Published: April 30, 2009 03:52 pm      

Flower and Garden Show ‘wonderful’

The Flower and Garden Show this weekend at the London Community Center had something for everyone from a living plant wall to homemade lollipops.

“I think it was wonderful,” said Judi O’Bryan, Laurel County Extension Service event coordinator. “Our vendors were pleased. The classes went well. It was a very good show. I think with the economy the way it is, there was more interest in the vegetable gardening. I think for everybody who came, it was a good opportunity to get educational information on how to garden.”

Val Carmichael from Corbin spun llama fibers with a spinning wheel. She and her husband, Steve, raise llamas on their farm.

Luann Vermillion of Whitesburg made wall hangings, paper weights, necklaces, bookmarkers and communion cups with wildflowers.

“I do eight to 10 shows a year and also sell to arts and crafts stores,” she said.

Burkmann’s Backyard Birds had birdhouses, bird feeders, flowers, herbs, vegetable plants and heirloom tomato plants for sale.

Modern and elegant green walls offered unique, natural beauty to urban gardens and traditional landscapes. Josh Samples displayed living walls, green walls with plants on them.

“These living walls are self-contained, self-replenishing works of art,” Samples said. “Each piece is custom made and can be retrofitted to reclaim any vertical structure. The walls are made of flowers and greenery, or edible herbs and vegetables.”

Christopher Robbins of Brodhead made brooms to sweep with and decorative brooms to hang on walls, and Kim and Curt Vaughn of McKee made painted bricks, such as a bee and duck, and bird houses.

Jeannie Zanet takes photographs of birds and flowers and puts them on greeting cards to sell, while her sister-in-law, Heather Zanet, sews crayon bags, tote bags, blankets and children’s clothes to sell.

There were more vendors selling vegetable plants this year than last year, but there were not any hanging baskets of flowers.

Bea Baker, who usually brought them to the show, said the cost of heating the flowers last winter was too high.

Staff writer Carol Mills can be reached at cmills@sentinel-echo.com.