Experience it – in your own backyard Garden ideas for 2016

By Joyce Karsnak

OSU Extension master gardener volunteer

“Experience It – In your Own Backyard” is this year’s theme of the Canfield Fair’s floral show, and that’s exactly what you can do if you visit the exhibit.

What better place to find the best of the best for your own flower garden? These are the ones that have grown beautiful locally, so it’s a perfect place to start thinking about some new things you’d like to plant next season.

Look for a beautiful annual or hosta with a new leaf pattern or a sedum in a color you never grew before. Check out the containers for new plant combos or for a unique container idea, like the blue ribbon-winning birdcage filled with succulents that I still have yet to try to duplicate.

A photo is your best bet for capturing not only the blooms that catch your eye, but more importantly the information on the entry tag. The Garden Forum of the Greater Youngstown Area sponsors the show and strives to have entrants identify the entry by genus and variety name, such as Rosa, Hybrid Tea “Peace.” That information will help you find a supplier for seed or plants, as well as identify the one you want at the garden center next spring.

Last year, a large lemon yellow marigold was entered that towered over all the other marigold entries. I photographed the flower, then the tag that read Marigold “Lofty Lady.” An Internet search led me to Burpees, where I purchased a packet of seed. Easy to sprout, 3-foot-tall, lovely lemon “Lofty Ladies” now grace my flower beds. I’d have passed them by in the catalog had I not seen one at the Canfield Fair floral show.

The floral show organizers are always available if you have questions about an entry or need assistance getting a better look.

The most spectacular flower garnering the most attention at the show is the dahlia. But did you know that the dahlias you see on opening day are not the same dahlias you see on the weekend? While potted plants and dried arrangements remain throughout the fair, the first judging of fresh cut entries occurs Tuesday evening before Wednesday’s opening day at the fair. All of those cut flowers are discarded late Friday evening.

Early Saturday, entrants arrive with buckets of fresh cut entries beginning at 7:30 a.m. The area is roped off to fairgoers during the Saturday morning judging that begins at 10 a.m., so do plan your Saturday visit to the floral show with that in mind.

In addition to seeing these flowers, you can see the pots of flowers and educational exhibits from OSU Extension in the same building at the fair. Their theme this year is Champions! – based on Ohio State’s national championship in January. You’ll learn about the champions of fall color, champions of the perennial plant world and much more. You can hear presentations from the master gardener volunteers and the Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalists. Be sure to bring your gardening questions or just to have a chat with a fellow gardening enthusiast.

The floral show and the OSU Extension display are both in building #44 – be sure to visit, learn and then grow some winners of your own.

You can view the teaching session schedule from the Extension at: http://go.osu.edu/fairschedule.