Flower Show Overshadows The Big Chill

Here today, gone today. That’s how it was for my dahlias, marigolds, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and a few outdoor vacationing houseplants. With little warning, old Jack Frost nipped them right in the bud. All that remains are slimy black leaves and droopy petals.

But a little frost shouldn’t put a damper on our gardening ambitions. There is still plenty of time to plant trees and shrubs, divide and plant perennials, plant spring flowering bulbs or collect and dry the posies that didn’t die. Even the Inland Empire District of the Washington State Federated Garden Clubs agrees that the gardening season is far from over.

This weekend - Saturday and Sunday - the clubs will be hosting their annual flower show, A Garden Affair, this year themed “Childhood Memories.” Stunning floral arrangements will be artistically designed around childhood themes of “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Three Bears,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Pandora’s Box,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cinderella” and “Land of Oz.”

The two-day gardening affair will also include full days of garden workshops. Beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, Diane Notske, Master Gardener and perennial expert, will present a program on pleasurable perennials for low-maintenance garden design. This presentation is for the person who needs help in choosing plants that complement one another. It’s so important to look at perennials not just for their flowers, but also for the color, shape and feel of their foliage - a bold, yet wispy 3-foot clump of ornamental grass standing as a backdrop to the plump leaves of Autumn Joy is, indeed, a pleasurable sight.

Notske’s presentation will be followed at 2 p.m. with an in-depth look into the art of Ikebana floral design by noted arranger Lee McLeron. If you’ve never seen this form of floral arranging, you’ve missed a discipline that is simple and elegant, yet incredibly strong.

Since many of our rhododendrons took it on the chin this past winter, you won’t want to miss the 3 p.m. seminar. Master Gardener and rhododendron expert Milo Ball will give us a few pointers on these so-called finicky plants. Learn, for example, that most rhododendrons require some type of protection from summer sun and winter winds, that in many cases their roots need to be loosened a bit before planting and that they should be fertilized just before or right after blooming with an acid-based fertilizer. Ball will also instruct us on which rhodies grow best in our area.

Along with rhodies, Ball will also acquaint us with the new kids on the block - dwarf conifers.

Finally the small garden can have it all - trees, shrubs, lawn and flowers without looking like an overgrown jungle.

The dahlia display at the Spokane Interstate Fair is always a must-see.

It leaves us oohing and ahhing and taking names of potential inhabitants for our own gardens.

If you would like to know how to grow, care for and winter over these royal flowers, plan on attending the 4 p.m. workshop conducted by dahlia experts Ed and Donna Black.

The day ends with a very important workshop, fall pruning. Learn the proper techniques of pruning from certified aborist Rich Baker.

Can you recognize a scaffold branch, a sucker, a water sprout, a branch collar or a central leader?

Do you know the difference between a leaf bud and a flower bud?

Do we paint tree wounds or not?

When do we prune and why do we prune?

If you can’t answer these questions, than perhaps the saw should be left for cutting firewood.

The Sunday morning workshops open with a seminar on roses for the cold north.

If you’re tired of babying the hybrids, then let Larry and Cinda Parton, owners of Northland Rosarium, introduce you to hardy old roses.

Most old roses are propagated on their own roots so we don’t have to worry about protecting the bud union. Not only do they have staying power, but boy do they smell great.

To the avid gardener, cold weather simply means moving the garden indoors. If you wish to try something different, how about giving hydroponic gardening a whirl?

Hydroponics is the art and science of growing plants without soil. Let Leo Sullivan, owner of Discount Gardens, fill you in on this non-soil technique at noon.

Just in time for the holidays, the last two presentations direct us in the preserving and making of memorable keepsakes from our gardens.

At 1 p.m. Doris Delatte, herb specialist and owner of Homestead Horticulture, will delight us with a presentation on creating aromatic creations using herbs. Debra Lynne Peck, owner of Ode to a Flower, will appropriately close out the workshops by demonstrating how to preserve a little of the beauty from our gardens. Learn drying techniques and floral designs.

Show-goers may also browse through the garden accessory sales room, as well as visit educational displays. There will also be a few contests for the young gardeners.

Don’t miss this fall festival. Hours are 12:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $3, free for children 12 and under.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review