Book Signings Galore at Garden Show Seminars

One of the most popular features of the extensive Seminar Program at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show is the author Book Signing Station. Show audiences can meet up with the many speakers who are authors, purchase their books, and have them personally autographed. Autographed garden books make a wonderful gift to your gardening friends!

The show has once again teamed up with University Book Store for the Book Signing Station. And now it is conveniently located right outside the Rainier Room in the new Conference Center, which is now home to all the seminar stages – the Rainier Room, Hood Room and the Smith & Hawken DIY Stage.

The garden show has a strong commitment to supporting garden writers. We will have 62 book signings in all this year, and quite a few of these books are making their debut at the garden show. Attendees can be the first to take advantage of the sage advice and enjoyable reading as they get started on their spring gardening and planting.

The garden show will be premiering the book launch for Graham Kerr’s latest book “Growing at the Speed of Life – A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden.” It will not be released until March 1 but the garden show is receiving advance copies from Penguin Books. Graham, known and loved by millions as the former “Galloping Gourmet,” will be speaking twice at the show on Saturday, February 26. He now resides in Mount Vernon, and he’s discovered the enjoyment of edible gardening in a very big way.

Two of our Show Judges will be signing their books after their seminars. Nancy Goslee Power, based in Santa Monica, California, published a new monograph, Power of Gardens (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009), which received a Silver Award of Achievement from the Garden Writers Association. And Panayoti Kelaidis is the author of Flourish: A Visionary Garden in the American West (3D Press, 2009).

We’re also pleased to be bringing a number of first-time authors to the show with recently released books.  Andrea Bellamy, creator of heavypetal.com, is the author of Sugar Snaps and Strawberries: Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden, released by Timber Press in December. Ivette Soler is a Los Angeles-based landscape designer and the author of The Edible Front Yard: The Mow-Less, Grow-More Plan for a Beautiful, Bountiful Garden, a Timber Press book slated for release next month.

Arden Bucklin-Sporer is the co-author of the new groundbreaking resource, How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers, recently released by Timber Press. Arden has worked with green schoolyards and public school gardens for over a decade.

Susan Morrison is a garden writer and landscape designer and owner of Creative Exteriors Landscape Design based in Northern California. Rebecca Sweet, also based in Northern California, is a designer and the owner of Harmony In The Garden. They are the co-authors of Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces, to be released by Cool Springs Press just before the show. 

Lisa Taylor is Education Program Manager for Seattle Tilth. She spends most days growing and eating plants with children. She is the author of Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals, to be published by Black Dog & Leventhal and launching at the show.

Jayme Jenkins owns aHa! Modern Living, an online store specializing in stylish, modern home décor and garden accessories. She co-authored another soon-to-be-released Cool Springs book, titled Garden Rules: The Snappy Synopsis for the Modern Gardener. Jayme will be speaking with Teresa O’Connor, co-author of Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food, a Cool Springs 2010 release.

David George Gordon, who will be cooking bugs on the Sprout Stage for the kids (seriously!) as well as speaking on “Forging a Lasting Peace with Slugs,” is the author of the new Sasquatch book, The Secret World of Slugs and Snails. The New York Times called his earlier Field Guide to the Slug “gripping,” citing its “almost breathtaking” account of snail sex. This is a hilarious must-read for all Pacific Northwesterners plagued by their nemesis, the slug.

Roanne Robbins launched her Rhode-Island-based company, Nature Contained, in 2005 to offer creative container plantings, small space gardens, and floral designs for events, holidays and everyday home décor. She is also the co-author of Continuous Container Gardens: Swap in the Plants of the Season to Create Fresh Designs Year Round, a new Storey Publishing release making its debut at the show.

Alexandra Hedin, Lifestyle and Entertaining expert for ABC and FOX affiliates in Seattle and Portland, and Style Editor for 425 Magazine, is the author of Entertaining at Home: Inspiration, Recipes, and Crafts for Creating a Lovely Life, launched by Sea Script Press last November.

Matthew Levesque is the founding manager of San Francisco’s Building Resources, the Bay Area’s only nonprofit architectural salvage and reuse center, which he continues to run. Matthew is the author of The Revolutionary Yardscape: Repurposing Local Materials to Create Containers, Pathways, Lighting and More, released by Timber Press last year.

In December, Meredith Books/Better Homes & Gardens published Rose Gardening by rose expert and American Rose Society president, Jeff Wyckoff. Jeff lives locally in Des Moines, so his advice on growing roses is not only timely, he knows the conditions that Northwest rose growers face. Sarah Reichard is a Professor at the University of Washington and is Associate Director of its Botanic Garden. Her newest book is The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic, just released by University of California Press.

We will also have some authors speaking for the first time at the garden show and their books may be new to show attendees. David Mizejewski is a media personality, author, blogger and a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation. He is the author of Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife, (Creative Homeowner, 2004). Mary Lou Sanelli is the author of seven poetry collections and a recent book of essays, Falling Awake (Aequitas Books, 2007), selected as “one of the most fabulous 2008 Northwest titles” by Seattle reviewer Lesley Thomas. She is also the author of Women in the Garden (PleasureBoat Studio, 2001) and Among Friends: A Memoir (Aequitas Books, 2009). Mary Lou’s must-see seminars will be dramatic pieces of performance that will leave you smiling and pondering and incredibly satisfied from the richness of the experience. We’ll also have Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden (Skipstone Press, 2009) by first-time speaker Bill Thorness. If you want to discover the best heirloom vegetables right for our climate, this is your seminar.

Other relatively new books by garden show speakers include The Green Gardener’s Guide: Simple, Significant Actions to Protect and Preserve our Planet (Cool Springs Press, 2008); by “Growing a Greener World” TV host Joe Lamp’l; Understanding Garden Design: The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers (Timber Press, 2010) by Vanessa Gardner Nagel, APLD; and The Gossler Guide to the Best Hardy Shrubs, by Roger Gossler.

And of course we cannot forget our local gardening celebrities who never fail to entertain show audiences, speakers that I like to think of as ‘the usual suspects.’ These include Ciscoe Morris, Val Easton, Lucy Hardiman, Marianne Binetti, Marty Wingate, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Debra Prinzing, Cass Turnbull, Ed Hume, Linda Chalker-Scott, Beth Evans-Ramos and Christina Pfeiffer, who will all be signing books after their seminars.

For the complete Book Signing Schedule you can go to our website at http://nwf.gs/i2zFXn. And don’t forget, because we are in our spacious new digs at the Conference Center, those pesky Seminar Passes are NO LONGER REQUIRED! So check out the entire seminar schedule in the Seattle Times Show Guide (published Monday, February 21 for home delivery subscribers). And LOOK AT THE MAP to see how to get to the new seminar location! – Janet

Arbor Eden 2011

One of the highlights for local gardeners is Arbor Eden, the annual Northwest Flower & Garden Show Preview Gala, hosted by the Arboretum Foundation to benefit the Washington Park Arboretum, to be held on Tuesday, February 22 at the Washington State Convention Center. The Arboretum Foundation, with support from the City of Seattle and the University of Washington, creates a beautiful display garden at the show. This year their show garden honors the 50^th anniversary of the venerable Seattle Japanese Garden at the Arboretum.

Preview Gala guests enjoy an exciting silent auction, filled with plants, art, tools and travel – chosen by gardeners just for fellow gardeners – along with delectable desserts and fine wines by local vintners. For Patrons and Benefactors a buffet dinner is also offered. In harmony with the evening’s theme, guests are invited to wear traditional Japanese clothing, such as a Kimono or festive attire.

This is a rare opportunity for gardeners to view the 23 show gardens is an intimate atmosphere, before the show opens to the public the next morning. Relax and stroll the gardens and take in the sweeping scenes of these inspirational and cutting-edge gardens, designed by some of the Northwest’s leading landscape architects, designers, nurseries and gardening organizations. The 2011 show theme, “Once Upon a Time…Spectacular Gardens with Stories to Tell” has sparked garden creators’ imaginations like never before. And the show’s new partnership with Windmill Gardens, in Sumner, has made it easier than ever to force branches, perennials, roses, and bulbs. The result is thousands upon thousands of plants bursting into bloom during the show, heralding spring in the dreary days of late February.

The Seattle Japanese Garden at the Arboretum has timeless appeal, as evidenced by this photo taken by Joy Spurr 20 years ago. The same tranquil scene is enjoyed by visitors today.

In keeping with the show’s theme, the Arboretum Foundation show garden, titled “The Japanese Garden – Bridging History,” creates the setting for a scene from the Japanese fable, “The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom.” The display depicts the courtyard of the local prince in the fable. The prince’s faithful dog Shiro, who helps his master revive an old cherry tree in the prince’s garden, earns a reward and lives happily ever after.

The Arboretum Foundation's show garden in 2011 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Seattle Japanese Garden. Drawing by Roger Williams.

Designed by Seattle landscape architect and garden show speaker Phil Wood, architect and Foundation board member Roger Williams, and noted plantsman and author Bob Lilly, the timeless style of a Japanese garden are reflected in the design, including a zigzag bridge spanning a stone peninsula, flowering cherry trees, a stone pathway, and a metaphorical lake connecting formal and informal spaces.

Arbor Eden Guests meet in the South Lobby for a hosted wine reception, live entertainment and the silent auction from 6:00 – 7:00 pm, and then enter the garden floor for viewing the gardens from 7:00 – 9:30 pm. General admission ticket prices have been lowered this year, to $65 (members) and $100 (non-members) per person. (Guests are urged to dine before the event, but save room for the luscious desserts.)

Patrons and Benefactors enjoy hosted wine and hors d’oeuvres and the silent auction from 4:30 – 5:30 pm, followed by an exclusive garden preview and buffet dinner from 5:30 – 7:00 pm, and continued garden viewing until 9:30 pm. Complimentary parking is included, and Benefactors also receive two tickets to the show. Ticket prices are $250 (Patrons) and $500 (Benefactors) per person.

You can also make reservations in person at the Arboretum Shop in the Graham Visitors Center, so why not head there today to visit the fabulous Witt Winter Garden?  It’s one of the Northwest’s finest winter gardens, filled with witch hazels, winter jasmine, mahonia, hellebores and more that begin to bloom in early January. The fragrance will make you swoon.

And of course, you can always volunteer to help with the Arbor Eden event, or with the display garden set-up or during the actual show.  Email the Volunteer Resources Manager Elly Lien at elien@arboretumfoundation.org, or call her at 206-325-4510.  It’s always great fun to volunteer with the Arboretum Foundation! You’ll be supporting an organization that provides vital resources to protect and support the Washington Park Arboretum, a 230-acre urban green space and plant collection nestled in the heart of Seattle, and open free to the public year-round. – Janet

Here’s What’s Happening in February

PLAN AHEAD
Registration Begins Tuesday, February 1
Friday – Sunday, June 24 – 26
Hardy Plant Study Weekend
“Gardening in 3-D: Dichotomy, Diversity & Desire”
Considered “Horticulture Camp for Grownups,” this annual conference is a must-attend event for passionate gardeners. Speakers include Nan Sinton, Paul Bonine, Laura Crockett, Fergus Garrett, Lucy Hardiman, Thomas Hobbs, Jack Staub, and Bernard Trainor. Garden tours, plants sales and other delights included.
Hardy Plant Society of Oregon
Smith Center, Portland State University
Portland, Oregon
For more information and to register: http://nwf.gs/ejSiHO

Sunday, February 6
10 am – 4 pm
2nd Annual Hardy Cyclamen Sale
Bouquet Banque Nursery
After 10 years of meticulous growing, Bouquet Banque Nursery has thousands of select specialty Cyclamen coums, hederifoliums, and more in their most spectacular season. They open the cold frames, spiff up the garden, heat up the workshop, and bake some sweetbreads for two glorious winter garden days!! FREE.
Bouquet Banque Nursery
8220 State Avenue, Marysville, WA 98270
For more information: http://nwf.gs/gsU8D8

Wednesday, February 9
6:45 pm
“Life is Good & Delicious in a Northwest Garden”
Lorene Edwards Forkner
Freelance writer, visiting lecturer and sometimes garden designer, Lorene Edwards Forkner revels in the seasonal pleasures and broad scope of gardening life in the Pacific Northwest affords. Working from home and tending a small city garden provide Lorene with a living workshop and practical skills in her hands-on pursuit of color, textures, form and delicious flavor every day of the year. A designer’s eye for re-purposing objects and a keen sense of conservation and thrift infuse her every effort with personality, wit and sustainability. Lorene is the author of 3 books: Growing Your Own Vegetables, 2009; Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest, summer 2009 and Hortus Miscellaneous, 2007; all from Sasquatch Books. Her next book, Handmade Garden Style, will be published by Timber Press in summer, 2011. And be sure to catch Lorene’s seminars at the garden show! Website/blog: http://nwf.gs/hfoB5U.
Northwest Horticultural Society
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
Information: http://nwf.gs/hjtSkH
Members – $5
Non-members – $10

Saturday, February 12
9 am – 4 pm
Plant Amnesty Prune-A-Thon
Back by popular demand, this all-day event teaches the world to properly prune and design for better plant health. It’s a day of free pruning talks, slideshows and demonstrations. Topics include “Training Young Fruit Trees,” “Pruning Roses,” “My Rhody’s Too Big,” and “How to Prune an Overgrown Garden,” plus others. Master Gardeners can get CE credits for the talks. Plant Amnesty-approved designers will be on hand to provide 15-minute free design solution consults for small garden areas. Bring your photos, estimated square footage & growing conditions (soil type and sun exposure). FREE.
Held at Sky Nursery
185th & Aurora Ave. N., Seattle, WA
For more info: http://nwf.gs/hsQV34

Saturday, February 12 & Sunday, February 13
9 am – 5 pm
Tacoma Orchid Society Show & Sale
Enjoy the beauty and collections from our many orchid experts. Repotting of orchids is available by Tacoma Orchid Society members for a small donation. FREE.
Windmill Gardens
5816 162nd Ave. E., Sumner, WA 98390
For more information: http://nwf.gs/hxMjD6

Saturday, February 12 & Sunday February 13
9 am – 7 pm
Sunday February 13
10 am – 3 pm
Vancouver Orchid Society Show & Sale
AOS judged show, sale of popular and rare orchids; local and international vendors.
VanDusen Botanical Garden Floral Hall
5521 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC
Admission – $7; Seniors & Students – $6
For more information: http://nwf.gs/gOLBfH

Thursday, February 17
6:45 pm
“The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic”
Lecture & Book Launch Party
Sarah Reichard
Sarah is Associate Director of the UW Botanic Gardens, she oversees the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (Rare Care), the Hyde Herbarium, classes for the public and professionals, and youth and family programs in the Washington Park Arboretum. Her new book, The Conscientious Gardener: Cultivating a Garden Ethic, draws from cutting-edge research on urban horticulture and explores the many benefits of sustainable gardening. She will share her straightforward, practical advice on topics such as pest control, water conservation, living with native animals, mulching, and invasive species. This lecture will benefit the Washington Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program at the UW Botanic Gardens. Sarah will also be speaking at the garden show on Sunday, February 27.
Sponsored by UWBG and the Northwest Horticultural Society
Center for Urban Horticulture
3501 NE 41st Street, Seattle
Tickets – $15
For reservations and information: Contact Karin Kravitz at nwhort@aol.com or call 206-780-8172

Tuesday, February 22
4:30 – 9:30 pm
Arbor Eden: Preview Gala for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show
Enjoy a hosted wine reception and dessert as you browse a silent auction, enjoy live music and feast your eyes of the 23 spectacular show gardens at the 2011 Northwest Flower & Garden Show. Proceeds benefit the Washington Park Arboretum. Black tie or festive dress.
Sponsored by the Arboretum Foundation
Washington State Convention Center
8th Avenue & Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98101
Tickets: General Admission per person – $65 (members) and $100 (non-members)
$250 Patrons and $50 Benefactors
For more information: http://nwf.gs/h6oqES

Wednesday, February 23 – Sunday, February 27
9 am – 8 pm Wednesday – Saturday; 9 am – 6 pm Sunday
23rd Annual Northwest Flower & Garden Show
“Once Upon a Time…Spectacular Gardens with Stories to Tell”
This is it! Herald spring with a million dollar display of 23 show gardens designed by the region’s leading landscape designers, nurseries and horticulturists. Shop over 300 mini-stores all especially selected for the high quality products that gardeners love. Revel in the wit and wisdom of 123 FREE educational seminars presented by renowned speakers from around the country with over 60 book signings by your favorite garden authors. Simply put, it is five days of gardening nirvana guaranteed to get your creativity going as you start your best gardening year ever. Don’t miss the largest, most highly-acclaimed garden show on the West Coast!
Washington State Convention Center
8th Avenue & Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98101
Tickets: Early Bird prices until February 22 – $16 per person
After February 22 – $20
2-Day Pass – $29
5-Day Pass – $65
Half Day (Good after 3 pm) $10
Youth (13 – 17 years old) – $5
Children (12 and under) – FREE
Tickets: http://nwf.gs/hrhsz4
For complete information: http://www.gardenshow.com/

See you all at the show! – Janet

Seminar Spotlight –Discover Design & Plant Choices to Benefit Nature

Kate Frey talks about how to encourage pollinators to your garden and why they are so vital to both plants and to humans.

The choices we make in our gardens, whether they are design choices for hardscapes, structures, accessories and water features or plant choices, can have a profound effect on the other creatures of the Earth who share our gardens with us. But having a garden that is sustainable, one that protects and promotes wildlife and works within available resources, doesn’t mean having a boring garden. Anything but! These savvy speakers will help you think about your garden in new ways, discover earth-friendly (and money-saving) gardening techniques, help you analyze chronic plant problems, and get your creative juices flowing as you discover recycling and reuse. You’ve heard of ‘beneficial insects,’ those insects that we should encourage because they are good for the garden? Well, become a ‘beneficial gardener” – one who is good for the Earth.

Kate Frey – Director, Sonoma State University Sustainable Landscape program
Kate Frey began her career of working with plants and in nature as a seasonal with the state forestry, Forest Service and California Park system. At Fetzer Vineyards in Hopland, California, where Kate worked for 18 years, she managed and designed the six-acre, profuse and colorful organic gardens, as well as extensive sustainable landscaping around the facilities and the Bonterra Ranch. Kate earned a B.A. Summa Cum Laude with Distinction in English at Sonoma State University in 2006. In May, 2003 her garden at the Chelsea Flower Show won a Silver/Gilt Medal, and in 2005 and 2007 her gardens, illustrating many elements of biodiversity and sustainability, won Gold medals and were visited by the Queen. In July 2009 Kate became the director of the Sonoma State University Sustainable Landscape program.

Encouraging Pollinators in the Garden
Bringing Bees Back into Your Landscapes
Thursday, February 24 at 4:15 pm in the Hood Room
Planting pollinator and bee gardens not only ensure your and your neighbors flowers and fruit trees are pollinated, but also helps perpetuate species whose habitats have been severely impacted by agricultural and urban development. The good news is that the same flowers that offer appropriate pollen and nectar resources to bees also make us happy. Though many of us only think of honeybees with we think of pollinators, there are over 1700 species of bees. This seminar will offer an overview of a few examples of the common groups of bees and the flowers they prefer, along with the kinds of gardens that foster them.

Gardens That Give
Creating Sustainable Gardens that Sit Lightly on the Planet
Friday, February 25 at 11:30 am in the Rainier Room
What challenges do we and our gardens face today? Our gardens should generate happiness, but should also sit lightly on the planet and be sustainable. Sustainability is more than what the name implies. Most often it is not a matter of simply sustaining a rich array of local climate and soil-adapted plants in our gardens that consume small amounts of resources, offer habitat to insects and birds, shade our houses, and grow on healthy, permeable soils; we must create these systems ourselves. This seminar will give practical, easy-to-follow information on the steps to creating beauty-filled gardens that make us happy, use few resources, are easy to care for and are filled with life; gardens that give rather than take.

Author Matthew Levesque shows how you can reuse materials for dollar-smart, Earth-friendly landscapes.

Matthew Levesque – Author, The Revolutionary Yardscape
Matthew Levesque is the founding manager of San Francisco’s Building Resources, the Bay Area’s only nonprofit architectural salvage and reuse center which he continues to run. He also developed and operates the Red Shovel Glass Company, manufacturing recycled glass products for landscape applications. Matthew is the author of The Revolutionary Yardscape: Repurposing Local Materials to Create Containers, Pathways, Lighting and More (Timber Press, 2010). He teaches classes on a wide variety of subjects relating to resource conservation and creative reuse. He also designs gardens specializing in landscapes, design and art from reused materials. He and his wife live in both Alameda, California and Grapeview, Washington. Website: www.matthewlevesque.com.

Putting Repurposing into the Garden Plan
How to Design with Eco-Friendly Repurposed Materials
Friday, February 25 at 3:00 pm in the Hood Room
Planning a new garden, or maybe an overdue overhaul of an older one? Stuck with a small urban space? Put some repurposing into the design mix! There are hundreds of fantastic materials out there, but you won’t find them at your local garden center. Learn how to locate and use dollar-smart, eco-friendly, repurposed materials that can turn your garden into a beautiful, personal, earth-friendly haven, and not just another cookie-cutter plot. Creative reuse expert and author Matthew Levesque will share his secrets of “shopping downstream” to find fabulous materials bursting with potential. Illustrated with colorful photos of completed projects, this is a perfect seminar for those in the planning stages, urban gardeners, and for those who just want to add some zip to their garden, no matter how small.

The Revolutionary Yardscape
Repurposing Materials to Build Containers, Paths & More
Saturday, February 26 at 2:15 pm in the Rainer Room
If we are to build not just sustainable gardens, but really revolutionary gardens, where do we begin? If we desire vibrant and bright yardscapes, ripe with hand-built beauty, firmly anchored in their local settings, how do we proceed? Author and designer Matthew Levesque maintains that the answers are to be found in the creative reuse of local materials. An expert in designing landscapes with reused materials, Matthew will share proven strategies, easy tools, and step-by-step instructions for repurposing a number of local materials to make paths, containers, lighting and more.

Richie Steffen – Curator, Miller Botanical Garden
Richie Steffen is the curator for the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden where he manages the rare plant collections and heads acquisition of new plants for the garden. Richie has been actively involved in the horticultural community currently serving as a committee member of the Great Plant Picks program and as a board member of the Hardy Fern Foundation and Northwest Horticultural Society. An avid gardener, he maintains a small garden at home as well where he constantly experiments with new plants and growing conditions. Through his travel abroad he had gained a great appreciation for the flora of the world and the richness of Northwest horticulture. Drawing from these varied experiences Richie is always ready to share his enthusiasm for plants and the people who grow them. Pick up the new full-color poster of the 2011 Great Plant Picks at booth #2150. Website: www.greatplantpicks.org.

Inspiration in a Responsible Garden
Making Gardening a Personal Experience
Wednesday, February 23 at 11:00 am in the Hood Room
Embracing creative elements, plant collections, personality, and climate into the landscape is a recipe for bringing fun back to gardening and adding to our urban environment. It is time for us to return to loving plants and part ways with just building new patios. See the unusual, the oddities and the unconventional landscapes that make gardening truly a personal experience.

The new Great Plant Picks of 2011 are 'Fun in the Sun' and drought tolerant. Rickie Steffen shares the new list of outstanding performers in his seminar, and also talks about gardening responsibly.

Fun in the Sun with Great Plant Picks
Waterwise Gardening for the Pacific Northwest
Saturday, February 26 at 5:45 pm in the Hood Room
Smart water use is essential for today’s landscape. Over the years the Great Plant Picks has assembled a beautiful array of hardy and drought tolerant selections for our region’s gardens. Learn about the best selections for sunny dry spots to provide year-round interest, as well as bright splashed of seasonal color. The new 2011 Great Plant Picks will be available along with copies of the new poster and additional handouts listing drought tolerant plants for various garden sites.

THE GARDEN SHOW – Plant Explorers
Outrageous Tales from Truly Obsessed Plant Geeks
Friday, February 25 at 2:30 pm in the Rainier Room
And now for something really different! Four plant hunters get together to talk about what it takes to discover new plants in the wild and collect precious seed from promising new plant varieties. This is a totally spontaneous and ad-libbed conversation hosted by Richie Steffen, Curator of the Miller Botanical Garden, with guest stars Panayoti Kelaidis, senior curator and director of outreach at the Denver Botanic Garden; and Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken, the team behind Far Reaches Farm, who are busy planning another seed collecting and plant hunting expedition to China this fall.

Got chlorosis? Linda Chalker-Scott is 'The Informed Gardener,' and tells you how to prevent and solve your plant problems. Photo courtesy of Linda Chalker-Scott.

Linda Chalker-Scott – Author, The Informed Gardener & WSU Horticulture instructor
Dr. Linda 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. Linda has lectured extensively to a variety of audiences on diverse topics, all pertaining to sustainable landscaping and always based on current and relevant plant science. In 2009, she and three other academic colleagues launched “The Garden Professors” blog. Over the past 11 years, Dr. Chalker-Scott has written for Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, and MasterGardener Magazine. Her first book, The Informed Gardener (UW Press, 2008), is an award-winning examination of some common horticultural myths. The sequel – The Informed Gardener Blooms Again – was released by UW Press in 2010 and continues horticultural myth-busting. She also recently published Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: good science – practical application (GFG Publishing, 2009). Follow her blogs at www.gardenprofessors.com and website at www.theinformedgardener.com.

The Informed Gardener Blooms Again
Busting Common Myths about Gardening Practices
Sunday, February 27 at 9:30 am in the Hood Room
This seminar provides a partial overview of information contained in the author’s most recent book The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (University of Washington Press, 2010), which continues to challenge many dearly loved assumptions about urban gardens and landscapes. The book includes sections on evidence-based gardening, understanding how plants work, how/what/when/where to plant, soil additives, mulches, and miracles in a bag/bottle/box. The beginning of this seminar will focus on some common myths regarding the management of urban soils and the handling of roots during transplanting. Later, the audience will be invited to ask questions and participate in discussion of other myths addressed in the book. The text of the seminar will be provided on handouts, and signings of this new book and the award-winning The Informed Gardener will be available after the seminar.

Linda Chalker-Scott shows how plants' root growth can be drastically affected by soil conditions. Find out how to improve your soil in her 2 seminars at the show. Photo courtesy of Linda Chalker-Scott.

Meet Your Garden Soil
Discover the Easy Steps for Basic Soil Testing
Thursday, February 24 at 5:45 pm on the DIY Stage
So you think you have a clay soil? Before you decide to go into the pottery business, find out for sure using the “finger test.” This presentation will demonstrate an easy way to determine your soil’s texture class. Find out if you have silty clay, a sandy loam, or one of several other classifications. Handouts will be provided to allow you to do this test at home.

Beth Evans-Ramos – Co-author, The Salvage Studio
Beth is sharing her joy and hope of living a greener life through public speaking, teaching workshops and consulting. Her current passion is selling ideas instead of stuff. She was a co-owner of Salvage Studio, which focused on rescuing good junk and repurposing it into fun and functional pieces. During that time she co-authored The Salvage Studio: Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain and Inspire (Skipstone, 2008). Currently, you can keep track of her public appearances and her personal efforts to lead as sustainable life as possible through her web/blog: www.bethevansramos.wordpress.com.

This bird feeder puts the 'fun' in fuctional. This wonderful bird feeder created by Beth Evans-Ramos appeared in Birds & Blooms magazine. Photo courtesy of Beth Evans-Ramos.

Salvage Garden Style
Converting Stylish Stuff to Fun, Functional Pieces
Sunday, February 27 at 3:30 pm in the Rainier Room
Everyone today is trying to garden sustainably, and no one does it with more style than Beth Evans-Ramos. She shows you how to create stylish garden art, furniture and décor from ‘found’ objects, salvage and really good ‘junk.’ From hip to edgy, to rustic and rusty, this is a style that is affordable, fun to create and filled with function. Beth gives you lots of practical advice, lessons learned (the hard way) and inspiration, all conveyed with Beth’s signature humor and joy.

Ladd Smith – Co-Owner, In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes
In 1994 Ladd Smith co-founded In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes, a provider of organic based landscape services, out of his lifelong passion for protecting the environment. In Harmony has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Washington State Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention, the Northwest Environmental Gide’s Environmental Achiever of the Year Award, the WSNLA’s 2007 Environmental Excellence Award and In Harmony is a King County 5-Star Envirostar. In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes’ work has been featured in many publications including: Sunset, Northwest Home and Garden and The American Gardener. Ladd has been a regular presenter for King County’s highly successful Natural Yard Care Neighborhoods program for the past seven years. In 2009 Ladd became the landscape consultant for a new reality TV show in Seattle, called “Mission: Sustainable.” Visit the In Harmony exhibit booth, #720. Website – www.inharmony.com

Reuse, recycle, 're-characterize' - Discover savvy salvage from Beth Evans-Ramos. Photo courtesy of Beth Evans-Ramos.

Cutting Edge Landscapes
Discover Earth-Friendly Gardening Techniques
Wednesday, February 23 at 5:30 pm in the Rainier Room
Our landscapes are becoming much more than outdoor living spaces. They have the ability and potential to reduce our global impact, feed our communities and return wildlife to our homes. Green roofs, urban farms, rain gardens, cisterns, pervious surface and planting for wildlife of all kinds are a few examples of what Ladd will show. Discover not only what your garden can do for you, but what it can do for our planet.

For the complete seminar schedule, go to  http://nwf.gs/cBd16h. Remember the seminars have moved to our spacious state-of-the-art location in the Conference Center and Seminar Passes are no longer required! See you there! – Janet

New Children’s PlayGarden Debuts at the Show

The Seattle Children’s PlayGarden is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the lives of children with challenges by providing a hands-on garden and garden-inspired programming. Located at the Colman Playfield, a public park in Seattle, it has been a phenomenal success since it was established in 2002.

Thanks to the sponsorship of U.S. Bank, the Northwest Flower & Garden Show has teamed up with the good people at the PlayGarden, including director Liz Bullard and designer Wendy Welch, to create an interactive children’s exhibit in the theme of the beloved children’s classic, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. The goal of this new exhibition at the garden show is to inspire and entertain children of all ages and abilities on urban farming techniques, vegetable gardening, poultry keeping and the role spiders play in our ecosystem, along with providing parents with practical knowledge about gardening with children at home. Learning has never been so fun!

The garden show has been firmly committed to expanding the experiences for children at the show. In 2006 we started the “Sprout Stage,” offering children lively presentations on the weekends. Now the show is taking a giant step further with the sponsorship by U.S. Bank and the partnership with Seattle Children’s Playgarden. As Show Manager Jeff Swenson explains, “We feel a strong commitment to fostering the love of gardening and nature in children. After all, children are the gardeners of tomorrow, the future stewards of the Earth. And while our inspirational show gardens might not capture their young imaginations, the PlayGarden surely will. We’re inviting them to participate in activities where they get to do what gardeners of all ages love to do – play in the dirt.” 

SOME PIG
The PlayGarden will have a number of unique areas to engage children. An entrance structure will have a real, working metal weathervane on top. Naturally there will be Wilbur’s spider web, made from twisted shrunk wrap, complete with the well-known words, “Some Pig.” Three smaller spider webs will say “Humble,” Terrific” and “Radiant,” so familiar to fans of the book. And of course, kids should be on the lookout for Wilber himself.

There will be an interactive compost station based on Templeton the Rat’s nest. Children will be able to play a sorting game and sort items for a compost yard waste bin and a worm bin, to discover the things worms like and what should go into a compost pile. Both will find a permanent home at the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden after the show is over.

This is not an area of the show where the rule is “Look, but don’t touch.” Large play tables will be a wonderful source of hands-on amusement for children. One of these tables, inspired by both the children’s gardens of past shows and an old-fashioned model train table, will feature grassy hills (made of Irish moss) with grazing plastic cows, and ‘fields’ to plow, rake, and plant. Budding farmers will love this! Another table will emphasize playing with dirt, worms, herbs, seeds, and roots. There will be barn stalls to play in, with gates to open and close. (Relax parents – we did draw the line at having real cow manure in the barn!)

CHICKENS AND BUNNIES
Perhaps most fun of all there will be live chickens and bunnies. They would be primarily strutting their stuff on display, but at certain times they will be brought out for petting. They are quite accustomed to being handled by children, since these animals are lucky PlayGarden residents, coming to the garden show for a visit. Parents and children can learn about raising chickens at home, different breeds of chickens, and where eggs come from, and also how to raise bunnies and use their beneficial manure in the garden.

There’s going to be so much more in the show’s PlayGarden: A farm stand surrounded by baskets and barrels of un-shucked corn, potatoes, carrots; three craft tables where children can make keepsake items, such as pantyhose grass heads, yarn spider webs and newspaper pots; a table showing children the difference between arachnids and insects; and raised beds where children can try their hand at planting healthy greens, in the hopes of encouraging them to eat more of them (the dream of parents everywhere).

CHILDREN UNDER 12 ARE FREE
The entire PlayGarden fun is included in the adult ticket price, with children 12 and under free (really – free!) and tickets for youth 13 – 17 years old are only $5 each. This is a wonderfully affordable interactive exhibit for the entire family that will keep children talking for months to come!

The show also offers a Scavenger Hunt to children to engage them in the actual Show Gardens. Each garden creator has hidden a small pig somewhere in the garden. Children need to look carefully and find the hidden piggies, and write the location on their Scavenger Hunt paper. Then when they turn it in, they get a small prize.

On the weekend we will also have family-friendly entertainment for children of all ages on the Sprout Stage, where children can learn about bug-eating, insects and the value of worms, and they can celebrate Shelly the Snail’s birthday, make their own mini-greenhouse, and dance along to some wonderful songs. For the complete schedule, click here: http://nwf.gs/eteO9y

U.S. Bank is also giving families the opportunity to support the Seattle’s Children’s PlayGarden by purchasing a pig, stocked with seeds for starting a garden at home, for only $10. All of the proceeds of these purchases go to support the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden. The Northwest Flower & Garden Show PlayGarden is sponsored by U.S. Bank. For more information on the Seattle Children’s Playgarden go to http://nwf.gs/gwBSIW. – Janet