Gardening enthusiasts browsed through floral displays and shopped for plants and birdhouses at the Poway Valley Garden Club’s 45th annual Flower Show and Plant Sale.

First-time visitor Nicole MacDonald drove from San Marcos with her husband, Ross, their son, Danny, 2, and his two grandmothers, Wendy Willis and Ellen MacDonald, to attend the event.

Nicole MacDonald said the family was recently at Old Poway Park, where the April 13 event was held, and saw signs about it so they decided to see what it was all about

“It’s so great to see everyone’s hobbies and we can enjoy them,” MacDonald said. “We love coming here to see the train, the farmer’s market and the community events.”

Wendy Willis, who lives in Vista, said she’s been gardening for 35 years and now she’s teaching MacDonald.

“I’m passing on the family secrets,” Willis said. “How to trim roses, how to plant bulbs. She’s enjoying all the things she can put in her garden in California. She’s enjoying her poppies most of all.”

Flower Show Co-Chair and Historian Rosemary Anderson said the judges were impressed with the 294 entries in addition to the overall show. The main divisions for entries were Horticulture, Botanical Arts, Design, and Education.

In the Botanical Arts Division contestants got creative with the themes of Four-Footed Friends, Feathered Friends and Nature’s Friends.

The broad Horticulture Division included sections for roses; cut stem flowers; bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers; flowering herbaceous perennials; and edibles.

Anderson said she was pleased with the turnout but may have had more rose entries if the weather had not been so rainy this past winter and early spring.

“As far as people who won awards there was not one person who won everything,” she said. “It was spread out so there were all different people who won something.”

Anderson won a second place red ribbon for the most creative design in the Botanical Arts Division. Her submission was a pet adoption-themed design in the Four-Footed Friends category that was made out of Legos and included a plastic cat, dog, hamster, pig and rabbit adorned with plants.

“Both my grandsons love Legos,” said Anderson of her 4- and 6-year-old grandchildren. “We go to LegoLand all the time.”

Among special awards, Faye Matthew won the Mary Sokach Memorial Award for the “Best Rose Grown by a Poway Valley Garden Club Member.”

Poway Valley Garden Club member Barbara Norsen won a first place blue ribbon for her Nature’s Friend entry in the Botanical Arts Division.

Norsen’s pollinator-friendly garden entry included artificial bees and butterflies with flowers such as milkweed, lavender and salvia. Her miniature garden design included a shallow bee bath and bee house.

“I decided to make it pollinators specific because that’s one of my passions,” said Norsen, a Poway resident. “I have a bee house and a bee bath in my garden at home, and I have native pollinator friendly plants like roses. Just the category, ‘Nature’s Friends’ inspired me.”

Poway Valley Garden Club member Dyanna Madro, who lives in Escondido, won the Sweepstakes Award as the winner of the most blue ribbons in the Design Division, and she won the Designer’s Choice Award for the highest scoring blue ribbon in that category.

One of Madro’s entries in the Design Division was a purple tapestry that reflected Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The entry included dried palm inflorescence and dried bird of paradise leaves in muted colors. Her other entry in the Design Division was an orange panel that reflected a Lantern Festival. The design included six pin cushion proteas adorned with bird of paradise leaves and heliconia leaves.

Spectators were also treated to Petite Designs that featured miniature arrangements of 3-½-inch flower and plant materials that reflected a Valentine’s Day theme and 5-inch displays based on a July Fourth theme.

Carol Vallens, California Garden Clubs Inc. president, took the Table Artistry Award for the highest scoring blue ribbon winner in the Table Artistry Division. The wine-themed table included wine glasses, a wine bottle containing decorative flowers and plants, a wine-rack design and a cheese board topped with kale in the shape of a rose.

Vallens said she spent at least two weeks preparing the table display with the help of her son, Ben Vallens, who built the box frame that contained accent pieces.

“As president of the California Garden Clubs I like to go out and be supportive of the clubs,” said Carol Vallens, who lives in Northridge. “I said, ‘I’ll do a Design entry,’ but I was never expecting to win.”

The Plant Sale portion of the event was held in Old Poway Park’s gazebo, just a short stroll away from the Flower Show.

Ann Dahnke, a Poway Valley Garden Club member who has chaired the Plant Sale for at least a dozen years, said they sell a wide variety of plant materials including succulents and cacti, tillandsia arrangements that are also known as air plants, and dish gardens.

Club members created the dish gardens and painted the birdhouses built by the husband of one of the club members. The birdhouses are functional because they can be opened for cleaning, Dahnke said.

“We have a lot of repeat and loyal customers,” said Dahnke. “They arrive before it even opens so a lot of the good stuff is snatched up early.”

Poway resident Cecilia Bradley and her daughter, Bella Bradley, 23, bought two hummingbird sages — one for their front yard and one for the backyard — along with a beach aster ground cover for their front yard.

Cecilia Bradley said she hadn’t been to the Flower Show and Plant Sale for probably a decade.

“It’s nice to connect with the flowers and plants,” she said. “We saw this advertised online. I wasn’t working today so I thought we’d check it out and support our community. I’m glad we came.”

Source: sandiegouniontribune.com