I can’t think of a better way to welcome spring than with the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at Navy Pier. This botanist’s blowout puts my garage garden to shame. Five days of live shows, competitions, and educational programs makes this an event you won’t want to miss.
The show is broken into 16 themed gardens, special event gardens, a marketplace, and various other activities. There are plenty of things to do this year.
Themed Gardens
Each garden has a story to tell or a lesson to learn. As you walk through the decorative landscapes and city miniatures, you’ll see sculptures protruding from waves of budding flowers and hand-crafted flora made from fabric. Some gardens teach you about how to live an eco-friendly self-reliant life and others delve into the infrastructure we live on. Elsewhere you’ll find photo competitions and tablescaping displays. There’s garden artwork, live animals, chainsaw carvings, She Sheds, and so much more.
Special Event Gardens
How-to garden is a series of live shows with interesting topics: like how to make soap from your plants, the healing power of herbs, or how to make mini succulent gardens. It also includes Potting Parties will William Moss! Another special is Garden Gourmet, where Chicago’s culinary elites show how to cook with what you grow. Lastly, the kid’s activity garden has pulled out all the stops. Dig for fossils as a Junior Excavator, join the insect petting zoo, and settle down for a fairy tea party.
The Show
The Flower and Garden Show has something for everyone. There is plenty to learn, lots to do, and multitudinous things to buy. This event, along with all the other things to do at Navy Pier, makes this the place to be from March 20th to March 24th. So if you’re thumbs are still green from Saint Patrick’s day, then put them to use at the Pier.
Be sure to check out all the exhibits at the garden show on their website. Also, check out Navy Pier’s website and our blog for more Navy Pier special events, like specialty brunch cruises for the Garden Show.
