It takes a whole lot more than just flowers and green plants to put together the lavish displays at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. Here’s a look at some of the amazing ingredients.
– A total of 200 tons of soil is to be trucked in to cover all the exhibitors’ garden spaces.
– Some exhibitors start readying the plants in their displays a full year in advance, using artificial light and heat to break the plants’ natural schedule and get them to bloom in mid-March.
– The more than 75,000 plants on display represent at least 200 different species. But plants aren’t the only living things on display…
– John G. Shedd Aquarium’s global garden exhibit includes red-eared slider turtles, blue poison dart frogs, horn sharks, yellow-footed tortoise, ocean surgeonfish and reef butterfly fish. The 12 habitats use more than 1,000 gallons of fresh water and saltwater.
– To transport 10 butterfly species, all native to Illinois, to the show, the Nature Museum kept the butterflies in a state of suspended animation by cooling them. At the show, butterflies snack on commercial nectar soaked in brightly colored sponges and slices of overripe fruit.
– The single slab of granite that forms a deck overlooking RikRock’s “The Ultimate Garden Pond” weighs 18 tons and was put in place with a 70-ton crane. The display’s pond holds 15,000 gallons of water, and each of its two waterfalls pumps 54,000 gallons of water an hour. That means each drop of water goes over a falls seven times every hour.
– An 18-foot volcano appears to erupt twice every hour at E.F.G. Orchids’ exhibit, thanks to a smoke machine inside its mouth, powerful loudspeakers and a bubble machine below the water.
In the end, it all adds up to a magical show.
CHICAGO FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW: HOCUS CROCUS! SPRING MAGIC BLOOMS
Dates: Saturday through March 21
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and March 15 to 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays
Where: Navy Pier, Grand Avenue at Lake Michigan
Admission: Adults–$9 weekdays, $10.50 on weekends; children ages 4 to 12–$4 weekdays, $5 weekends; discount coupons worth $2 toward admission are available at Ace Hardware stores.
Group rates (25 people or more): $7 per person, weekdays only
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For more information: call 312-321-0077; on-line at www.chicagoflower.com.
