Gladioli, Grout & Grilling at Lansing Home & Garden Show

Where can you price out vinyl siding, learn how to make Creamy Hazelnut Maytag Vinaigrette with Rosemary & Fresh Ground & Roasted Cardamom, and see a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach? You can do all of those things (and lots more) at The Lansing Home & Garden Show, which opened yesterday and runs through Sunday at MSU’s Pavilion.

The Show covers the floor of the spacious Pavilion and extends up into the viewing stands with both vendor displays and exhibits manned by non-commercial organizations like Clinton County Recycling, local utilities and the MSU Horticultural Club. Multiple stages offer talks and demos on gardening, landscaping, and interior decoration. Headliners include Don Engebretson “The Renegade Gardener,” Mad Dog & Merrill, “Grillologists,” Leslie Hart-Davidson of Hart-Davidson Designs and Chef Angus Campbell of The Secchia Institute for Culinary Education.

Into gardening? Off the main floor is an entire flower show within the larger show, presented by Michigan Garden Clubs, Inc. District IIB. The Flower Show features judged entries in several categories including “Flowering Branches” and “Things with Wings 8 inch Design.”

There are also several large-scale displays of landscaping complete with living plants and trees – look for a working water mill and a romantic outdoor dining area with a stone fireplace. I checked out materials for filling in the muddy parts of a driveway, talked Crabapple trees with one vendor and shade gardening with another. Scheduled talks include one on container gardening and another called “Green your Garden” given by an MSU Extension horticulturist and another on native plant gardening.

If your focus is on home improvement, you can get information about siding, windows, home theater, security and sound systems, heating and cooling, geothermal, roofing, plumbing, upholstering, kitchen and bath remodeling, cabinets, interior decoration and basement makeovers…pretty much anything you might be considering. I stopped to talk to representatives from Clinton County Recycling about where to take used Styrofoam, and eavesdropped on an explanation of geothermal heating and cooling. Related talks include “Remodeling Your House Without Killing Your Spouse,” “How to Establish a Realistic Budget for your Kitchen & Bath Remodel” and a seminar on controlling project costs.

For cooks, there are booths with grill mats, outdoor pizza ovens, cookware, and live demonstrations on grilling and making a variety of adventurous vinaigrettes. If your interests tend more towards the eating than the cooking, there’s a pretty standard concession stand near the Pavilion entrance, as well as vendors selling candy, homemade dip mixes, sausage and jerky.

Also (and these things matter) there is lots of swag including tote bags, yardsticks, stickers, magnets, pens and brochures, and the people-watching is rich and varied.

The Home and Garden Show is open Friday March 20 from 12-8, Saturday March 21 from 10-9 (“Family Day” with activities for kids), and Sunday March 22 from 10-5.

The MSU Pavilion is located at 4301 Farm Lane in East Lansing, and parking is free.

Admission is $9.00 for adults, $4.00 for children 6-14 and free for children under five.

For a full list of exhibitors, seminar schedules and a printable coupon for $2.00 off standard admission, visit http://hbalansing.com/showcalendar.php.

Disclosure: the author's husband's employer is an exhibitor at The Home & Garden Show. The business is not mentioned or pictured in the article.