It's the last chance to experience it as you've known it in the past. The 9th annual Ann Arbor Flower and Garden Show, sponsored by the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, will open its doors at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds for the last time March 26-29. As Michigan's largest indoor flower and garden show, the Ann Arbor show will be changing its format and location after this year's presentation of A Gardener's Fair. Lectures, demonstrations and a gardening forum are just some of the highlights of this year's show that also features eight major exhibit gardens and 560 dramatic floral design arrangements and exotic plant exhibits. A playful theme for kids of all ages will be found in Dr. Doolittle's Bloomin' Zoo, an interactive children's garden where crossing a babbling brook brings visitors into a garden fantasy of ivy topiary figures, a swing and a scavenger hunt for perennials with animal names such as bear's breeches, bee balm, lamb's ears and foxglove.
Gates close one hour before the show ends each day.
For free shuttle information, show details, opening night Gala particulars, and more detailed ticket information, contact the Flower Show office, 998-7002. For its 10th anniversary in 1999, the Ann Arbor Flower and Garden Show will be staged at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens as four separate events that will include not only the best of the annual Flower Show, but a greatly expanded set of activities that will take place over the course of a year. Changes begin taking place in the fall when the Fall Festival explores the use of plants by Native Americans and early settlers in southeastern Michigan through a variety of displays and activities for all ages. An expanded Open House will highlight winter 1998, followed by the 1999 Spring Plant Sale, an Ann Arbor tradition for more than 15 years. This also will include some of the Flower Show's most popular elements.