Field Trip: Adams Garden Show 2023

Have you noticed? We no longer have sunsets at 4:30 pm, the snow is melting, and buds are beginning to emerge from winter slumber. Yes, it’s finally here! The Adams Garden Show! (Did you think I was going to say spring? Unfortunately, not quite yet.) Every year, I anxiously await the garden show at Adams Fairacre Farms, a local nursery here in the Hudson Valley of New York. It always seems to open when I need it the most: when I feel I can’t possibly take one more day without flowers. Are you also feeling the winter blues? If so, you’re in luck because I’m taking you on a field trip to the Adams Garden Show this week!

Remember how Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz lived in a world of black and white until she entered Oz (I’m dating myself again, aren’t I)? That is how I feel when I go to the Adams Garden Show. Entering the exhibit, I am transported from my wintery world in its shades of white, grey, and brown to a world of Technicolor brilliance. The show is always a delight with its abundant spring blooms in dazzling colors and fantastic water features, all built inside their greenhouse. The show is an effective way to keep their landscapers employed in the winter as they plan, build, and plant the show’s exhibits each year. In the weeks leading up to the grand opening, employees cover all the greenhouse windows, so customers are left giddy with anticipation wondering what the show will look like this year.

Once again, this year didn’t disappoint! With its four water features, gorgeous spring blooms, patios, and potting shed display, it had something for everyone. The prominent feature was the main waterfall as you entered the exhibit, surrounded by beautiful plantings of tulips, daffodils, and flowering shrubs. The sounds of the bubbling water and the smell of lilacs fill the air, and if you close your eyes, you are transported to spring.

The exhibit’s design follows an oval pattern, so the meandering stroll through the show brings you back to where you began.  This is an ingenious design to keep the flow of customers moving while also providing plenty of intrigue around curves in the path. Along the way, you will see assorted whimsical décor such as wagons, wheelbarrows, wishing wells, and lighthouses, all set among gorgeous blooms.

Each year there is a scavenger hunt for the kids. They are given a list of animal statues to find while their caregiver enjoys the exhibit. When my son was little, this was a much-anticipated activity. After picking him up from school, I would surprise him by bringing him to the show, where we would spend time searching for the statues together. Sadly, now as a teenager, he isn’t as interested in those things. However, I still enjoy participating and love reminiscing about those special memories.

My favorite time to enjoy the show is when the store opens in the morning. Often, at those times, I am the only person in the exhibit, and in those moments, it makes it feel as if they built it all just for me. As I linger, others arrive, and I love seeing them enjoy the flowers. We give each other knowing glances that say, “I can tell you needed this as much as I did.”

Unfortunately, the show runs for only a week before the landscape crew breaks down the display to accommodate the season’s incoming plants. So I soak it all in while I can, often visiting several times during the week. I try to take a mental picture to help me get through the last remaining weeks of winter before I have my own blooms to enjoy. As I said, the show always comes when I need it the most and motivates me to prepare for the growing season ahead. In a way, it also wakes me up from my winter slumber.

It’s been a long time since I’ve taken you on a field trip within this blog’s pages, and I hope you enjoyed this one. Even if you couldn’t be there in person, I hope the photographs transported you to spring, even for a little while, until the actual season arrives. Before we know it, we will no longer have to step into a greenhouse to see beautiful blooms; we can step right outside our door.