Celebrate the beauty, glory and gardens of spring, while discovering enchanting new ideas for blending the outdoors and indoors, at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s signature spring event, the Antiques & Garden Fair.

The eighth annual Fair, which runs from Friday, April 20 through Sunday, April 22, offers the best in contemporary garden furnishings, botanical art and home and garden design from almost 125 dealers from Europe and the United States.

Fairgoers will find a variety of treasures in every price range, plus beautiful and inspirational indoor gardens, throughout the lovely, intimate spaces of the Regenstein Center and under tents in the Esplanade and Rose Garden. Beverages and gourmet fare will be served in cafes and a wine bar set amidst lush plantings. Bill Heffernan of Heffernan Morgan, Inc., Chicago, has designed the interior spaces with gardens, floral displays, flowering trees and garden vignettes. New this year is a European-style, fresh flower market by Ex Floreus, Lake Forest.

Visitors on the North Stairs to the Regenstein Center pass through a topiary allée of single-ball Eugenia topiaries in black boxes set amongst beds of black/gray gravel. The Krehbiel Gallery is transformed into a Zenlike garden in lime greens and oranges, with wooden bridges and Japanese lanterns. In the East Portico, a pineapple topiary of artichokes, baby’s tears, cymbidium, hen and chicks, ivy, selaginella and shamrocks sits in a moss-covered urn. A spring wildflower meadow pops up through green turf underneath flowering trees in the Rose Garden Entrance. The Box Court in the Rose Garden Tent features a contemporary arrangement of evergreen topiaries in geometric shapes – cubes, spirals, contemporary pillars, obelisks, spheres – set in gray zinc containers.

The show, which drew almost 10,000 visitors from the Midwest and across the country in 2006, features rare and one-of-a-kind items, from 6-foot fountains to charming birdbaths, along with gardening tools, all styles of urns, pots and vases, arbors, garden benches and outdoor furniture sets. Lots of plants, flowers and small gardening gifts also are available.

“Dealers in this show scour the United States, Europe and Asia to find the most interesting garden design items for a hungry and sophisticated Chicago market,” says Leanne Stella, Stella Show Mgmt. Co., N.Y., producer of the three-day Antiques & Garden Fair. “The Antiques & Garden Fair is host to the best garden dealers, bringing together more garden design material in one special weekend than any other Garden show across the United States.”

The show will offer indoor and outdoor garden furnishings for the country home as well as a modern loft in the city. The highlight on flowers this year brings the focus indoors with lots of flower-arranging ideas and thousands of one-of-a-kind pots and vases to choose from, all in one beautiful setting.

“For a gardener looking for a unique idea to make their garden special this year, the vendors are quite inspirational,” Stella said. “Each vendor creates a room or garden setting that gives you ideas on how to showcase their products.”

A Preview Evening, featuring priority shopping and continental cuisine, is Thursday, April 19 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets start at $200 per person and are available by phone at (847) 835-6944. The Preview benefits the Chicago Botanic Garden’s conservation, education and research programs.

Special guest Ron Morgan, one of the most sought-after and well-recognized floral designers in the United States, will give the keynote presentation, “In the Company of Flowers and Antiques,” followed by a book signing, on Friday at 11 a.m. in the Regenstein Center. He will be joined on Saturday at 11 a.m. by Kaye Heafey, author and owner of Chalk Hill Clematis, for the demonstration “Inspired by the Garden: Flower Arranging with Ron Morgan and Kaye Heafey.” The longtime friends are co-authors of the new “A Celebration of Clematis.”

Through Morgan’s imaginative use of flowers, fruits, vegetables and unique items, he transforms the ordinary into the exquisite, artfully arranging his striking materials into masterpieces. His tablescapes are legendary for their creativity, elegance and visual impact. He is author of the new “A Glass Act,” as well as the best-selling “In the Company of Flowers” and “The Center of Attention.” The fee for each lecture is $40 in advance or $50 at the door, and includes fair admission.

Fair garden designer Bill Heffernan and Fair Co-chair Donna La Pietra will give a complimentary talk/walk on “Gardens of the Fair” at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Several exhibitors will share creative and innovative ideas on arranging in antique urns, pots and unusual containers during free booth presentations on Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday schedule is: 1:30 p.m., David Drummond, booth 109; 2 p.m., Nancy Kimball, booth 400; and 2:30 p.m., Steve Mohr, booth 102. Sunday demonstrations include: 1:30 p.m., Mary Meyerhoffer, booth 604; 2 p.m., Jeffrey Henkel, booth 120; and 2:30 p.m., Kim Leggett, booth 316.

Antiques & Garden Fair hours are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. A Close-of-Fair Plant Sale begins at 5:30 p.m. A three-day Fair pass is $15 in advance by mail, phone, online (service fee applies) and the Visitor Center. Tickets are $18 at the door. Children under age 16 are free. For safety reasons, strollers are not permitted. Parking at the Chicago Botanic Garden is $12; free for Garden members. — www.chicagobotanic.org

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