GardenScape off to a busy start

As counterintuitive as it may seem, if the beautiful weather has you craving for ways to spruce up your back yard and gardens, head back indoors to GardenScape 2012 for some ideas.

The show through Sunday at the Monroe County Fair and Expo Center in Henrietta featured several different outdoor living spaces from back yard kitchens, paved patios and enchanting bistros.

More than a dozen landscape companies and other organizations showed off their creative prowess interpreting this years theme Recipe for Springtime.

Theres more of a trend toward outdoor living, said Sharlene Reeves, co-chair of the GardenScape show. With gas prices the way they are, people are doing more staycations.

With its lighted twig arch and a repurposed 1925 stone sculpture as a water feature, Twin Oaks Landscape working together with Oriental Garden Supply won the Best of Show honors for best overall display.

The landscapers creatively incorporated cypress and evergreens with spring rhododendren bushes.

It just looks like it has been here a long time, Reeves said.

Monroe County Parks Department featured several wood carvings in its display, including a hand-carved life-sized recipe book with a recipe for spring that includes a little sun and a little thundershower.

Birchcrest Tree and Landscape in Webster showcases an oversized hand-carved picnic table with a custom outdoor bar that doubles as a winter storage shed to illustrate the recipe theme.

People are thinking of the outdoors as an extension of their home, said Dave Dailey, president of Birchcrest Tree and Landscape.

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GardenScape off to a busy start