Kansas Garden Show Returns to Topeka on Friday

Amateur and professional gardeners, alike, will enjoy the sights of thousands of blooming flowers and plants on display, as the 2019 Kansas Garden Show returns to the Kansas Expocentre on Friday.  This year’s theme is “Monopolizing on Gardens” and each of the vendor and arena areas will have feature flowers and plants depicting popular board games.

“It’s a preview of spring,” says Ariel Whitely-Noll, who is the Horticulture Extension Agent for the Kansas State Research and Extension Office in Shawnee County.  “We can see what our local businesses and organizations have to show, as far as flowers, and the creativity of the Garden Show is my favorite thing. Every booth works within the theme and they’re really just trying to show you what spring is going to look like and what they (vendors) have to bring to the table.”

This year, the Kansas State Research and Extension Office will offer thirteen seminars for the public to attend at no additional charge.  The classes range from starting seeds indoors to learning about Presidential Gardens.

“We do have seminars all three days of the show,” says Whitely-Noll. “We have two of our Shawnee County Extension Master Gardeners, Ed Dillingham, and Mary Cox, and they are going to be talking about starting seeds.  The reason that this (seminar) is so interesting is that, at our Extension Master Gardener booth, they are going to be showing you hands-on how to start seeds. So, you come to the booth, you see it up close, ask some questions, and then come to the seminar to get some more details on it. Then, we have Carol Bragdon, Extension Master Gardener, who’s going to be talking about Presidential Gardens.  This was, actually, a ‘back by popular demand’ (seminar). Carol had given this talk last year at the library and we had so many people ask for it that we decided to repeat it. She gives an overview of what some Presidential gardens look like and some of the favorite flowers from past First Ladies. It was something that our library group really enjoyed and we’re hoping that our Kansas Garden Show attendees do, as well.”

The cost of admission for all three days is $8.00.  However, on Friday, seniors who are 55 and older can get in as part of a “buy one – get one free” offer.

For more information, visit https://www.ksexpo.com/events/2019/ks-garden-show.