Winter garden fair has greenthumbs thinking spring

Recent warm weather likely has Eastern Iowa gardeners excited about the approaching spring.

That excitement will only build as local home gardening enthusiasts join the Linn County Master Gardeners at the 11th annual Winter Garden Fair on Saturday at Coe College.

This volunteer-run, daylong event will feature more than 70 workshops presented by Iowa Master Gardeners and other speakers to get local gardeners excited about the upcoming growing season.

'This event is for anybody interested in home horticulture-related topics,” said Linn County Master Gardener and this year's Winter Garden Fair chairwoman Jean Wilson.

'We strive to support the beginning gardener, the advanced gardener and everybody in between.”

The workshop topics range from creating pollinator habitats, growing grapes for wine in Iowa, ash tree alternatives, seed starting and home greenhouses. Also available are hands-on classes in building birdhouses, creating a fairy garden and using honey in the kitchen, to name a few. There are more than 70 workshops offered, so there is something for everyone, Wilson said.

'Right around February and March people are getting the itch to be in the garden, and we try to tap into that,” she said. 'And there's a diversity of workshops so attendees can pick and choose what they want from our list of classes.”

Organizers said they are excited to be kicking off the Winter Garden Fair with Susie Vanderlip - nationally-recognized professional speaker and author of several books - who will be sharing her passion for raising and studying Monarch butterflies.

'We have declared this the ‘year of the pollinator,' so we are doing what we can to support that idea,” Wilson said.

Vendors and organizations will set up as well during the day for attendees to gather information.

'It's a great place for gardeners to touch base with those specialty groups,” Wilson said. 'I am new to Cedar Rapids and attended the Winter Garden Fair for the first time in 2012. I was amazed at the amount of resources I was able to tap into. It was a marvelous opportunity to touch base with all of these organizations that are there and the instructors. I was so impressed by their willingness to share with everyone. I think people who attend will be pleasantly surprised by the caliber of the speakers and the information they will get. The contacts you make are so valuable. These are knowledgeable people (who) love to share their knowledge.”

Wilson said the fair is a huge volunteer undertaking every year, with planning for the current festival having started in April of last year.

'We come up with the schedule, book the venue and direct traffic,” Wilson said. 'It takes a small army of volunteers to make this day run smoothly. I'm told this is the second largest event of its type run by volunteers in the country.”

The fair is presented in collaboration with the Iowa State University Linn County Extension Office. Shelly O'Neal, program coordinator at the Linn County Extension Office, said it is a wonderful partnership.

'We have 167 Master Gardeners in Linn County - one of the strongest groups in state of Iowa,” she said. 'And they are supported by us because they are doing what we want to add to our community. They are educating the public.”

Wilson agreed.

'We are community-oriented people,” she said of the Master Gardeners. 'And the Winter Garden Fair is an opportunity for us to reach new gardeners and interest people in the Master Gardener program and discuss the challenges we face in our gardens every day. We get to be around like-minded people.”

Typically about 400 to 600 people attend the fair each year. The $59 registration fee covers the keynote address, choice of four classes from the more than 70 available, and a buffet lunch with beverages in the Gage Union. Advanced registration is encouraged although registrations will be accepted the day of the event. Register at www.extension.iastate.edu/linn/content/winter-gardening-fair