Planning A Vegetable Garden at the White House!

According to The New York Times Michelle Obama is planning an organic vegetable garden at the White house.

"While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern."


Picture by:
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, left, and Dale Haney, the White House gardener, at the site of the new vegetable garden on the South Lawn.

For all of you who are curious, "the plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs."

We have bags of green sand ($12), lime ($4), and lady bugs and praying mantises ($8) in stock for your vegetable garden!

We are also proud to announce that we are carrying seeds from the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

We're Open! Welcome Spring!

Dear friends,

Victoria Gardens has joyfully opened its doors again!

We missed our community of gardeners so much during the long winter that we are hosting a celebration of the new gardening season with
A Spring Fling.
Please join us March 21, 2009 here at the shop.
There will be snacks and drinks starting at 5:00 pm
Music and dancing after 7:00 pm.

RSVP to 845-658-9007. Let us know if you can join us!

Check out our website for our class and special events
calendar, and while there visit our blog for gardening tips at www.victoriagardens.biz

Also be sure to sign up for our new e-mail list: we will be running exclusive email specials all year long!
When you visit, be sure to check out our expanded line of books, tools, and birding supplies.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Victoria and all the staff at Victoria Gardens
Mon.– Sat. 8:30am –6pm Sun.10am – 4pm

More Lanscapes in Miniature

Here are few more miniature landscapes from the 2009 Philly flower show.

Miniature Grotto

Miniature grotto from the 2009 Philly flower shower.

Mini Me!

Another of our favorite displays at the Philadelphia Flower Show was the miniature landscape competition. All the entries were dioramas made with baby versions of plants like agave, thyme, bean sprouts, cedars, baby's breath, and Joseph's Coat.

Philly Flower Show Florist Display

One of the things about the Philadelphia Flower Show this year was that all of the displays were "Garden at Night" themed, and it was so dark, we couldn't see anything! We walked around squinting at the plants, stubbing our toes, and cursing for someone to turn the lights on!

But this florist's display was very dramatic.






Sexy, right?

Philadelphia Flower Show Orchid Competitions

"The Philadelphia Flower Show is a sight to behold, taking visitors from Winter to Spring as they step into a wonderland of gardens, plants, and floral designs. Billed as the world’s largest indoor flower exhibit and the oldest (1829) in the nation, the Philadelphia Flower Show annually attracts more than 250,000 visitors from all over the world." -Greenversations

Walking through the competition section of the Philadelphia Flower Show was awe inspiring - there was so much to see! Here are a few highlight from the orchid competitions:



Pictured above: Paphiopedilum Hybrids and Paph Alma Geveaert X Todd Clark 'Green Light'.





Pictured above: Cattley A Hybrid.

Dried Flower Masterpieces

We went to the Philadelphia Flower Show this week, and although it wasn't as spectacular as it has been in years past. There was still more to see than we could even fit in in one day. One of our favorite sections was the dried flower composition competition. They were so incredible, so work intensive! Here are a few of the most impressive.




Reproductions of some masterpieces, and some original compositions.




You can see the individual leaves and flowers used in the close-up above.


This one almost looks likes embroidery.