Show Guide in Monday’s Seattle Times
The all-important Northwest Flower & Garden Show SHOW GUIDE will be in your Seattle Times – both home delivery and news stand editions on Monday, February 18th!
Look for the Show Guide as a downloadable PDF file on the garden show website on Monday. Read up on the 23 fully-built show gardens that await you. Plan your days at the show to catch as many of our incredible speakers as you can. You can read their bios and seminar descriptions on our website, and peruse the list of over 70 author book signings too.
You’ll also want to check out the Exhibitor List, since shopping over 350 mini garden stores takes some strategy! Good thing we have free package check, large item load-out and free plant inspection for our Canadian guests.
Be sure to read Sunday’s Pacific Northwest magazine in the Seattle Times. You won’t want to miss Val Easton’s “At Home, Designers Aim for Looks That Last” feature articles.
The theme of the special garden show issue is garden designers in their own gardens. Four gardens are featured, plus a debut of the brand new Great Plant Picks. It includes Terry Welch’s new garden on Vashon; edible container expert Barbara Libner’s Wallingford garden; and the cover story on Kate Farley’s West Seattle extravaganza of a garden.
So plan your strategy to attend the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, to be held February 20 – 14 at the Washington State Convention Center, by picking up a copy of next Monday’s Seattle Times so you can get the SHOW GUIDE.
The garden show has been a gardening tradition for 25 years (read my anniversary tribute in Pacific Horticulture) and one thing hasn’t changed – our commitment to bringing you a world-class garden show brimming with inspiration, education and entertainment, for both well-seasoned gardeners, budding “grewbies” and curious children – the charming gardeners of our future. - Janet
Subaru Presents Organic Gardening Pioneers
The Northwest Flower & garden Show is proud to partner with Subaru bringing two leading innovators of organic gardening to our seminar stages.
This is an opportunity for a thought-provoking look at the organic gardening movement in the U.S. –where it was, where it is, and where it’s going, and importantly, the role women have played in its genesis and success.
Therese Ciesinski, Managing Editor of Organic Gardening magazine will recognize the invaluable contributions of women from every walk of life as they nurtured their families and their communities with organic edible gardening. Therese will be speaking on Wednesday, February 20 at 11:30 am.
Coach Mark Smallwood, Executive Director of the Rodale Institute, will give us a detailed overview of the past, present, and future of the organic movement in the United States and the role that Rodale Institute had in supporting and shaping that transition. Coach will be speaking on Thursday, February 21 at 3:00 pm.
We will be giving away door prizes to lucky winners at both these seminars - gift cards for Subaru gear and subscriptions to Organic Gardening magazine. And be sure to visit the Subaru garden on the sky bridge and in the South Lobby and learn more about how Subaru supports the gardening community and the environment.
The Northwest Flower & Garden Show will be held February 20 – 24 at the Washington state Convention Center in Seattle. All seminars are FREE to show attendees – over 100 unique, entertaining and inspirational talks to help you create your best garden ever. Get your tickets today. ~ Janet
Going Coconuts!
The Northwest Flower & Garden Show is a wonderful way to spend an outdoor Spring day with the kids – indoors in February! With six acres of show to explore, it’s like spending the day at a park.
Even better – children 12 and under get into the show for FREE, and Youth tickets (age 13 – 17) are only $5.00.
The show wants young children to learn about the wonder of nature around them, spend a day without screens and dig the outdoors! So we’ve created a PlayGarden just for the kids. This is one area of the show where the motto definitely is “Look and touch!”
But we know the adults want to see the show gardens, so we help you engage your children with a Treasure Hunt! And there’s even a prize at the end thanks to Molbak’s Home + Garden.
Since the theme of the PlayGarden is “Swiss Family Robinson” (read more about it here) then we’ll be hiding COCONUTS in the show gardens. And these coconuts can be challenging to find! Each garden creator is going to disguise their coconut, so kids need to keep a sharp eye on the gardens to find every one.
Each show garden has a coconut ‘hiding in plain sight.’ Find them all and kid’s get a prize from Molbak’s Home & Garden!
Simply pick up a Treasure Hunt form as you enter the show, or at the PlayGarden, the Show Information booths, or at the Display Gardens. Then head off to the gardens for a treasure hunt adventure!
Once all the coconuts have been discovered by eager, eagle-eyed children, simply turn in the completed form at the Molbak’s booth, # 402. Kids will win a special prize from Molbak’s – a packet of sunflower seeds, and a coupon for a free hot chocolate on your next visit to Molbak’s.
So bring the entire family to the garden show, and let the kids go coconuts! ~ Janet
Taking You from Garden to Table
If you have integrated edibles into your landscaping, you might be looking for ways to take them from the garden to your table, for healthy, delicious meals that use the fresh ingredients you’ve grown.
Enter our new Garden to Table Cooking Series at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, to be held February 20 – 24 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
We have brought together some stars of the culinary, edible gardening and entertaining world to show you some easy ways to use those edibles that you’ve grown. They’ll be flashing their skillets and stirring their pots with recipes ranging from delicious soups, omelets, preserved foods from your pantry, even alcoholic beverages to liven up the party.
Join Diane Morgan, Graham Kerr, Erica Strauss, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Amy Stewart and Alexandra Hedin as they stand behind the stove and wield their spatulas. We’ll have two Garden to Table cooking demos each day, beginning at 1:30 pm. (Click on each speaker’s name above for their full bio and seminar description.)
So don’t be caught ordering takeout when you can take in from your garden! For more of our fun and educational seminars see our “Speakers at a Glance” page. And get your $16 Early Bird Tickets soon – they must be purchased before February 20 when the price goes up to $20. ~ Janet
A Garden Far Away – and Close to Home
A wise creature says, “Not to a galaxy have you gone, but in a garden are you.”
If this sounded familiar, then you are most likely a fan of Star Wars, and the convoluted (but so wise) utterances of the Grand Master Yoda. So is garden designer Gregory Smaus, CPH, owner of Native Root Designs. Native Root Designs is an all organic, 5-star Envirostar landscape contractor in Seattle. Gregory designed the 2012 garden for the Washington State Nursery & Landscape Association (WSNLA), titled “Winter’s Come & Gone – a Lullaby.”
For his show garden at the 2013 Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Gregory is drawing inspiration from the Star Wars trilogy for a garden titled “In a Garden Far, Far Away.”
Gregory Smaus, of Native Root Designs, teamed up with WSNLA to create this 2012 show garden, titled “Winter’s Come and Gone – a Lullaby.”
But fortunately the garden is not modeled after the barren sand dunes on Tatooine. Rather it’s a rebellion of a different sort – a food rebellion. It will be an ‘edible forest garden,’ and designed to work with the natural environment, not against it.
The edible forest garden concept will be a great way for you to discover how to incorporate edibles – and an edible garden doesn’t have to be boring to be healthy. You will be able to see how to combine beautiful plants of all sizes in a way that is sustainable and can help feed your family.
Attendees and garden bloggers loved this dramatic checkerboard garden and the planted pallets in this garden.
Families will love the tree house perched among the forest; engaging with a forest canopy in play structures is a great way of getting young people outside and more aware of their natural world. The height and scale of the timbers will amaze you, and real trunks salvaged from timber lands will be set vertically, rising over 10 feet while supporting decks trailing with planted containers.
A path will wind from the front of the garden, rising up and over one of the decks and ending at a small, enclosed flagstone patio. A low stone wall separates the patio from the massive tree trunks that serve as supports. And a green house, nestled in the trees, will glow with a soft light, showing the bounty of food.
“Winter’s Come and Gone” is a contemporary American folk song and served as the inspiration for the garden’s design.
Northwest Nurseries, in Richmond, WA is providing the plants for the garden, and the forest stumps and other wood will be sourced from Carter Evans Wood Concepts.
Over 55,000 avid gardeners will flock to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, to be held February 20 – 24, 2013 at the Washington State Convention Center, to see 23 fully-built gardens, over 100 educational seminars, enjoy family fun, and shopping at a garden Marketplace with 350 exhibitors.
If you have never been to the show, the number one thing we hear from first-time attendees is this: “Oh my gosh, I had no idea it was this incredible.” Find out for yourself — tickets are on sale now! ~ Janet
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