Flower Show

SPRING'S CHILLY, wet start hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of Mount Airy Garden Club. Eager to finish a project that began in the fall, the club's 17 members are looking forward to warmer, drier spring days that signal the beginning of gardening season. The club, which has been in existence since 1934, is responsible for many of the gardens that flourish around Mount Airy. A flower garden at the public library, mass plantings of daffodils and daylilies at the Interstate 70 triangle, landscaping at Pine Grove Chapel and seasonal displays at the senior center, library and tourist center are club projects.

Some of our greatest gardens are built exclusively around native plants and home-grown traditions, but American gardeners have always looked far and wide for ideas for their back yards. For gardeners around the world, whether they're novices or experienced old hands, the deepest and most fascinating well of outside inspiration is the annual Chelsea Flower Show in London. The spectacular display of the ideas, skills and showmanship of world-renowned English garden designers helps set the direction for garden design.

Bob Evans eatery scheduled to open in Columbia 100 park MDG Companies of Columbia and Naples, Fla., has announced the sale of several sites in its Columbia 100 Office/Residential Park. A Bob Evans Restaurant will open by April 30. The family-oriented chain restaurant -- the second to open in Howard County -- is under construction, adjacent to the Marriott Residence Inn. JPB Enterprises and Holland Properties broke ground March 1 for an 85,000-square-foot office building in the park. MDG Companies plans a 100,000-square-foot office complex for the last undeveloped portion of the park.

FOLLOW WINDING ROADS IN VIRGINIA There's something liberating about hitting the open road without a particular destination in mind. But if you like just a little planning before you set out, the Virginia Tourism Corp. has a "Map of Scenic Roads in Virginia" that will help. More than 2,000 miles of off-the-beaten paths winding across the state highlight native plants and wildflowers, historical sites and wineries. The map also suggests one- to three-day drives that might make good weekend getaways.

Home and Flower Show Lush ferns, perennials, waterfalls and ponds, arched trellises and meandering brick pathways -- the Maryland Home & Flower Show will bloom with design ideas and signs of spring for the next two weekends at the State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Following this year's theme, "International Garden Rhythms," landscape professionals will design 21 gardens, depicting more than a dozen countries from around the world. You can also have a blooming good time at craft and cooking shows and at seminars on such topics as floral design, garden care and home improvement.

Betty C. Standiford Truehart, a homemaker and former flower show judge, died April 10 of an aneurysm at Blakehurst Life Care Community. She was 89.A longtime resident of the Murray Hill section of Baltimore County, Mrs. Truehart moved to Blakehurst in Towson in 1994. An avid gardener, she was a member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland for many years and graduated from the Federated Judges School. Until retiring several years ago, she was a well-known judge at flower shows throughout Maryland.

MEMBERS OF THE Carroll Garden Club recently brought home honors from the State Flower Show at Anne Arundel Community College.The show is held every five years at locations throughout Maryland, and this one proved to be unique, thanks to El Nino.The show featured more roses than any other flower, no tulips and "one woman managed to have two daffodils," said Mary Ellen Bay, garden club member and winner of a blue and a yellow ribbon in this year's competition.The Carroll Garden Club was honored for having the highest percentage of club members participating, an award few members anticipated.

Happy 100th GeorgeHelp celebrate American composer George Gershwin's 100th birthday with pianist Harvey Jacobson, soprano Elizabeth Lyra Ross (pictured) and baritone Richard Tyler at a Salute to Gershwin 7: 30 p.m. Saturday at Shriver Hall on the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus, 3400 N. Charles St. General admission costs $16, $13 for seniors, $10 for full-time students and $1 off per ticket for groups of 10 or more. Call 410-516-7157.Heavy metalWatch 10,000 pound, super-charged, metal-monster trucks flatten everything in sight when the U.S. Hot Rod Grand Slam Monster Jam take over the Baltimore Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Grave Digger, Carolina Crusher and Monster Patrol will grind a pile of mangled cars into the dirt track while Mini Monster trucks zip around.

It may not be April in Paris, but here in America the joie de vivre of a French spring will burst forth in vivid bloom at the early March opening of the celebrated Philadelphia Flower Show.This year's horticultural event will fill the senses in an eight-day celebration of the beauty, culture, fragrance and flavor of the finest the French have to offer.For the first time since the show's inception in 1829, culinary events will also be featured. Even at a garden show, one must not forget the French cuisine.

Flower shows are the garden world's three-ring circuses. Fearless professionals juggle plants and anything else they can think of to prove that gardening can be whatever anyone wants it to be.Every year, hundreds of thousands of gardening enthusiasts jam the aisles at flower shows across the continent. Vast exhibition spaces are transformed into impossible horticultural juxtapositions: instant gardens in which every imaginable flower blooms, the grass never needs mowing, the garden furniture is always freshly painted and it is perpetually spring -- but without the mud."