2020 SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT HOME AND GARDEN SHOW – Now the largest in new england

The Southeastern CT Home and Garden Show is one of Jenks Productions’ best and longest running regional home shows. Each year the Home Show draws more and more visitors, last year’s show had over 20,000 in attendance. This increased Home and Garden expo crowd has enticed even more home show vendor participation, with over 350 vendors now expected in 2020. Our Home improvement and Garden show will be held at the Earth Expo & Convention Center at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT from Friday February 21 – Sunday February 23, 2020.

• Kitchen Design
• Kitchen Cabinets & Islands
• Home Decorators
• Home Improvement Ideas
• Interior Designers
• Bathroom & Kitchen Remodels

• Basement Remodeling Contractors
• Landscape Design & Architecture Companies
• Lawn Care Services
• Home Improvement Stores

• Home Repair
• Home Additions

• General Contractors
• Home Builders
• Home Improvement & Renovation Loans
• Tree Removal
• And Much more

• Landscape Designers
• Landscape Design & Installation
• Landscape Design & Architecture Companies
• Lawn Care Services
• Landscape Irrigation
• Plants, Garden Tools & Supplies
• Mowers & Power Equipment
• Garden Tools & Cutlery

• Iron & Stone Garden Sculptures
• Birdhouses & Garden Centers
• Organic Lawncare
• Patio Umbrellas
• Garden Swings
• Outdoor Furniture
• Pavers, Decks, Retaining Walls
• Garden Windows & Patio Doors

• Garden Statuary
• Garden Decor
• Pavers, Mulch & Stone
• Tree Removal
• Out Buildings
• Plants & Flowers
• And Much More

George Trecina Friday 6-7pm My Garden: Lessons Learned

George received his education in horticulture and landscape architecture from the University of Connecticut and Cornell University. He is the owner of Land Design and Horticultural Sales LLC in Meriden, Connecticut. George has designed, installed and maintained commercial and residential landscapes since the 1980s. He is a certified speaker with the Federated Garden Clubs Of Connecticut and has been opening his garden to visitors through the Garden Conservancy since the mid-1990s.

Jo Wood Friday 7-8pm Interior Decorating: Tips & Tricks of the Trade: The session will focus on tips for getting started with a home project. How to update & remodel a room. How to begin the planning of a new home construction project. Will discuss setting goals and establishing a plan to ultimately achieve success.

I have been in the field of interior decorating, design & art for over 25 years. I started years ago working for ETHAN ALLEN. I have been a free-lance decorator for the past 12 years. I have taken on a variety of jobs with a broad range of clients. Each job is varied & different as the people whose homes I have decorate. And, I work with a variety of budgets, I enjoy the challenge of helping home-owners tackle their projects. I work with so many different types of customers ranging from the millennial generation to baby boomers, empty-nesters and seniors. I have helped them all. I offer a range of services from window treatments (i.e. draperies, shades, blinds, shutters) to re-upholstery, room planning, and paint color consulting. I cover all areas of home decorating. My website is: www.showhouseready.com.

About Lorraine Ballato; Saturday 11-12 Success with Hydrangeas

As a professional horticulturist, Lorraine’s obsession with plants comes through in her lectures, social media writings, magazine articles and photographs which you can find in Connecticut Gardener, Edible Nutmeg, Coast of Maine, and elsewhere. Her weekly gardening columns ran for over ten years, reaching more than 15,000 homes in northwest Connecticut. Lorraine is an instructor at the New York Botanical Garden and in the Connecticut Master Gardener Program as well as for the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut. Lorraine has spoken on numerous gardening radio programs and podcasts from Alaska to Connecticut and delights audiences at regional symposiums, flower shows, civic gatherings, and garden clubs.

Besides tending the Connecticut garden which Lorraine and her husband have created (including many plants under trial conditions), Lorraine’s organic home garden includes seasonal vegetables, her beloved hydrangeas and all manner of ornamentals, which have informed her writing, lectures, and radio guest spots. Their garden is not only a laboratory but has been the subject of magazine articles and has been on several garden tours.

Lorraine’s latest book is the best selling Success With Hydrangeas: A Gardener’s Guide. Her previous book is Successful Self Watering Containers: Converting Your Favorite Container to a Self-Waterer. You can learn more about Lorraine on her website where you can also sign up for her free hydrangea blog.

Donna Katsuranis Saturday 12-1 Gardening in Deer Country Learn about deer, their behavior and life cycles, what motivates them, and their effect on the garden – plus, plants they May not eat! Saturday 6-7 Designing a Garden with Native Plants

Donna Katsuranis is an Interfaith Minister and an Advanced Master Gardener who lives and gardens in Brookfield CT, despite lots of ‘help’ from her dog and the local deer. Donna has taught numerous Advanced Master Gardener classes, and has lectured throughout the Northeast for groups from Garden Clubs to Mental Health associations to the CT Flower and Garden show. Her writings have been published in CT Gardener magazine and other publications, and she is a founder of the Kiwanis Giving Garden in Brookfield, where volunteers grow veggies for local food pantries.
Donna teaches and guides walks year-round on nature and spiritual subjects. Her aim is to educate people about the wonders of nature, one gardener at a time.

Mike and Angelina Chute Rose Gardening Specialists
Saturday 1-2pm and Sunday 11-12pm Roses for New England,

Roses for New England is a special presentation for every rose-lover who wants to grow hardy, healthy, and disease resistant roses in their home gardens. This program specifically addresses the merits and challenges of rose gardening in New England. Novice rose gardeners will find everything they need to know to successfully grow roses and experienced gardeners will utilize this program as a ready reference to enable them to grow better roses. Mike and Angelina Chute’s book, Roses for New England: A Guide to Sustainable Rose Gardening is the companion reference to this program.

This program includes: six easy steps to growing roses in New England; how to select winter hardy and disease resistant varieties for New England gardens; the best way to plant and prune roses; and tips and personal anecdotes from the authors’ twenty-five years of rose gardening experience.

Roses for New England shows you how to grow roses better than you ever thought you could.

Mike and Angelina Chute will be available to sign copies of their books Roses for New England: A Guide to Sustainable Rose Gardening and Rose Gardening Season by Season: A Journal for Passionate Gardeners after the program.

Sally Brockett Saturday 3-4pm: Butterflies: “Jeweled Pollinators for Your Gardens”

The Butterfly presentation teaches about butterflies, and motivates the audience to be more alert to them, and to plant appropriate flowers and shrubs to help provide for them.

Art Horn Saturday 4-5pm Your Weather, Our Garden

After graduation Art worked at two weather consulting companies in the Boston area. One of his assignments was in Iran working as on site meteorologist in the remote southeastern part of the country. His long and varied career in broadcasting began when he became chief meteorologist at WGAN TV channel 13 in Portland, Maine. While at Channel 13 he was awarded the American Meteorological Society’s Television Seal of Approval. After four years in Maine he made a giant leap from market number 75 to number 6 when he was hired at WNEV channel 7 in Boston. While at channel 7 he demonstrated his talent for live broadcasts out in winter storms. From Boston Art Horn traveled south to become chief meteorologist for WPTV channel 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was voted best television meteorologist by Palm Beach Life magazine every year. While at channel 5 he gave expert testimony before a congressional committee about the value of continuing aircraft flights into hurricanes by “The Hurricane Hunters”. Most recently Mr. Horn worked at WVIT channel 30 in West Hartford, Connecticut. At channel 30 he developed, produced and narrated “The Weather Show” at the Science Center of Connecticut in West Hartford educating thousands of students about the ways of the weather. He became well known for his creative and entertaining live performances out in storms. In addition, Art has extensive experience broadcasting weather forecasts on radio throughout his career.

Art is self employed under the company name of The “Art” of Weather. In 2007 Art received an Emmy nomination at the 30th annual Boston Emmy Awards program for his PBS documentary “Hurricane: Direct Hit”. Professor Horn teaches meteorology at Tunxis Community College. He also services the legal community as an  expert witness for lawyers and insurance adjusters in weather related litigation. Mr. Horn presents informative and entertaining PowerPoint weather programs to the general public and schools. Mr. Horn has been a guest speaker at numerous social events, conferences, conventions and meteorological seminars across the country. Art has been invited to perform aboard cruise ships providing weather programs to audiences on the high seas. He is an active member of the American Meteorological Society. He is media spokes person for GLASCO heating and air conditioning. Art enjoys traveling around the country pursuing his favorite hobby of collecting antique ship salvage. He also collects vintage weather instruments and antique clocks. He  enjoys astronomy and science fiction. His website is “The Art of Weather”.

Michael Russo Sunday 12-1 Cutting Gardens for the Home Gardener Participants will learn the essential requirements of starting an environmentally friendly four season, productive, home cutting garden; suggestions for personal favorite varieties, pest management, seed and plant resources will be covered

Michael is flower farmer, Master Gardener and floral designer with over a decade of experience , who embraces the “slow flower” philosophy, which uses low environmental impact cultivation methods and organic practices for growing and uses that same approach in my design work. . At Trout Lily Farm, we intensively grow 50 + varieties of shrubs, vines, annuals, perennials, bulbs and herbs on a 1 acre parcel and then incorporate the organically grown bounty into my design work for the home, weddings and events. I have worked for Martha Stewart Living, lending my collection of Victorian Language of Flowers books for a “Romantic Wedding Issue”, and did a segment on that topic for her television show. Although Trout Lily Farm operates at a larger, production scale, I am mindful of the needs and dreams of the home gardener , and happily share suggestions, resources and first hand knowledge of how to grow, maintain and enjoy a healthy, productive, bountiful and beautiful small garden at home.

Tovah Martin Sunday 1-2pm The Indestructible House Plant:

An avid (verging on obsessed) gardener indoors and outside, Tovah Martin is the author of many gardening books. The Garden in Every Sense and Season hit the bookstores in April, 2018.

Tina Balboni Sunday 4-5pm: Home Decor Ideas from Interior Designers, Using Unique Accessories to Identify Individual Style. The presentation provides rationale for the importance of accents overall to a space. Assisting people with choosing the right accents to express their individual style.

Bio: I have worked in the interior design and home furnishings industry since 2004. First, with Bassett Home Furnishings, and now with Ethan Allen for the last 2 1/2 years. In my capacity as a District Manager with Bassett I was responsible for training our team on interior design principles. And here at Ethan Allen, I also do interior design training and have recently been approved by the IDCEC (Interior Design Continuing Education Council) to teach classes for CEU credits.