's the big Emerald City backdrop.
Garden number three is, "Aqua Land". One of the nice things about the Flower and
Garden Show is that you can see all these different plants and landscaping
ideas, and see what you would like in your own yard.
And they have a lounge here. A few tables. You can get some wine and coffee. Some chips.
Garden number four is, "Every garden has a story to tell, but ours has a secret".
Who made it, Donna? The students of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. Looks like they designed it.
Here's an entrance right here. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the heir beware! Here's a cutout in the wall there, and steps going up to it.
And Alice will greet you as you go into the Secret Garden.
Once upon a time. Hi, how are you doing?
This gives you directions to everything in Wonderland. Rabbit hole, Tweedledee,
This Way, Tea Party, and the Cheshire Cat.
And here is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
There's the Queen of Hearts. And the White Rabbit.
This is the story of Alice in Wonderland. "When you can't look on the bright side, I
will sit with you in the dark".
This is from The Daily Prophet. Harry Potter -
Undesirable Number One. And here's all the Harry Potter house flags, banners.
Those look like the Rings from Quidditch.
There's Ron Weasley's car in the tree.
There's Ron he looks a little worried!
Welcome to our Secret
Garden. We're all mad here.
This part of the secret garden is a hobbit hole.
And they built a little stream into the display.
Number 5 is the Floral Market.
You can take home some fresh-cut flowers with you.
There's a little picture area here.
There are some oriental lilies, tulips, and some hydrangeas. And you can get your
tulips in a tulip vase. I didn't know what these were. And they are Bells of
Ireland. They have some Mr. and Mrs. Bouquets.
Yeah, I really feel ignorant walking around here, because I don't know what
hardly anything is. But Donna knows her flowers. Those look like a violet, but it says that
it's a Purple Campanula.
This is a good place to come while it's still winter, and you can smell some
fresh flowers, and makes you think a spring!
6 is Sculpture in the Garden. This garden is one you walk around instead
of walking through it. And in each section there's different flowers along
with a different sculpture.
And what's a garden without insects?
Kinda goes together.
Number 7 is, 'Women's Journeys In Fiber".
That's cool!
That box is a little scary - it's Pandora's box!
Oh, look at all the Mermaids.
Number 8 is, "Sights and Sounds to delight your senses - leap into spring".
Named after the children's book, "The Frog and the Toad are Friends".
This garden consists of an outdoor living area, raised garden,
a fish feeding area, fire bowl, and a large umbrella.
Let's go feed the fish!
They have displays of different types of landscape lighting.
This would be something amazing to have in your backyard.
Number 9 is, "Pathways and Passages". This shows how they might design a space.
This is the family room. Eating area.
Washing. Windows. Cooking. Garage.
They've just completely transformed this indoor area for the
Chicago Flower and Garden Show. There's sod and rocks and trees and
plants everywhere.
Donna what's Number 10? Tablescapes Competition.
The theme for this one is, "Beauty and the Beast". Red roses and dark colors.
The Living Library.
This one's, "A Dinner at Honeydukes". This is out of Harry Potter.
There's some chocolate frogs.
The theme on this one is Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Tea Party.
The theme here is Thumbelina.
Jungle Book.
Let them eat cake.
This is the secret garden.
This is from Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tours.
This is Number 12, "The window box competition".
There are several seminars scheduled throughout the day that you can attend.
Going on a different times so you can catch different people, different subjects.
You might smell the meat or the onions on the pizza.
But a dog is going to smell the crust, the sauce, the cheese, and the pepperoni, all independent of each other, as one picture.
This is the Garden A. It's the how-to-garden area. This is a potting party.
Some people only have a corner plot, so they only see it from one side. So you can decide which way you want to play with it.
This is Number 11, "The Tulip Extravaganza", and they are not kidding!
Towards the back of the hall is the Marketplace area. There's all kinds of
vendors here that you can purchase products from and see what they've got to offer.
And at the very back of the room is the food court.
Our grandson would love this, to get that close to a Digger, as he would call it.
13 is the Butterfly Garden. There is an enclosed area there with butterflies inside.
Going in carefully so we don't let anything out.
They really like you! Several butterflies flying around loose. You just get him to
get on the paintbrush and then you can put them on your hand.
There's nectar in the paintbrush. And then you move them from the paintbrush over to your fingers.
14 is the Racine Zoo.
There's a tarantula.
Giant roaches.
These were made by some of our animals at the zoo.
Oh really! Yeah.
You can see the penguin there doing art.
that's cool.
And here's his painting right there.
And the lion does stuff too. And the bear.
Oh wow.
And our cockroaches which are over there actually painted this one!
That's pretty good for a cockroach. I know! He's got some talent.
We wanted to get the tote bag.
This is my bag that we purchased today. And it was actually painted by a giraffe.
15 is The Story of Diversity.
This was designed by the Stevenson Elementary School in this play area.
"Diversity is a beautiful thing."
What did you find, Donna?
I call it an Easter flower. Hyacinths. They don't last very long, but they really smell good.
Yeah, that smells good!
16 is the People's Gas Safety Garden.
Call before you dig.
This shows a garden or plants planted just above some power and water lines.
17 is the Photo Competition Lounge. There's some beautiful photos of plants and flowers.
And hummingbirds.
18 is the Whole Foods Experience. Whole Foods has a little market here.
In Garden B, there's a Kid's Activity Garden.
This is the junior excavator training.
dress up in hard hats and safety vests like the real Nicor Gas employees.
When you're digging the dirt, you may even discover buried treasures.
Donna's becoming a junior excavator, or in her case, a senior excavator.
I'm not sure she knows what she's doing. What are you digging for?
And next to Garden B, there is a kids activities area. There you can make a caterpillar.
You can grab a rock and you can use a stencil to color on your rock.
Donna's got a ladybug she's working on.
And there's the stones you can use to
play tic-tac-toe.
And over here they're making paper plate butterflies.
There's a lot of kids potting plants right now. And that's a free activity.
Here's a cockroach drag strip.
There they go!
She's better at this than me!
Oh, I'm catching up.
Mine's given up!
It's getting close to the end.
Donna won!! Yay!
See, it wasn't all that bad, was it?
No you've got to kiss the race car driver. Noooo!!
Now this guy, as big as he is, you'd think he'd go like gangbusters.
But he doesn't like to run. He's lazy!
At this table they have edible insects. You can eat a bug.
I ate a cricket. It was good!
We're gonna go through the Marketplace now and see what
they've got there for sale.
Oh a nice outdoor grill over here, Donna says.
We need a new grill. I don't know if we need one that nice.
They've got everything for sale. You can buy seeds, bulbs, dahlias. Lily of the Nile. Rhubarb.
Oreo Twinkies. Regular dipped Twinkies in chocolate. It has nothing to
do with gardening but it's my favorite booth.
Some Zinnias. We got some free seeds.
Tired of walking around? You can try one
of the world's best massage chairs.
Just a little bit everything related to
gardening and not related to gardening. Just related to buying.
They're getting ready
for the cooking demonstration at 1:30
Please give a big round of applause to Michael Spiewak from the Heritage.
What we're doing is a ricotta cavatelli with spring vegetables.
All these vegetables are coming in a season right now.
Sorry! Ha ha! We had a good time at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Yeah! We got to do a lot,
see a lot, and smell a lot. Now it's back out to the cold, cold winter. Yeah.
So we felt like we had a little bit of spring but now it's back to winter.
So, if you get a chance, come to the Flower & Garden Show in Chicago.
And before we left town we had a chance to see the Green River in Chicago for
St. Patrick's Day. Pretty awesome!