Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - Nursery and landscaping professionals, as well as other vendors are set to go for the 23rd annual Plantasia Garden and Landscape Show this weekend at the Hamburg Fairgrounds Event Center. This year's event opens Thursday, one week before the start of spring across Western New York, and runs through Sunday.
"Welcome to the Jungle" is this year’s show theme, which is the inspiration for the 12 different themed garden designs on display at the Event Center.
"There's going to be a lot of things in here regarding that and tropical plants. But just to walk in this building, people are going to be pretty impressed and appreciate the smells, the sights and have an enjoyable time," said Chris Zeisz, show chairman for Plantasia and manager at Russell's Tree and Shrub Farm in East Amherst.
The annual garden and landscape show is a little bit different every year, as more-and-more people locally are looking for ways to expand their season.
"We have short seasons with the weather, so a lot of people are doing outdoor kitchens, they're making their patios more a part of their home, so they'll do container gardenings and things like that. So walking in here, they might get a different idea on some of the garden decor that's available throughout the different vendors," Zeisz said with WBEN.
When people head down to the Hamburg Fairgrounds Event Center this weekend, Zeisz says there's plenty to offer for everyone.
"They either just want to enjoy a nice time walking around, looking at everything, buying some things from our different vendors that sell anything from flower seeds and bulbs, and different garden decor. But if they're looking to have some landscaping done, there's definitely guys here that they could talk to and and hire the companies. Or if they're looking to do it themselves, they have a lot of the larger garden centers in the area also that would help them through that, or be able to work with them to sell them the proper plant material for the garden," Ziesz said.
"We have the educational seminars that are all day, every day, so those are very well attended. And they're going to range anywhere from how to take care of your lawn, perennials, landscape design and a lot of different topics."
One added perk for the upcoming weekend is that temperatures across the region are expected to surpass the 60-degree mark for the first time starting Friday. That may get more people in attendance itching to get into their gardening season early.
"This whole winter has been a traditional winter, where it's just been really bad. We had a lot of snow; it really wasn't even that much snow, but it seemed like it, and it did add up at the end of the day, we had some ice. People are a little tired of it and all the cold, so coming in here, they're going to really just feel good about the whole thing," Zeisz said. "With the weather coming up like this in the springtime, this is a typical way things go. Hopefully people will want to get out and come and see what we have to show this year."
As many across the region get ready to commence their gardening or lawncare projects this spring, Zeisz warns patrons they could be in for a surprise when they tend their yard for the first time.
"There's going to be a lot of damage from the rabbit and the deer. Once the snow covered and the ice, it covered up all the lower growth. So they were able to damage a lot of other plant material that normally would not have been damaged," he noted. "The rabbits seemed to have chewed the trunks on a lot of different trees this or winter within the last month or so, especially on Japanese Maples. The deer started eating the Arborvitae up like they were candy, even the varieties that typically are not attractive to the deer. So it's going to be an interesting spring, we'll see what kind of damage there is once this is all over. It's just all part of gardening in Western New York."
And despite the snow, for many, sticking around for a large chunk of winter, Zeisz says that actually may be more beneficial than harmful for your garden and yard.
"It's actually good to have the snow cover for the insulation factor. The problem comes in when there's snow and then the ice develops on top of it, and you get the glare from the sunlight. It'll burn the side of different evergreen trees, and people won't understand, 'Why is one side of my tree all burned out?' And it's just a reflection, like when you're 4-years-old, you're outside with a magnifying glass trying to blow up a little ant or a leaf or something, to get it to flame up. That's what happens with the ice and the sunlight," Zeisz explained.
Zeisz adds another positive with the snow sticking around for as long as it did, it may have also killed off a lot of pesky insects.
One of the local landscaping companies making its return to Plantasia this year is Tripi's Landscaping, owned by Philip Tripi. For those heading to Hamburg this weekend for the event, their exhibit to check out will be quite noticeable.
"We'll be the only booth with a crashed airplane in it, so they're more than welcome to come here and find us," said Tripi in an interview with WBEN.
"It is a real life plane, and it was very fun and interesting to work on, build, and it didn't look like it wrecked, so we had to make it look like it wrecked. So in turn, kind of destroying it a little bit was kind of fun, and we had a good time with it."
While Tripi is certainly excited to be taking part in another Plantasia weekend, he says this is more than just an opportunity to put their business out there for the public. It's a chance for his crew to put on a show, showing everybody the talents they have.
"We're very excited about this year. This year, we definitely thought jungle, and what do you think about jungle other than a jungle airplane crash? So that's where we went with this, and it was an absolute thrill to build, and a lot of fun," Tripi said.
Tripi knows every year at around this time, people are getting to a point where they're over the winter season, and they're looking to see some flowers and other greenery.
"The smell in here, between the fresh mulch, the flowers, it literally smells like spring. I think it's a good dose of what's to come for everybody, and I think it's very needed and very welcomed by a lot of the people that have been coming to the show for years," Tripi said. "And if you haven't came to the show, you should certainly check it out, because it is well worth the time."
While the warming temperatures this weekend are certainly a promising sign of things to come for Western New York, Tripi still advises folks to keep their fingers crossed that winter is actually over.
"Keep your fingers crossed that we're done with winter time, and that we can get out there and start turning that soil over and getting stuff going this time of year," he said. "I'll tell you, there's a lot of people out there itching to get outside and get their hands dirty, and get back in the garden. We're one of them, and we can't wait."
Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for Senior Citizens and Children 12 and under are free.
For more information about Plantasia, contact PLANT WNY at (716)-741-8047 or www.PlantasiaNY.com.
