Tinley Park home, garden show packs ’em in
By Steve Metsch smetsch@southtownstar.com March 5, 2012 6:07PM
Esther Voss and her mother, Gert Voss, of Palos Park, look at the Bret-Mar Landscape Inc. booth at the Springtime Home & Garden Show at the Tinley Park Convention Center in Tinley Park, Illinois, Saturday, March, 3, 2012. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Maps
Updated: April 5, 2012 8:23AM
On a cold and wintry Saturday, Gina Furlong and her mom, Beverly Schweda, preferred to think about warm spring days.
That’s why they were among the many who packed the Tinley Park Convention Center, 18501 S. Harlem Ave., for the Springtime Home & Garden Show.
“This will take the chill out. We’re anxious to see it all,” Schweda, of Palos Heights, said.
Mother and daughter admired a bubbling backyard waterfall by Water’s Edge Gift, Garden & Pool Center that is strategically placed at the show’s entrance.
“It’s absolutely beautiful. I’d love to have that in my back yard,” Furlong, of Frankfort, said.
Schweda agreed.
“It would be wonderful to have this,” she said. “Her yard is big enough. Mine’s not.”
This is the first year the annual home improvement show has featured garden-related displays, said promoter Dennis Carroll, of The Ryan Group.
“People have such an interest in gardening. So many shows focus on the home, but there’s another area, the outer spaces, the gardens, backyard decks, patios. That’s where people go to retreat,” Carroll said.
That’s what Barbara McGovern, of Bridgeview, does.
“We’re here because we’re garden people,” she said of her family. “I’m getting ideas for my yard.”
She admired birdhouses that George Nagy, of Marion, Mich., makes using wood salvaged from old barns.
Nagy thought the cold weather had people excited about the show.
“In Traverse City (Mich.), we had a big snowstorm and the people really came out to the show,” Nagy said.
Birdhouses and backyard waterfalls were among dozens of home and garden products displayed.
Think of an item, it was probably there, be it hot tubs, doors or lawn mowers.
People crowded the Ted’s Greenhouse display, buying potted herbs from purple basil to Greek oregano.
They peppered advisors from the University of Illinois Extension Service.
“They’re asking about soil testing, composting, vegetable gardens,” Shermaine Brown-Wade said. “This is a great time of year to start a garden.”
Dave Holke, of Orland Park, has already planted seeds indoors for plants he’ll transfer to his garden.
Checking in at 22 vegetables last year, the garden “gets bigger each year,” wife Barbara said with a laugh.
Not that she’s complaining. It’s stress relief for him, and the family benefits at the table.
“I love to garden,” he said. “We grow onions, tomatoes, six or seven different kinds of peppers, cabbage, you name it.”
