High Hopes In the shadow of Paul Bunyan, spring blooms at the Bangor Garden Show

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On a sunny day last week, Mary Lou Hoskins was busy painting a fence in the greenhouse at Greencare in Hermon. To her left, plants in various stages of bloom covered a table that took up the better part of one wall. Morning glories opened like blue and magenta trumpets. Lettuce unfurled its leaves in a pair of window boxes. Radishes and pea plants popped out of pots, looking good enough to lure Peter Rabbit and his pals.

Peas and morning glories in April? You bet. Especially if you’re trying to get ready for the annual Bangor Garden Show, which opens on Friday and runs through Sunday at the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center.

“It’s quite a process,” Hoskins said. “You really do have to think ahead.”

The exhibitors – 17 in all this year, up from the usual 10 – have been planning for this weekend since last September. Some exhibitors, such as Hoskins, started planting in January. John Parker of Black Bear Lawn Care planted 3,000 annuals so they’d bloom in time for the garden show.

“It’s kind of a guessing game,” Parker said in his steamy greenhouse off Stillwater Avenue last week. “Some plants, like petunias, require 13 hours of sunlight. Pansies are easy. But there’s a certain period a plant needs to grow before it will bloom.”

And those blooms – the first taste of spring – are what lure thousands of visitors to the show. But this year, visitors will have even more incentive to go. St. Joseph Healthcare will hold a drawing for a $5,000 “Great Garden Giveaway,” and the winner will be able to choose any exhibitor to design and plant a dream garden.

“There’s just so much out there,” said Carol Smith, a co-president of the Brewer Garden and Bird Club. “A garden is always wanting something, it’s always a work in progress, so to have $5,000? I’d go wild. It would be like letting a little kid loose in a candy store.”

Smith has been gardening since she could walk – she grew up in Connecticut and helped her grandfather by cutting asparagus and picking Japanese beetles off the raspberry plants. But when she and her husband moved to Maine years ago, she “wasn’t doing anything right” in her own garden. She said the $5,000 giveaway would help gardeners avoid some of the mistakes she made.

“A little education helps you skip all those mistakes,” she said. “To have someone, a landscaper especially, to draw up a plan around your yard – if you had guidance, there most definitely would be advantages.”

For those who don’t win the giveaway, there will be plenty of guidance available. Expert speakers will tell audiences how to garden organically, paint mailboxes, design a water garden, create hand-tied bouquets, even garnish food with live flowers.

Local garden clubs will present a rock ‘n’ roll-themed standard flower show. In addition to exhibits on the main floor of the auditorium, there will be a second room full of smaller, more intimate landscapes. Shoppers can browse the wares of 90 vendors, as well.

On Saturday evening, show-goers can attend a live auction for an array of small- and big-ticket items such as a propane grill, a pergola, tile fountains and reliefs by Antiquity Tile, and several Forest Hart sculptures, to name a few.

“We’re excited,” said Judy Perkins of Keep Bangor Beautiful, the show’s sponsor. “We have everything you can imagine.”

Lecture series at garden show

Friday, April 8

. 9 a.m.: Birdsacre Owls

. 10 a.m.: Kids Grow Too!

. 10:30 a.m.: Bugs!

. 12:30 p.m.: The Secrets of Compost

. 2 p.m.: The Masters Touch

. 3:30 p.m.: Gardens with a French Flair

. 6 p.m.: Water Garden Designs

. 7:15 p.m.: Garnishing with Live Flowers

Saturday, April 9

. 9 a.m.: Birdsacre Owls

. 9:30 a.m.: Handpainted Mailboxes

. 10 a.m.: Go Organic in Your Garden This Year!

. 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.: McFravis Fiddlers

. 11:45 a.m.: Teddy Bear Picnic (space is limited)

. 12:15 p.m.: Your Dreams and The Environment: Introduction to Ecological Landscape Design

. 2 p.m.: Hand-Tied Bouquets

. 3:30 p.m.: Container Gardening

. 5 p.m.: Pruning

Sunday, April 10

. 10 a.m.: Hoop Houses for Home Gardeners

. 10 a.m.: Bugs!

. 11 a.m. Music by John Tercyak

. Noon: Using Bulb Flowers in Floral Arrangements

. 1 p.m.: Seed papers

. 1:30 p.m.: A Historical Visit to the Orono Bog Boardwalk

. 2 p.m.: Music by John Tercyak

. 3 p.m.: The Beauty and Value of Trees

15th annual Bangor Garden Show

Where: Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center

When: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday

Admission: $8 for adults, $3 for students, free for children under 5

Information: www.bangorgardenshow.com