I don’t think I’ll go to another Thanksgiving Point garden mini-expo. It was much too basic. If you’re a guy like me who reads garden books and magazines and has tried a lot of things in the garden, there just wasn’t much to learn. They had people teaching who were trying to earn their master gardener certification, which requires some volunteer hours. It was clear that some of them did not feel comfortable teaching and were only doing it to earn their hours.

I wish they had an advanced level of classes. It would have been good to learn more about how to save a distressed Japanese maple tree that may have been chlorotic or may have had some other disease, or how to ensure roses bloom all summer, or how pruning a clumping birch tree would be different than a linden or a fruit tree.

Maybe someday I’ll teach at one of these expos. Perhaps I’ll get my master gardener certification, too.