Expo connects region's gardeners, brings visions of spring

The Wisconsin Garden Expo drew thousands eager to buy seeds, publicize their businesses and share ideas (Ethan Safran/Madison Commons).

The weekend of Feb. 13-15 marked the 22nd annual Wisconsin Garden Expo.

Sponsored in part by Wisconsin Public Television, the expo, held at the Alliant Energy Center, regularly draws thousands of local, state and national outdoors enthusiasts.

This year’s expo featured over 100 exhibitors, including garden supply centers, landscaping businesses and UW-affiliated organizations.

Klein’s Floral & Greenhouses, a local garden center and an expo attendee for nearly 20 years, sees the event as its largest annual advertising opportunity

“We grow a lot of our own herbs,” Rick Halbach, delivery supervisor and greenhouse worker with Klein’s, said. “This is really huge for us.”

Debbie Tewalt, a representative of the Wisconsin Daylily Society, said the expo allows people to meet and exchange ideas amidst the miseries of the Wisconsin winter weather.

“It’s awesome to meet people from all over the country,” Tewalt said. “It’s like an oasis. There’s faith that spring is coming.”

She said the expo’s numerous seminars and workshops—some lead by such leading garden experts as Melinda Myers—allow information about new styles of gardening to disseminate.

One gardener in attendance, Mary Becker, said the event permits gardeners to get ready for spring.

“It’s so ugly in Wisconsin [at this time of year],” she said.

Like many attendees, Becker sees the event as an opportunity to obtain new ideas and purchase seeds.

While some businesses like Klein’s have had a more seasoned relationship with the expo, others were relatively new to the event.

According to Mike Hill of Mother Earth Organic, an organic lawn care service business, this year marked the lawn service center’s first year at the expo.

“We’re looking to broaden our client base,” Hill said. “We’ve just spread to new areas and we hope to get people into those new areas.”

A number of UW-affiliated organizations also attended the expo. One of them, UW-Arboretum, sought to spread awareness about its upcoming spring events.

Trel Gimber, who works at the arboretum as a naturalist guide, said despite the weather, the arboretum is “surprisingly busy for being mid-winter.”

“There’s been a lot of interest,” Gimber said. “There’s been a lot of people here who aren’t from UW-Madison, so we’ve been doing a lot of educating about what the UW-Arboretum is.”

Among all of the exhibits, workshops and gardening presentations, many expo attendees found the weekend-long event to be an engaging experience.

“I did this last year and thought it was a lot of fun so I decided to come back this year,” Gimber said.