I attended the South Coast Spring Garden Show in Orange County this weekend. To say that I was underwhelmed by the display gardens is an understatement. I was disappointed by
last year's exhibits but more so by this year's offerings. Rather than show the majority of these as I did last year, I'll show you just a few.
Once again this year, the best exhibit was presented by Orange Coast College's Horticulture Club. However, as
Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden posted earlier, it bore similarities to last year's construction, which was also comprised of a wood deck, wood benches and raised planters. Still, I felt it did what most of the other exhibits didn't: created a snapshot of ideas representative of a real garden.
This one, put together by Saddleback College's Landscape Design Alumni Association, had elements I liked, although I think the central sculpture overwhelmed the space.
I acknowledge the difficulty of creating the impression of a garden in a relatively small space, especially a space in the middle of the visually busy atmosphere of a shopping mall, but some exhibitors didn't put much creative thought into the effort. The following exhibit, an ode to a garden honoring former First Lady Pat Nixon at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, was a mish-mash of poorly associated plants.
At least the memorial park that created a display, complete with sample gravestones, to sell visitors on its services was absent this year.
On the other hand, the floral centerpiece in the middle of the shopping mall area used for the exhibits, designed as in prior years by Fiesta Parade Floats, was nicely done.
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| The multi-story birdbath was populated by a variety of birds covered in floral materials |
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| Photographed from the top level of the mall |
The Iris Society also had some nice specimens on display.
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| Iris 'Mad World' |
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| Iris 'Midnight Kitty' |
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| My favorite, Iris 'Oil Painting' |
My main goal in driving one hour to the south to attend the event was to see what the vendors attending the show had to offer. I'll post some photos of my expedition through the top 2 floors of the show later this week.
