2010 NYC Grows report
I debated whether or not to go in the rain because walking around Manhattan with an umbrella is no fun! Since I've been waiting for this for so long, I don't want to regret it afterwards. So I put on my blue polka dot rain boots, umbrella in my hand and hit the city! I already had plans in case the show was no good, I was going to just hang out at Max Brenner (a chocolate theme restaurant near Union Square) and go shopping afterwards.
I got there not expecting much because of last year's disappointment. As I got closer to Union Square I saw tents and thinking that's a good sign, at least they were prepared for the rain. I entered the show from the side and immediately saw many sponsor booths, gardening and cooking demonstrations, nicely decorated mini-gardens. They had big sponsors like Whole Foods, Organic Valley, Toyota, and woollypocket (will talk about this later, pretty cool stuff). I spent a couple of hours there and got a lot of goodies.
I had mixed feelings after the show. Every year I feel like this event is driven by sponsors and those sponsors are not always gardening related. I had a good time at the show but walking away wishing there would be more gardening related demonstrations or workshops, etc. I still remember when Target was the sponsor, they had more gardening related activities. Having said that, I think they did a fantastic job and if I were to pick the best booth, it would be the Organic Gardening magazine.
2010 NYC Grows
2010 NYC Grows
2010 NYC Grows
You see all the beautiful vertical garden? It's the first time I've seen such a big display of vertical garden and I have to say it's pretty impressive. It's called the woollypockets. I don't know if you can see in the picture above the hot chocolate, there's a small tree in the bottom 'pocket'. I was tempted to buy one at the booth, but I thought it was too expensive and I wasn't sure if it's going to work. I think it's great for people who live in apartments or condos who have limited gardening space.
May 2nd, 2010 - 16:06
How have you been? Thanks so much for posting about this and sharing your photos. I really wanted to go! Those vertical gardens are so cool. Glad you got to go to Max Brenner too
May 2nd, 2010 - 16:47
Hi Jen- it’s been quiet on the gardening front for me. The weather has been beautiful in NY lately but I don’t want to make a mistake of planting too early. I’m sorry you missed it but it’s an annual event so hopefully you can make it next year. Hope everything is well.
May 13th, 2010 - 11:24
The vertical garden is so cool! I would love to have one. How much does it cost? Actually I saw some other kind of vertical garden when I went to Hong Kong Flower Show earlier in March. For this one you show here, are the plants placed in the hanging black bags on the wall?