Here’s What’s Happening October 1 – 15

Saturday, October 2
10:00 am
Fall Planting
Marianne Binetti
Edibles, Lawns and more! Marianne Binetti, a Seattle gardener favorite, will be at Swansons as we leap into the pleasures of fall gardening, the green way! Find out what edibles you can grow – and harvest – during the fall and winter, as well as what can overwinter to be harvested in early spring! She will also talk about lawn renovation, her favorite plants for fall color, and more! Sponsored by the Saving Water Partnership. Free.
Swansons Nursery
9701 15^th Ave. NW, Seattle
More info: http://www.swansonsnursery.com/
Phone: 206-782-2543

Allium flowers are long-lasting and make interesting seedheads too

Sunday, October 3 & Monday, October 4
10 am – 2 pm
Arboretum Foundation’s Fall Bulb & Plant Sale
This sale features hundreds of varieties of daffodils and tulips, along with over 150 varieties of specialty bulbs such as alliums, anemones, crocuses, camassia, fritillarias, galanthus, and more. There will also be specialty vendors selling plants, a Bonsai sale, and lots of activities for children. See http://nwf.gs/dpCGXH for more details.
The Arboretum Foundation
Graham Visitors Center in the Washington Park Arboretum
2300 Arboretum Drive East, Seattle

Tuesday, October 5
7:00 pm
Choosing & Caring for Landscape Trees
Linda Chalker-Scott
The Pacific Northwest is a region ideally suited for growing many different plants. So do you wonder why so many landscape trees die an early death? In this seminar, Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott will teach you how to select a healthy tree from the nursery, how to properly install it, and how to care for it so it lives for decades, not months. Dr. Chalker-Scott has a PH.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and has written several books including “The Informed Gardener” and “The Informed Gardener Blooms Again.” Free.
Tahoma Junior High School
25600 SE Summitt-Landsburg Rd., Ravensdale
Register by phone: 425-413-2572
Register by email: register@lakewildernessarboretum.org
More info: http://www.lakewildernessarboretum.org/

Digitalis, or Foxglove, is an old-fashoined plant with a wicked history

Friday, October 8
7:30 pm
Wicked Plants
Amy Stewart
Amy Stewart, author of Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, will give a talk and signing her book. Her humorous lecture will focus on the villains of the plant world — those that poison, maim, explode and intoxicate.
The Bloedel Reserve
7571 NE Dolphin Drive, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Tickets: $35, including light refreshments
Book signing to follow
Phone: 206-842-7631
To register: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/

Saturday, October 9
10:00 am
Container Design for Year-Round Interest
Meghan Fuller
Learn the secrets to designing containers that catch the eye and add beauty to your home. Meghan Fuller’s enthusiasm and expertise make this a fun and engaging class. Free.
More info: http://www.swansonsnursery.com/ or phone: 206-782-2543
Swansons Nursery
9701 15^th Ave. NW, Seattle

Sunday, October 10
2 pm – 4 pm
Annual Fall Foliage Festival
Stroll the gardens in their fall glory and enjoy refreshments, guided tours, a silent auction, plants sale, and a display of Jesse Kelly glass pumpkins and live pumpkins on the lawn.
Dunn Gardens
13533 Northshire Road NW, Seattle
Members – complimentary
Non-members $20
RSVP at http://www.dunngardens.org/ or phone: 206-362-0933

Sunday, October 10
4:30 pm
Fat of the Land
Landon Cook
Langdon Cook, blogger, author and famous forager, will talk about his book, Fat of the Land. Langdon writes amusingly about his adventures in finding, harvesting, devising recipes, and eating the bounty of nature available in our fields, streams and forests.
The Bloedel Reserve
7571 NE Dolphin Drive, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Tickets: $35, including light refreshments
Book signing to follow
Phone: 206-842-7631
To register: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/

The delicate silver leaves of Japanese painted fern are perfect for any garden

Wednesday, October 13
6:45 pm
Designing with Elegant Silvers
Karen Bussolini

Karen Bussolini, co-author of Elegant Silvers: Striking Plants for Every Garden, garden photographer and lecturer will illustrate with her beautiful slides of silver plants the many uses of silver in producing wonderful design effects in the garden. She will show how just a dash of silver or an entire garden bed based on this metallic theme using a variety of plants of uncommon beauty and versatility can create stunning results.
Northwest Horticultural Society
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
Information: http://www.northwesthort.org/
Members – $5
Non-members – $10

- Hope to see you out and about in October! Janet

This Weekend: The Arboretum’s Bulb Extravaganza!

If you’re in the market for some beautiful blooming bulbs (and who isn’t?) stay away from the big box stores, put away those catalogs, log off the internet and head down to the region’s finest bulb sale – the Arboretum Foundation’s Annual Fall Bulb & Plant Sale, Sunday, October 3 and Monday, October 4, from 10 am to 2 pm, at the Graham Visitors center at the Washington Park Arboretum.

This sale features hundreds of varieties of daffodils and tulips, along with over 150 varieties of specialty bulbs such as alliums, anemones, crocuses, camassia, fritillarias, galanthus, and more.  They will even have shallots and garlic for the kitchen gardeners. Shoppers will be treated to many rare, unusual and heirloom varieties of bulbs, in addition to the classics that perform well in our gardens year after year. The savvy people behind the sale select only the finest varieties that are just right for Pacific Northwest growing conditions and give you the most bang for your buck.

I confess that last year I didn’t get to the bulb sale and ordered my bulbs from a catalog. Since I ordered late, nearly all the varieties I wanted were sold out; I had to settle for other varieties. But then to my dismay the following spring, about 50% of the bulbs I planted never even came up – zero, zip, nada! Not a single blossom to show for my money or labors. Who knows why, but I’m thinking they just weren’t the varieties that do well in our climate. They were total duds. I’m not making that mistake again!

There will be many varieties of daffodils to choose from, including Jonquillas, Tazettas, Triandrus, and more. They will have the Poeticus ‘Actea’, the Miniature ‘Tete a Tete’, the Triandrus ‘Thalia’, and the Large-cupped ‘Avalon’, all my favorites. On the tulip scene, this year they’re bringing back some of their best-selling bulbs from prior years, including the appropriately named ‘Bestseller’, an early single-flowering tulip, with long-lasting orange, red and yellow petals.  There will be loads of selections of species tulips, Kaufmannianas, Fosterianas, Triumph tulips and Darwin hybrids, and lily-flowers, Parrot and Fringed tulips.

Decisions, decisions! You can choose a few dozen from every single variety, or plan ahead by checking out the Bulb Catalog on the Arboretum’s website, at http://nwf.gs/9tDBuV to help you streamline your shopping and avoid indecision overload.

Not quite sure how to put your bulbs in your garden or what should go where? Author and designer (and 2011 Garden Show speaker) C. Colston Burrell has written an excellent design primer on using spring bulbs, provided by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which you can find at http://nwf.gs/9G8JXc.

In addition to having tables laden with bulb selections, there will also be nursery vendors at the Sunday sale with plants for sale, specially selected to be good companions for bulbs. And the Arboretum’s Pat Calvert Greenhouse and Plant Donations Department will also be open from browsing throughout the 2-day event, selling a wide variety of perennials, shrubs and small trees just looking for a home in your garden.

This year the sale will also have a one-time very special feature – Bonsai trees. A generous Arboretum Foundation member donated their collection of Bonsai. The collection has about 20 trees of varying size and age. These beautiful specimens will be on sale, but you had best get to the sale early to buy one, as they will undoubtedly go fast.  Prices range from $30 to $250. To preview the Bonsai collection the catalog is available at http://nwf.gs/aoddb6.

Also new this year will be a children’s table, hosted by educators from the UW Botanic Gardens. On Sunday parents and kids can enjoy free, fall-themed educational opportunities.

As always, parking and admission are free. Bring your own reusable tote bags to help save on bags. The proceeds from this sale helps support the Washington Park Arboretum, a 230-acre living museum of woody plants, with internationally renowned collections of oaks, conifers, camellias, Japanese maples, hollies and other plants from the Pacific Northwest and nearly every temperate region of the world. - Janet

Arboretum Foundation Fall Bulb & Plant Sale
Sunday, October 3, 10 am – 2 pm
Monday, October 4, 10 am – 2 pm
Graham Visitors Center in the Washington Park Arboretum
2300 Arboretum Drive East, Seattle, WA

Fall Container Gardening

Get your containers ready for fall with expert advice from Molbak's

Now that summer is officially over (and many will argue that it never really arrived this year) it’s time to get started on all those well-intentioned gardening plans. Molbak’s has some seminars tomorrow that will get you off to a good start with your fall planning – and planting – schemes.

It all starts on September 25 at 10:00 am with King County Master Gardener Holly Kennell.  In her lecture “Trouble-Free Trees and Shrubs,” she’ll give her recommendations for easy-care evergreen and deciduous landscape plants that lend structure to your garden and create year-round interest.

At noon Molbak’s own designer, Michele Skujins, will be sharing tips on what plants to feature in your outdoor container gardens that showcase brilliant fall color in her lecture, “Outdoor Containers Designs for Fall.” Discover easy ways to change out and spruce up your outdoor containers. It’s not just kale and pansies anymore!

And after you have been inspired by Holly and Michele, from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm you can shop the store for your fall container plants and pot them up at Molbak’s using Molbak’s FREE Professional Mix Potting Soil, and of course, their expert advice!

Molbak’s is located at 13625 NE 175^th St., Woodinville, WA. For questions, contact 425-483-5000 or 1-866-466-5225, or visit the Events page at http://www.molbaks.com/ – Janet

Great Plant Sales This Weekend

There’s a lot to do in the Northwest the weekend of September 18 – 19, so here’s a few things to keep you busy:

The Seattle plant sale of the fall season is the Northwest Horticultural Society’s Fall Plant Sale. I was there today as a “Roving Holder” volunteer (or considering how many shoppers brought their dogs, I could have been the “Holding Rover” volunteer). I was busy schlepping boxes of plants for hours! Hundreds of cool plants hit my Hold Cart, headed for the hold area, just so the shoppers could fill up yet another box. Here’s just a few of the many plant selections at the sale:

The NHS Sale continues on Saturday, September 18 from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm at Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point Way in Seattle. For more information visit their website at http://www.northwesthort.org/.

If you’re an Iris fancier, the sale to attend is the Beardless Iris Sale, brought to you by those Iris fanatics at the King County Iris Society. There will be many varieties of unusual, hard-to-find, and newer introductions, all at amazing prices. And the Iris experts will be on hand to answer your questions too. The Iris Sale is Saturday, September 18 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm at the Crossroads Shopping Center, NE 8^th & 156^th Ave. NE in Bellevue. Visit their website at http://www.kcis.org/ for more information.

A great plant sale this weekend in Portland is the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon’s Fall Plant Sale & Garden Festival, September 18 & 19 from 10 am – 3 pm, at the Portland Expo Center. You’d better clear out the minivan because this humongous sale has 55 vendors, and the range of perennials, trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, bulbs and winter-hardy annuals is astounding! They will also have 20 arts & crafts vendors, so you can find a special item that serves as a focal point in your garden, or maybe a new book from the HPSO book sale. Visit http://www.hardyplantsociety.org/ for directions and a list of participating vendors.

You can always head to Molbak’s, where they will have a Dahlia display brought to you by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association, on Saturday, September 18 from 9:00 am – noon. The PSDA folks will be on hand to answer all your Dahlia questions (like is it pronounced DAH-lee-a or DAY-lee-a?) And horticulturist Peggy Campbell with the Saving Water Partnership will be on hand from 10:00 am – 11:30 am to talk about how to use water resources wisely, and why it’s so important to get plants into the ground now. Go to http://www.molbaks’com for more information.

If you want to plan ahead, the Arboretum Foundation’s Annual Fall Bulb & Plant Sale is coming up the weekend of October 2 & 3. And to help you select from hundreds of choice bulbs, they are holding a lecture and Q&A session about bulbs with garden writer and radio personality Mary Wingate and plant expert Bob Lilly. “All About Bulbs with Marty & Bob” will be held on Wednesday, September 22 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm at the Graham Visitors Center, in the Washington Park Arboretum, on 2300 Arboretum Drive East, in Seattle. Marty and Bob will cover buying, planting, designing with and caring for bulbs. Essentially, everything you need to know to make you a smart shopper at the Fall Bulb & Plant Sale. Admission and parking are free. Check out their website at http://www.arboretumfoundation.org/ for more details.

And in case you think that your garden simply cannot hold another plant (yea, right…) it’s great fun to volunteer at these sales. The people organizing them are so friendly and the shoppers are happy and gracious. You know you’re among folks who share your passion for plants! – Janet

Announcing the 2011 Garden Show Judges

The Washington State Convention Center is just a cavernous empty space when the show production staff and garden creators begin their magic. The show gardens are created in only 90 hours, beginning Friday evening, with the teams often working around the clock. All of the gardens must be completed, cleaned up, and vacated by 12:00 pm on Tuesday, the day before the show opens – not a moment later. The garden creators and show staff work feverishly in the last remaining hours of Tuesday morning before the judging, putting on their finishing touches and loading up supplies.

Then the judges arrive. To judge the gardens, the three judges spend about four hours carefully scrutinizing each of the 25 gardens, discussing their impressions, and rating the garden for a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Crystal Award. The judges use two parameters: the garden creators’ Statement of Intent (what the garden creator was trying to achieve) as well as general design principles. These principles include use of space, construction details, plant selections and overall aesthetics.

The Garden Show is proud to announce the three 2011 Show Judges. These professionals have the challenging job of awarding the medals to all the major Show Gardens and choosing the Founder’s Cup winner (the best in show award) and the American Horticulture Society Environmental Award.

Dan Pearson, Great Britain

Dan Pearson is a landscape and garden designer with an international reputation for design and planting excellence. He trained at the RHS Gardens’ Wisley and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.  Dan began his design career in 1987 and in 2002 he opened Dan Pearson Studio in London. He is a weekly gardening columnist for The Observer, and prior to that he was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Times. His latest book is Spirit: Garden Inspiration (FUEL, 2009). He has designed five award-winning gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Nancy Goslee Power, Santa Monica

Nancy Goslee Power ’s ability to integrate cultural and landscape palettes, as well as her keen awareness of how people use space, enables her to create unique, visually striking and well received environments that place her as one of the great landscape designers working today. Based in Santa Monica, she is the author of the classic book, The Gardens of California: Four Centuries of Design from Mission to Modern (Hennessey and Ingalls, 2001) and her award-winning monograph, Power of Gardens, was published in 2009 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang. (Photo credit: Victoria Pearson)

Panayoti Kelaidis, Denver

Panayoti Kelaidis is a plant explorer, gardener and public garden administrator at Denver Botanic Gardens where he is the senior curator and director of outreach, where he designed the renowned the Rock Alpine Garden. He travels widely to research and collect plant species, including to South Africa, the Andes, the Himalayas, Europe and Turkey, introducing plants of those areas to North American gardens. He has received the prestigious Scott Medal from the Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore College.  He is the author of Flourish: A Visionary Garden in the American West (3D Press, 2009).

Each of our three judges will also be lecturing in our seminar program on Wednesday and Thursday of the show, followed by book signings. In addition to the awards given by the three Show Judges, there are six other awards bestowed on the show gardens, including the popular People’s Choice Award. - Janet