Garden show to bloom

Young Chang

Gardening can be enjoyed alone, but it’s also a pastime that lends

itself to good company and shared wisdom, said Bob Denman, owner of the

garden tool specialty store Denman and Co.

There’s a reason green-thumbed enthusiasts join societies and rose

clubs and attend events like the 13th annual Southern California Spring

Garden Show, to be held Friday through April 14.

“You get to see an awful lot of plants you wouldn’t see otherwise in

one place, and you get to hear people you wouldn’t normally find speaking

everywhere,” he said.

The show, presented primarily by the home and garden store Smith and

Hawken, will be held at South Coast Plaza’s Crate & Barrel wing.

Organizers expect to attract 80,000 visitors to what looks to be the

earliest and largest bloom this spring yet.

About 75 garden exhibitors will set up displays, miniature gardens

created by children in Orange and Los Angeles counties will be on view

and a host of competition gardens featuring outdoor living spaces will

give gardeners a taste of what you can do with natural beauty.

Katherine Whiteside, a company spokesperson and garden expert, will

also be a speaker at the show April 14 with a talk titled “Planning

Before Planting: Where to Begin?”

Denman will talk about tools and soil building and understanding

soil’s contents.

“The biggest problem for most people is, when they’re trying to create

a garden or restore a garden, it all gets back to soil,” he said. “I’m

going to teach them how to analyze the soil by separating the sand, silt

and clay.”

For his tool talk, Denman will emphasize the basic need for shovels,

spades, spading forks, hoes, rakes and other gardening musts.

The four-day garden fest will start Thursday with a preview gala at

South Coast Plaza, the proceeds for which will benefit preservation

projects at Mission San Juan Capistrano.

FYI

* What: 13th annual Southern California Spring Garden Show

* When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11

a.m. to 6:30 p.m. April 14

* Where: South Coast Plaza’s Crate & Barrel wing, 3333 Bear St., Costa

Mesa

* Cost: Free

* Call: (714) 435-2160