Hi, dr. andre, I think we now have TWO shows: the MN Home & Patio Show (Feb 19-22) at the St.Paul RiverCentre AND the Mpls. Spring Home & Garden Show (Mar 4-8) at the Mpls Convention Center. I happened to learn this when I became a member of the MSHS Northern Gardener and got vouchers for 2 free tickets to BOTH shows. GaryStPaul

Even so, the Mpls H&G is not like it use to be. The Plant Societies booth will not be there. (The one that disseminated information on any Society that wished to participate, and manned by the Societies' members.) Since convention planners started requiring the Floral arrangement designers to not only supply everything to enter and display there, the show wouldn't even give them a pass to bring their displays in (!!!)

Certainly, attendance in the horticulture room has been WAY down, and I am not sure if the Rose Societies are manning booths there anymore either.

On the bright side, if you are looking for the same kind of comaraderie of plant people, it is thriving at the Arboretum's Plant Information Fair, April 18, 2009 - 10-3pm. No mini seminars this year, though.

My mistake -- I jumped to a conclusion. Still, leftwood is correct: the garden societies are given so little space now and they are placed out of the way.

It's certainly not what it was.

Well, I just got home from the MHGS. It was just as the guys above suspected it would be, for someone interested in gardening pretty much a total waste of time. Even the MSHS room was a disappointment, a smallish space with nothing much of interest. I've learned my lesson on that one. GaryStPaul