SPRING GARDEN SHOW 2024

Last week I visited the South Coast Plaza spring garden show.  A nice array of demonstration gardens that gave me some design ideas and lots of booths selling plants and garden related things.  In this video I give you a look at the gardens so you too can get a look at what was done.  

The way the show works is that designers/contractors, partner with a home store in that mall.  This allows each designer to have access to furnishings and whatever that hone store has to offer.  This is something new that has been done for the past few years.  

2017 SOUTH COAST PLAZA SPRING GARDEN SHOW

I used to participate in the spring garden show at South Coast Plaza in the past and can say that having a display garden there is a lot of work and preparation.  But it is a fun adventure especially when you get to meet and talk to perspective clients and people in general.  This year I had the privilege of making a video about the display gardens.

Each garden is pared with a retail store in that mall thus creating a beautiful marriage and giving us lots of fun, quirky and innovative design ideas.

2013 SPRING GARDEN SHOW RAP-UP

This years 2013 Spring Garden Show was a hoot.  From vendors selling an assortment of plants and things to garden displays this years show was a refreshing break from the daily grind.  I got to volunteer at the California Native Plant Society booth helping them sell native plants.  I also got to have an entire Saturday with some girl friends who are also in the garden industry.  All in all is was a great (yearly) event.  Below are some pictures from the event.

Additionally the Orange County chapter of the California Native Plant society is having it's annual native plant garden tour.  This is a great opportunity for you to see up to 19 gardens and get all kinds of ideas for your yard.  The tour is free to attend but you must register online to get the physical addresses.

MY SPRING GARDEN SHOW PRESENTATION TEASER

As I have already stated in the past I was selected to speak at the 2012 Spring Garden Show. You can see the list of all the speakers here. You can read my previous post about my topic here. I have to admit that creating a presentation is fun and exciting especially if you love what you do and if the theme (healing gardens) is intriguing. As I am writing the presentation I thought that I would share a little snippet for you.

I love the concept of having a healing garden. Especially where you use the 5 senses as a form of healing. My topic will focus on using those 5 senses and how each can be incorporated to transform any landscape into a healing garden. Your senses can play a big role in healing. Learning how to incorporate them into the garden is beneficial to you and your loved ones.

Stay tuned for additional updates on this topic. Image courtesy of cartoonstock.com.

2012 SPRING GARDEN SHOW

I have participated in the spring garden show before with a garden and thought it would be cool this year rather than having a garden to be a speaker. I emailed the appropriate person and asked to be sent an application. When it arrived I was all stoked and thought how cool would this be. I applied and got selected to speak.

The garden show theme this year is healing gardens and my topic is "Affordable tips and tricks to turn your landscape into a healing garden". My presentation will focus on using the 5 senses. The date of this presentation is Sunday April 29th at 5-6pm. As I write the presentation I will post little snippets of the presentation here. I am super excited about this opportunity and can't wait.

THANK YOU LANDSCAPING NETWORK AND IRVINE WORLD NEWS

Happy happy joy joy is my current mood learning that the Landscaping Network had written about a project I designed and also learning that I had made page 3 of the Irvine world News (bottom right). If this is not a sign of great things to come then I don't know what is. When you are running a business any free publicity is always welcome especially when you as the business owner did not have to beg for it. haha At the moment I feel really grateful and happy. Below is a copy of the Irvine World News article. Click on the two links above to see the actual online version.

SPRING GARDEN SHOW - MY GARDEN

I had the pleasure this year of participating again in the spring garden show and this time I participated with Karen Holt and Sarah Smith of Living Landscapes. The theme this year was "California Dreamin Responsibly" so we thought what if Alice dreamed responsibly. From used brick, to California native and California friendly plants, energy efficient lighting and other sustainable touches this garden was our way of showing the masses that yes you can dream responsibly and yet still have a beautiful garden to enjoy with your loved ones. Below are some pics of our garden. Enjoy and happy gardening! Click on any picture to make it bigger.







On behalf of myself and Living Landscapes a big fat thanks to David Kean of All Seasons Landscape for not only installing our lighting at the show but also enduring many upon many hours of labor. Much appreciated! Also thanks to FX Luminaire, Paris To The Moon, Tree of Life Nursery and Village Nursery for providing accessories, lighting and plants etc.

SPRING GARDEN SHOW RAP UP

For those of you that could not visit the spring garden show, well it was an awesome display of gardens, plants and various garden accessories. Something for all garden lovers to enjoy and buy. I had the pleasure of participating as a garden exhibitor (details in another blog post) and had a blast. Something I will definitely do again next year. The theme this year was "California Dreamin Responsibly". Below are some pics from this years gardens. There were two competition categories. The first was educational in which Saddleback College Horticulture Department (above picture) and Orange Coast College Horticulture Club (right picture) competed (Saddleback won). The other competition was landscape professionals (see pics below). Click on any picture to make it bigger.

creations landscape designs and Living Landscapes

Takehara Landscape Design and The Garden Gallery (first place)


Essence Of The Tree (third place)


Seasons Landscaping


Land Vision

Creative Atmospheres (second place)

There were also two other gardens that were not in the competition. Back to Natives Restoration (below picture) and the Ecology Center (right picture). They are non profits looking to make a difference in this sour economy.

DWELL ON DESIGN

I recently attended a Dwell on design show at the Los Angeles convention center that was a nice mix of furniture and design accessories that were mostly earth friendly. There were also some landscape products, but not as many as I would have liked. Anyhoo below are some pics from the show.

















If you would like a specific list of all the exhibitors then go to the Dwell on design website.

SPRING GARDEN SHOW UPDATE

The south coast plaza was a great success. Many different gardens and what seamed like a gazillion different vendor booths to check out and buy from. Anything and everything from native plants to orchids to gardens and showcased a range of different designs. The show was awesome! The people that had the gardens including myself put a lot of time into constructing the garden. A lot of work but so worth the business marketing opportunity. Below are some pictures of my garden. The concept of the garden was to create a simple/easy to install native garden. I did the show with green interior designer Linsi Brownson (www.brownson-designgroup.com). Violet Lawrence the arborist and Verna Knapp landscape contractor helped a lot with the installation and tare down of the garden. Tree of Life Nursery + Laguna Hills Nursery provided the plant material needed. Kellogg donated the mulch.

MR. & MRS. SUSTAINABILITY APPEARING AT THE SPRING GARDEN SHOW IN APRIL

They are brain child of Brownson Design Group, creations landscape designs & Violet E. Lawrence & Assoc with support from Tree of Life Nursery and others.

Mr. and Mrs. Sustainability were born and bread in California. They are organic, sustainable, native and very environmentally conscious. They cost less than your traditional cookie cutter design and are better for this environment. They are a combination of materials that are native, organic and just plain good for you and the health of your loved ones. The one thing they are not is boring. In fact Mr. and Mrs. Sustainability can give you the wow factor without denting your wallet.

They will be appearing at the South Coast Plaza spring garden show from April 23-April 26.

If you are interested in knowing about sustainable design then come to the show and check them out. They would love to meet with you!

http://www.springgardenshow.com/

LADERA RANCH GREEN EXPO UPDATE

As some of you know I had a booth at the expo. How was it you may ask? Well the turnout was weak due to the fires, but all it all it was interesting and a good experience for me since this was the first real booth I had done. I have to admit though that my friend Delilah from the Road Less Traveled Store helped me out a lot by letting borrow her display sono tubes etc. That's another thing that I can get excited about... Having friends that really are willing to help you grow your biz, and having nice networks like Tree of Life Nursery that donated 3 native pot arrangements for me to display at my booth. The concept was to have a display area of various useful books with some native plants and various business promotional information. The other part was to have 3 display areas of sample types of designs you could have - Tropical, Spanish & Artsy. With each type there was a native plant representative of that style and some good indoor building products that would work well in that style that the Road Less Traveled Store let me borrow. All in all I had fun doing the booth and learned a lot about booth design and preparation.

LADERA RANCH GREEN EXPO - NOV. 15TH

This is somewhat related to landscape design or at least my biz. In any case South Coast Marketing and Events is oraganizing the Ladera Ranch green expo. The event if free to the public and would be a great way for you to see various green businesses and learn more about being green. I will have a booth there and would love to have you come check it out. I will have furniture at my booth from the Road Less Traveled Store and I will display native plants from Tree Of Life Nursery as well as plants that are great for indoors.