Want a June garden in February? Here's how they do it

(View the video, "Our Garden Starts Here")

Visitors who tour the Ultimate Schoolyard Garden next month at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show will find hundreds of vegetable and flower plants that look like we plucked them from the future.
We didn't, of course. We just fooled Mother Nature into thinking it's June instead of February. On Jan. 7, the day after record Arctic cold swept through Charlotte, we met horticulture instructor Annie West inside the greenhouse at CPCC's Cato Campus to learn how that's possible.
Annie and Kaiti O'Donnell, owner of Living Color landscaping, are overseeing the task of growing nearly 1,000 plants at three locations for the two-weekend garden show. LifeSpan and Holy Angels of Belmont are also growing plants in their greenhouses.
Annie gave us a tour of the Cato Campus green house and talked about process.
You can see the work for yourself by visiting the Ultimate Schoolyard Garden. It will be on display at the Southern Spring Home & Garden Show, Feb. 21-23 and Feb. 28-March 2 at the Park Expo and Conference Center on Briar Creek Road near Independence Boulevard.

• Get tickets – Visit Southernspringshows.com for show details and to buy tickets.
• Learn more about the display – Visit Ultimateschoolyardgarden.org to learn more about our exciting display.