2015 New Albany Home & Garden Show Announced

NATIONAL SPEAKERS & ANTIQUE TRACTOR SHOW TO HEADLINE NEW ALBANY HOME & GARDEN SHOW, APRIL 10 – 11, NEW ALBANY

The Union County Master Gardeners are getting ready for the seventh annual home & garden show, to be held at the Union County Fairgrounds, on April 10^th and 11^th.  This year’s theme will be “Hats Off to Spring”.

State Farm will be sponsoring the Lunch and Learn held on Friday, April 10^th, at noon, featuring Lynette McDougald, MSU Florist and Horticulture Specialist, with her program “April Showers to Flowers”.  Tickets are $20 each, and include a luncheon as well as the program.  Tickets can be obtained by contacting Joyce Morrison at 538-5333, or a Union County master gardener.   Seating is limited, and this event has sold out each year.  This is the only event for which there is a fee.   The luncheon will be salad-themed, and will be provided by Nichols Catering, with dessert compliments of Sugaree’s Bakery.

Immediately following the luncheon, Shannon McGee, DVM, will be presenting his program, “Jungle in Your Own Backyard”, which explores the many unnoticed worlds of plant and insect lives co-existing around us.

Felder Rushing, the Gestalt Gardener

Following Dr. McGee, the headline speaker for the overall show, Felder Rushing, an extremely popular and entertaining author and co-writer of over 18 gardening books, as well as the host of The Gestalt Gardeners weekly call-in radio program on NPR.  Felder will be speaking on Friday, April 10^th, at 3:00 p.m., with Rick Griffin, on “Color in Your Backyard”.  This event will be held in the Ladies Building, and promises to be a very interesting and educational program.  Felder will also be speaking again on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., at the same location.  Farm Bureau is sponsoring this event.

Do-it-yourselfers won’t want to miss the Saturday programs on photography and chalk painting.  Plus, demonstrations on turning trash into treasures, canning, container gardening, trapping armadillos, and cooking demonstrations. There will also be educational discussions on butterflies, mosquito control and other horticulture/gardening topics from MSU professors.  For the children, there will be a demonstration on how to label plants in the garden.

This year’s show will have a new layout, with a Speaker’s Tent and a Demonstration Tent.  All programs will be held in one of these tents, or the Ladies Building.  Vendors will be set-up under the covered arena, along with tables for eating, relaxing and just enjoying the local musicians perform.

A new attraction to this year’s event will be the first annual Antique Tractor Show, sponsored by Tractor Supply Company.  This event will be held on Saturday, with approximately 25 antique tractors.   Adults and children alike will enjoy this unique look back into farming history, and can vote on their favorite.

To complete the show, it is expected that the number of vendors will triple from previous years.  There will be vendors offering concrete, birdfeeders, jewelry, handmade dolls, garden tools, soaps, lotions, Japanese maples, plants, stain glass, pots, wind chimes, storm shelters, lawn equipment, yard art, and even new vehicles on display from a local dealership.  There will also be a number of food vendors, such as boiled peanuts, ice cream, barbecue, hamburgers, chicken sticks, snow cones, funnel cakes, and baked goods.

The home & garden show will be from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on Friday, and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.

CONTACT:    Patrick James

President, Union County Master Gardeners

(662) 534-6868

Jpatrick6868@bellsouth.net