Flower Show

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."

EACH YEAR, Union Mills Homestead holds its Flower Mart and Antique Show. But this year the celebration will be expanded because this is the year of the Homestead's 200th anniversary."

Jon Cook doesn't promise you a rose garden. Instead, he'll create a low-maintenance backyard paradise with dwarf shrubs, miniature flowering trees, lush ferns, blooming perennials, a patio, waterfalls and ponds, arched trellises and meandering brick pathways.You will be able to see examples of Cook's work starting tomorrow at the Maryland Home & Flower Show at the State Fairgrounds in Timonium.All week Cook and his son, David, have been hauling mulch and thousands of plants to the show site in the Cow Palace, working long hours to create a 3,000-square-foot spring oasis for visitors.

The fragrances and colors of springtime around the world will blossom in harmony next weekend when the Philadelphia Flower Show once again opens its doors.Floral designers, landscape artists and horticulturists from the Netherlands, England, Japan, Italy and Belgium are bringing the latest gardening techniques from abroad to the prestigious eight- day event at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.In addition, more than 60 professional American nursery growers will show the newest plants, colors, themes and styles from around the United States at this international gardening exchange, touted as one of the oldest and largest indoor flower shows in the world.

Spring will make an early debut next weekend, when the Maryland Home & Flower Show begins at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.Professional landscapers are creating 20 gardens to fill the exhibition halls with signs of spring. At the entrance, Jon Cook of Low Maintenance Landscaping in Ellicott City will feature waterfalls cascading down a hill into a pond. "Water is really soothing," Cook said. "And it is one of the lowest-maintenance things you can think of."The garden will include a gazebo, patio, arched entryways, stone walls and meandering walkways.

The surest sign of spring is the blooming of the annual flower shows.Spring thoughts officially arrive in Boston March 8-16 at the New England Spring Flower Show at the Bayside Exposition Center. The show, a delight for the past 125 years, will feature 40 landscaped gardens, lectures, demonstrations and competitions.Visitors will spot a spectacular exhibit based on the theme of "Secrets of the Garden." One tropical display features a large waterfall and live animals; other exhibits will explore the hidden life of the garden from butterflies to the mystery of nocturnal creatures.

FOR GARDENERS, it's a daily battle against Japanese beetles, weeds and unpredictable weather.The flower bud that seems days away from flowering suddenly pops open in the morning sun, reaching its full potential unexpectedly and leaving the gardener to search for another to take its place.That's the dilemma facing some members of Mount Airy Garden Club as they prepare for the club's first flower show in years. The event, "A Novel Idea," will be held Thursday at Mount Airy branch library.Hundreds of annual and perennial flowers are needed to fill arrangements.

Shady Side group sponsors $10,000 raffleShady Side Rural Heritage Society is sponsoring a $10,000 raffle to be held in October.Only 2,000 tickets will be sold at $10 each for the annual fund-raiser that helps the society pay its annual mortgage on Captain Salem Avery House Museum.The drawing will be Oct. 12 at the society's Working and Sporting Dog Exhibition at Cedarhurst Community Center.Information: (301) 261-5234 or (410) 867-2660.Garden club schedules flower show in AnnapolisFour Rivers Garden Club will have a flower show from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. June 12 at Charles Carroll House on the grounds of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Annapolis.

Ocean City Flower ShowThis weekend, Ocean City celebrates the arrival of spring with its second annual Flower Show. The show will begin tomorrow with a floral display competition, in which the general public is invited to participate. Visitors can enjoy floral exhibits as well as an arts and crafts show, which will include the work of more than 100 artisans.On Saturday, Roger Swain, host of the PBS program "The Victory Garden," will present several seminars on gardening, which will be followed by book signings.

Judging from the crowds visiting the Maryland Home & Flower Show at the Timonium Fairgrounds, a similar turnout next weekend should push attendance over the 100,000 mark, show organizers said.That would top last year's record of 70,000 easily. The annual event has been held in the fairgrounds' Cow Palace and Exhibit Hall for one weekend only for the past four years.The 1996 show features 450 exhibitors -- mostly home improvement and landscaping contractors, florists, craftsmen, artists and educators -- and is "definitely better than in past years," said Brenda Spowart of Perry Hall.