The Chicago Flower & Garden Show is making its annual appearance at Navy Pier now through March 14th. This year's theme is "Cultivating Great Performances," an idea embodied in the theater-based feature gardens. The Shakespearean garden features royal court costumes and a formal palace-like layout. Bye Bye Birdie includes an oversized birdhouse, and Alice's Wonderland is complete with a fantastical, and slightly creepy, Queen of Hearts made of boxwoods.

Some of the gardens seemed to stretch the theater connection a little too thinly, such as the Miss Saigon garden which was lovely to wander through but did not once make me think of the musical. Some of the best gardens didn't even emphasize anything stage-related: the Spring Awakening potager garden expertly combined edibles and ornamentals and the bonsai garden was gracefully contemplative.

Beyond the feature gardens, the show is hosting a plethora of seminars, the Garden Gourmet demonstration series, and a sprawling marketplace. This is one of the best Chicago garden events of the year, sure to inspire you with some ideas. Or if nothing else it will help to relieve the winter doldrums with the scent of fresh soil. And don't forget to visit Chicagoland Gardening at Booth 226!

—Rose Rankin