Plantasia is back with gardens, seminars, vendors & more!

looking through door to garden at Plantasia 2019 created by Dore
See spring gardens at Plantasia and get ideas for your own landscape. This was an installation by Dore Landscape Associates in 2019. Photo by Connie Oswald Stofko

by Connie Oswald Stofko

Plantasia, Western New York’s premier garden and landscape show, is back after a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic.

Plantasia will be held from Thursday to Sunday, March 17 to 20, at the Fairgrounds Event Center and Artisan Hall, 5820 South Park Ave., Buffalo. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. You can buy tickets online or at the door.

Here are a couple new things this year:

  • Vicki Schneider, world acclaimed flameworking artist and owner of Expressive Glass in Woodlawn, will create life-like flowers out of molten glass right before your eyes.
  • The Children’s Garden will be hosted by Penn Dixie Fossil Park & Nature Reserve.
  • See more here.

The favorite features that visitors have loved for two decades will again be back, such as the full-size gardens installed inside the Event Center.

The theme this year is “Reflections,” said Chris Zeisz, CNLP, show chairman. Each of the landscapers will reflect back on the themes of Plantasia shows of the past 20 years and create something new with that theme.

Garden vendors will also return, though the number will be somewhat smaller than in previous years, Zeisz said.

“Some vendors couldn’t get products, some couldn’t get employees,” he said. “Those are the challenges of today.”

The good news is that the vendors who did sign up will get more space, so they’ll be able to show a wider range of items.

Remember that you can talk to professionals at Plantasia, Zeisz said.

“PLANT WNY is a professional group,” he said. It has members who are Certified Nursery Landscape Professionals (CNLP) and have taken tests to receive that certification. You can get good advice from them because “these are professionals who do this kind of work.”

Master Gardeners from Cornell Cooperative Extension will also be at Plantasia, ready to answer your plant and garden questions.

About two dozen seminars are scheduled on gardening topics including butterflies, shade gardens, unusual plants, pruning and cannabis.

There is a lot to see and do at Plantasia.

“Some people come and spend the whole day,” Zeisz said.

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