A Spring Garden Show

Creating garden vignettes in the context of a huge exhibition center for a long weekend show is a challenging task. Most of this year's exhibits (in the Charlotte-based Southern Garden Show) relied on daffodils, tulips, redbuds, ornamental Prunus, and a who's who of standard landscaping plants, with a sprinkling of other landscape plants, spring-flowering bulbs, and greenhouse grown perennials.

The mixture of plants is often odd -- 'forcing' plants to be in flower creates strange bed companions. Azaleas next to tulips and daffodils doesn't happen in our climate, but it can in the world of garden show displays.

An otter and turtle sculpture was a whimsical sighting.

My favorite 'exhibit' was the Charlotte Council of Garden Clubs introduction to their member garden clubs entries- a delightful reflection of a real garden area, complete with chairs and inspiration.

But equally fun was exploring the grounds of the Duke Mansion (now run as a B&B).

An old dead tree trunk has been converted into a Peter Rabbit sculptural motif. Quite nice.