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SHOW AND SMELL: Area growers display gardens' pride at event
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IT'S THE AROMA: Judy Nelson of Columbiana enjoys the smell of a flower at the Garden Forum flower, plant and vegetable show at Mill Creek MetroPark's Fellows Riverside Gardens on Sunday. Nelson said she just happened to stop by the show on a whim.
Mill Creek Park and a group of women’s garden clubs sponsored the event.
YOUNGSTOWN — Flowers, plants and vegetables in a multitude of colors and sizes greeted visitors to Mill Creek MetroPark’s Davis Center.
Pink, yellow, red, orange and lavender flowers standing in green glass bottles lined tables Sunday on one side of the center in Fellows Riverside Gardens.
On the other side of the building, vegetables were placed to show off their perfection. Floral arrangements made with pieces of wood, vases, metal sculptures and even a violin, with flowers tucked artfully throughout, were displayed along two walls. The sounds of piano music, played by Julian Cicatiello, filled the building.
The show was sponsored by the Garden Forum, an umbrella organization for area women’s garden clubs, and Mill Creek MetroParks, said Anita Wesler, a horticulture educator. It is one of several they host annually.
“A lot of people love to not only grow their flowers, but they love to display them,” Wesler said, “so this gives them a venue to do that.”
The public and members of garden clubs are welcome to participate. Ribbons are awarded in several categories. The number of participants varies by season, and what the growing season has been like, Wesler said.
Lynn Hoffmann, Youngstown, has been entering for about five years.
Originally, he found the shows to be educational, discovering the many types of plants and flowers available.
“And then I thought, ‘Well, I can do some of this, too,’” he said. “So I just started out small scale, entered a few things.”
It was intimidating, at first, acknowledged Hoffmann, who is a member of the Men’s Garden Club. But he found Davis Center workers helpful with classification, choosing the category for plants and flowers; with grooming, cleaning up plants; and with staging, placing the flower in the bottle to look just right.
“I just got into it gradually,” he said. “I kept entering more things as I got more comfortable with it.”
This time around, Hoffmann only entered a few items, including a hydrangea and a dragon wing begonia.
“With this rainy weather, I didn’t have a chance to get out until yesterday morning,” he explained, “so I was kind of slogging around in the rain, and didn’t have much time to think or get anything prepared.”
Though he won several ribbons, he didn’t get a blue this time. That doesn’t discourage him, though.
“It’s an incentive to come back again and do better the next time for me, at this point,” he said. “It’s just fun to do.”
Angela Brose, Canfield, and her daughter, Hannah, were pleasantly surprised to discover the show on one of their many trips to the center.
“I like the flowers because they remind us of the Canfield Fair,” Brose said. “And we always like looking at the flowers at the fair.”
Four-year-old Hannah said she liked the purple flowers best, because purple is her favorite color.
“I think everything that they do here is fantastic,” Brose said.