Lectures and Demonstrations Bring
The World to Your Backyard

Philadelphia (January 2010) –  Nearly 150 of the country’s gardening experts will share tips on everything from eco-friendly design to native plants and edible gardens at the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show Feb. 28 to March 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The free lectures and how-to demonstrations will be held in Room 201 B & C along the Show Concourse and in the Gardener’s Studio within the main exhibition hall. Check www.theflowershow.com for a full schedule of listings as well as monitors at the Convention Center for updates. This year’s highlights include:

• Charlie Nardozzi, garden writer, senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association, will host a lecture, “Vegetable Gardening for Dummies: Growing Edibles All Around Your Yard.”

• Dan Hinkley, Horticultural Specialist from Monrovia plant catalog, will show shrubs and vines from the “Four Corners of the World.”

• Lucinda Rooney, an artist and horticulturalist who has been featured in Country Living magazine and created floral designs for film and television, will hold a demonstration in the main hall.

• Michael Marriot, a garden designer who has worked for David Austin Roses for over 25 years, will share the best and most bountiful varieties of roses.

• Diana K. Weiner, a horticultural consultant and volunteer program coordinator at Abington Township’s Meadowbrook Farm, will discuss invasive plants, “Who Gave Them a Passport Anyway,” and will present a demonstration, “Plant Rx.”

• Melinda Myers, author, arborist, teacher and TV garden show host, will bring her wealth of knowledge in a lecture titled, “Bring the World to Your Back Yard.”

• Garden Designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin will present a lecture, “Continental Drift: New Trends in European Garden Design.”

• Steve Mostardi, Chair of the Gold Metal Plant Award Committee and owner of Mostardi Nursery, will talk about Gold Medal Plants.

• Mark Highland, President of Organic Mechanics Soil Co., will offer a composting demonstration.

• Deborah Trickett, of The Captured Gardener, will lead a lecture called “Thinking Outside the Box: Creative Approaches to Container Gardening.”   

• Ron Midgett, Ph.D, an award-winning grower for New Earth Orchids and the American Orchid Society, will talk about orchids.

• International rose trial judge Maurice Parkinson, a former director of parks for Belfast and a contributor to BBC Radio Ulster’s “Gardeners’ Corner,” will be a presenter at the Gardener’s Studio. Parkinson and his wife established the two-acre Ballyrobert Cottage Garden and Nursery in Northern Ireland.

• Bartlett Tree Experts will hold daily demonstrations. 

The Philadelphia International Flower Show, the oldest and largest indoor show of its kind, is produced by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and presented by PNC Bank. PHS has more than 16,000 members throughout the country, offers hundreds of gardening programs year-round, and is considered the nation’s foremost authority on urban renewal through greening.

For more information Contact:
Alan Jaffe at 215-988-8833
Laura Hoover at 215-988-8836