Time to Grow section; may 14
BUTLER TWP — Flowers and food and crafts, oh my!
The 11th annual Spring Garden Market and Home Show delivers a bounty of ideas for your landscape, garden, home and personal needs.
Come on out to Alameda Park on Saturday to celebrate spring and the 2013 growing season. The Market and Home Show, hosted by Butler County's Penn State Extension Master Gardeners and the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Throughout the park, you'll find garden vendors offering an array of choices including vegetables, perennials, herbs, roses, shrubs and small trees. Businesses offer products for financial planning and personal care.
Add crafters, antique dealers, food and music, and you have a festival atmosphere amid the pavilions and roads of Alameda Park.
Admission, parking and shuttle service are all free.
If new gardening ideas make your heart race a bit faster, be prepared. Under the big tent, the master gardeners will conduct mini-workshops that will include sessions on vermiculture, making tufa troughs, and butterfly gardens. These sessions will be broadcast live over market radio.
Vermiculture is the art and science of putting worms to work turning your garbage into compost that is rich in nutrients and conditions your garden soil. The worms get plenty of food and you get great compost in this win-win partnership with nature.
Tufa, as it develops naturally, is a lightweight rock that forms near bodies of waters with a high concentration of dissolved minerals. Tufa troughs are human-created lightweight plant containers made from a mixture of Portland cement, vermiculite and peat moss.
Butterflies need more than pretty flowers. For their egg, larval and pupae stages, they require host plants that are frequently different from the nectar plants that provide food for adult butterflies.
Kids of all ages will find activities aplenty at the children's pavilion. Dirt dessert-making, flowers in decorate-it-yourself planters, a duck pond and carnival games will be featured in the Butler County Children's Center offerings.Fancy a new look? Perhaps you'll find one in Prospect Girl Scout Troop 21900's 18 different face-painting designs. Bubble play by PACE Learning Center and garden-related crafts from Family Behavioral Resources round out children's activities.To welcome you and your children to the festivities, the Butler Dog Training Association will have therapy dogs on hand.All children's pavilion activities are free. So take a break, take pictures and enjoy the fun.The master gardeners will again have plants for sale. This year, they've expanded their wares and are offering additional garden-related items. You'll be able to buy tickets for a variety of vendor donations, including plants and gift baskets at the Chamber's auction. Participating businesses will be offering door prizes.Food vendors will be ready to keep your visitors happy with selections from a light snack and sweet treats to an entire meal.Susan Struthers is with Penn State Extension, Butler County Master Gardeners
Here is a list of vendors that are scheduled to appear at the 11th annual Spring Garden Market and Home Show.A Stone's Throw Garden Art, CoraopolisAdvantage Chiropractic, ButlerAll'asta, GibsoniaAlliance for Nonprofit Resources; BART Bus, ButlerAlways Summer Herbs, Slippery RockArmstrong, ButlerAvon, PittsburghBellissimo Biscotti, ButlerButler County Chamber of Commerce, ButlerButler County Children's Center, ButlerButler County Master GardenersButler County Symphony, ButlerButler County Tourism & Convention Bureau, ZelienopleButler Eagle, ButlerButler Family Chiropractic, ButlerButler Garden Club, ButlerButler Health System, ButlerButler Lions Club, RenfrewCare Chiropractic Center, RenfrewCarol Williams, DarlingtonCartl Growers, GibsoniaCPG Windows Plus (formerly City Paint and Glass), New CastleCulligan, SewickleyD's Apple Dumplings, ButlerEisler Landscapes, ProspectEli's Custom Sheds, FredoniaElizabeth Kriley, ParkerEverdry Waterproofing, Evans CityFairground Market, ProspectFriedman's Freshmarkets, ButlerGibbons Custom Pens, ProspectGreen Valley Nursery, West SunburyGreenhouse 22, Ford CityGutter Helmet Systems, PittsburghHixon Concession, ButlerHoffman Outdoor Products, SarverInitials, ButlerInnovative Gardening, ValenciaJust Us Girls, ChicoraKellar Farms Nursery, ButlerKenmac Rentals & Sales, ButlerKeystone Basement Systems, McKeesportLeafFilter North of Pennsylvania, HudsonLegacy Remodeling, PittsburghLeslee's Handmade Crafts, PittsburghLisa's Natural Path, Herb Shop & Wellness Center, ButlerMargie's Pretty Posies, DarlingtonMary Jean Evanoff, RenfrewMaster Gardeners Green LineMid-Atlantic Waterproofing, MonroevilleMunsch's Munchies, Grove CityNatrielle Body Care, PittsburghNewhaven Court at Clearview, ButlerOak Hill Farm Nursery, ValenciaOlga Johns, CabotOne Hour Heating, ButlerParadise Palms of Pittsburgh, SarverPatty's Daylilies, NewellPearlie Lauer, CabotPowell's Portable Toilets, MeadvilleR & J Concessions, ValenciaRandita's Grill, ValenciaSimple Balance, ButlerSlippery Rock In Bloom, ParkerState Farm — Tim Reges, Slippery RockStill Blooming, ButlerStraw Kat Kompany, VeronaSunny Sprouts Greenhouse, MeadvilleTerry Shanor, West NewtonThe Arc of Butler County, ButlerThe Foundation for Wellness Professionals, ButlerThe Penny Tree & Baker Trail Crafts, BrackenridgeThe Water's Edge, ButlerTown & Country Garden Club, ValenciaTupperware, ButlerVNA Western Pennsylvania, ButlerWalk On Water Garden Shop, ButlerWomen At Risk, CheswickKrivak, West Sunbury
