"Spring Into Gardening" Garden Fair

On a bright, sunshiny spring day, Kara and I drove to nearby Miller City, Ohio to attend a garden fair put on by the Putnam County Master Gardeners. Mom met us there, too, and we had a fun day browsing the Gardener's Market and attending classes.

It was held in the gymnasium of Miller City High School, and the last time I was there was when Jenna was in sixth grade, playing on a travel basketball team. I remember it because it was there that Jenna scored 22 of her team's 26 points in a game they won. When you're hot, you're hot! LOL.

The first class we attended was on raised bed gardening. It was taught by Glen Arnold, a Putnam County OSU Extension educator. We enjoyed his presentation and I paid particular attention to the details because we are building a few raised beds this spring. We're moving our strawberries to a raised bed and I want another one for "oversummering" my amaryllis bulbs.


Between classes, we shopped the Gardener's Market, which had a really nice variety of vendors. Kara and I purchased a few plants, including hellebores, which Beining Nursery had lots of, and many different varieties. I bought a nice 'Pagoda Rose and White' columbine, and a couple of 'Clementine Salmon Rose' doubles.

Every spring, I make a list of possible new additions to the gardens, based on what catches my eye while browsing the new catalogs and offerings on websites, and the Clementine columbine was one of them that was on the list.


As we neared the display by h2o Gardens and Landscaping, I was drawn to the stone owls on their table. When Mom and I went to GardenFair at Winterthur, Delaware in 2006, she purchased a similar stone owl there and I'd been envious of it ever since. It was quite expensive, or I would have bought one then. h2o's owls were much more reasonable and I knew I was going home with one. There were other stone and metal sculptures that I liked, too, and a trip to their store in Lima is being planned, possibly on May 3rd, when they have their spring open house.


While shopping, we were treated to a concert by the sixth grade band from Ottawa-Glandorf High School (Kim of A Study In Contrasts' alma mater!) and wow, can those kids play! We couldn't believe they were just sixth graders! Great ambience and I was struck by what a small town experience we were having. Shopping in a gymnasium with our 'neighbors', eating homemade food for lunch (hot chicken sandwiches - yum!), listening to a local sixth grade band. Things like this are what I love about living in a rural area like ours.

We had time before our last class of the day to engage in another of my favorite activities - geocaching. This was actually Kara's suggestion, as she enjoys it too, and there were two caches located within walking distance of the school. We found them both, before heading back to attend our last class.




Marcella Ciccotelli, owner of ColorScapes Landscaping just outside of Defiance, presented a charming and very informative presentation about perennials that do well in our area. I learned some new facts about familiar plants to me and also discovered a couple of new things that might become familiar this year, if you know what I mean.


I've been to her business many times and look forward to going there again this year. I frequent many of the local nurseries, because each one has different offerings and I never know when or where I'll find "just the thing." Mom bought a beautiful large blue ball for her garden from Marcella's display here.

There were door prizes given, as well as a raffle for great garden items including plants, books, containers, gift certificates, and a garden cart. We didn't buy any raffle tickets, but it was tempting! We didn't win any door prizes either, but the day was a winner just the same. It was a very well presented event that I hope will become an annual affair. The cost for attending was just $15 and it was worth much more than that.



Kara and I said our goodbyes to Mom about mid-afternoon and we headed back towards Defiance, stopping to find several geocaches along the way. Once we got back to Defiance, stops (and purchases) were made at BigLots (flowering crabapple tree), Menards (Buxus 'Green Velvet'), and Lowe's (Pieris japonica 'Mountain Fire' and Anemone cornaria).




Tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer than today, so we've got gardening work planned - a little clean-up, planting the new tree and shrubs, etc. It looks like it will be a great day for running, too!