Rock Solid

When you hear the words “garden show”, you think flowers. You think women in big hats. You don’t think: I wonder what kind of back yard I could create with 150 tons of stone? Until now. This month’s Chicago Flower and Garden Show, held at Navy Pier, includes a truly monumental display by Northbrook-based landscaper Rick Walsh of RikRock. Walsh calls the exhibit, which has been in the works for six months, “the ultimate garden pond”. It should have no problem standing out amid the delicate flower displays and topiaries.

Visitors to Walsh’s creation start at the facade of a wood-frame house, then follow a wooded trail that winds around to a 52-by-20-foot pond with two 12-foot-wide waterfalls on either side. A granite bridge spans the water and a granite deck – complete with stone furniture – overlooks the watery scene. “It will be very…substantial,” laughs Walsh. “Solid.”

Backyard aquatic creations (of which this is an extreme example) are so popular that Walsh’s business focuses solely on ponds and water features. “People are getting bigger and bigger with their ponds,” he says. Just like with everything else, it seems.

The Chicago Flower & Garden Show, which runs March 13-21, will feature almost 40 gardens and more than 90 gardening seminars (including activities for kids at a special Children’s Garden). Other highlights will be a recreation of Mr. McGregor’s Garden from “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and a tropical garden complete with a volcano that erupts every half hour. Admission is $9 for adults on weekdays and $10.50 on the weekend (kids up to age 15 get in for half price). For more information, call 312/321-007 or take a look at the event’s Web site: www.chicagoflower.com.

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