Seminar Spotlight – The Beauty of Gardening with Containers

Barbara Wise – Author of “Container Gardening for All Seasons”
Barbara Peake Wise is the author of the upcoming new book, Container Gardening for All Seasons: 101 Plant Recipes for Year-Round Color (Cool Springs Press, Feb, 2012). She works for Southern Land Company, LLC in Franklin, Tennessee as their Director of Floriculture, where her responsibilities include overseeing the design, installation. and maintenance of the 250+ annual beds and 400+ containers in Southern Land Company’s developments. She provides the homeowners with educational classes, container and window box planting services, and gardening consultation. Barbara has been on the Discovery Channel’s ‘Picture This’, is a writer for Tennessee Gardener and has a monthly gardening column, Garden Compositions, in Nashville House, Home, and Garden magazine. This year her blog featured “365 Days of Container Gardening” – a daily post of container planting ideas for every season. With the desire to “Cultivate a Culture of Gardening®”, Barbara is a Master Gardener, a member of OFA and GWA, and has learned in raising her four highly active sons that gardening was cheaper than therapy when it came to maintaining her sanity. 

 The WOW Factor
Principles of Creating Beautiful Container Gardens
Thurs, Feb 9 at 12 pm / Hood Room
The WOW factor is not just produced in what you see; it’s about following principles that produce excellence. Using container gardens and annual color beds we’ll look at how to transform a home or garden area from “walk on by” to “wow, oh my!”  This seminar will take you through design principles to keep in mind when combining plants in containers, great plants for season long or year round container gardens, some “trust me, they’ll look better once they are planted” annuals that you might be passing by in the garden shops, and choosing the right plant for the right place for the right kind of gardener.

Garden Compositions
Transform a Garden into a Symphony of Sensations
Fri, Feb 10 at 10 am / Rainier Room
Composing a container garden is not simply throwing random plants together in the same way that  composing a song is not about throwing a bunch of notes  together ; it’s about following principles that produce excellence, it’s about creating something that will stick with you like a good melody.  Using container gardens we’ll look at how to transform a home or garden area into a symphony of sensations and have others singing your tune. This seminar will take you through design principles to keep in mind when combining plants in containers, great plants for season long or year round container gardens, some “trust me, they’ll look better once they are planted” annuals that you might be passing by in the garden shops, and choosing the right plant for the right place for the right kind of gardener. 

Barry Hoffer – Owner, Maples for all Seasons
Barry’s passion is Japanese Maples.  He turned his passion into a business when he opened Maples for all Seasons, a Nursery specializing in Japanese Maples, based in Pleasanton, CA. His passion grew from when he acquired his first Japanese Maple, Acer japonicum, Acontifolium, 16 years ago, to a collection that now consists of almost ¾ of the worlds available cultivars. He is still adding. He serves as President of the Northern California Japanese Maple Society and regularly conducts classes as “The Maple Guy” teaching about gardening with Japanese Maples, the care and pruning of the Japanese maples as well as discussing the four seasons of the Japanese Maples. Being an expert on Japanese Maples as well as an Arborist, specializing in Japanese Maples, including the care, planting and pruning, Barry was a featured guest on Ciscoe Morris “Gardening with Ciscoe” on Seattle’s KIRO, 97.3FM. Barry owns Maples for all Seasons with his wife and fellow Japanese Maple expert, Sue Hoffer.  Visit his show booth # 2434.

Container Gardening with Japanese Maples
Create Long-lasting Gardens with Maples
Sat, Feb 11 at 9:30 am / DIY Stage
Japanese Maples thrive in the Pacific Northwest. That’s why it seems there is at least one in every garden. Barry Hoffer shares his passion for maples and discusses how to prep a tree and properly plant a Japanese maple in a container. He’ll also talk about root pruning, soil mixes and fertilizing, and which cultivars make the best specimens for container culture. Learn the many ways you can use Japanese Maples on patios or balconies or in small spaces, and the proper way to plant them to ensure years of beautiful growth.

 

Bruce Bailey – Owner, Heavy Petal Nursery, Moses Lake, WA
Bruce Bailey is the owner of Heavy Petal Nursery, in Moses Lake, Washington, “Where plants rock.” He is a passionate horticulturist with a background in art history and design, and an accomplished interior designer. Heavy Petal Nursery provides an unconventional selection of gardening products for a unique shopping experience, with new varieties and surprising introductions of garden worthy plants, as well as old fashioned and unjustly forgotten favorites. They specialize in bringing hardy plants to Eastern Washington, expanding the plant palette for inter-mountain and high desert gardeners. The nursery offers a wide variety of inspiring plants hardy in the USDA zone 5a, as well as pushing zones up to USDA zone 7a.

A Container Named Desire
Making a Personal Statement with Bold Containers
Wed, Feb 8 at 5:45 pm / Hood Room
Join plant geek and nursery owner Bruce Bailey for his fun presentation, “A Container Named Desire.” It will get you primed for choosing the right containers. Bruce will discuss irrigation and drainage, and inspire you to experiment with plants. Go outside your comfort zone! Bruce will both entertain and educate you – and best of all, help you get the most bang for your plant buck.

 

Teresa O’Connor – Blogger, & co-author, “Grocery Gardening”
Teresa O’Connor is an author and speaker about gardening, food and folklore. Trained as a Master Gardener in California and Idaho, she has written for Fine Gardening, Coastal Home, Horticulture and Gardening How-To Magazine. Teresa co-authored Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food, (Cool Springs Press, 2010). She also co-hosted a popular podcast for Horticulture Magazine called “Nest in Style on Horticulture Radio.” (Find it on iTunes.) Thousands know Teresa as Seasonal Wisdom from Twitter, Facebook and her blog, which TV personality/tastemaker P. Allen Smith called one of “Ten Great Garden Blogs” for 2011.

Growing Food in Small Spaces
Tips & Techniques to Maximize Your Edible Garden Harvest
Fri, Feb 10 at 5:30 pm / Rainier Room
Don’t have much space, but want to grow food? No problem. By selecting the right plant varieties and growing spaces, you’ll be amazed at all the food you can grow in small spaces.  Along with lots of helpful tips, this practical presentation will teach how to …
**Select plants for small spaces, such as prolific patio tomatoes that grow two feet high or corn varieties that grow in pots
**Leverage trellises and other vertical support, plus illuminated, self-watering and other cool containers for growing food
**Learn from other small-space gardeners who are growing food everywhere from fire escapes to front porches
**Avoid the most common growing mistakes and enjoy a delicious harvest from your garden, regardless of the size

 

Charlie Nardozzi – Radio & TV host & author,“Vegetable Gardening for Dummies”
Charlie Nardozzi is a nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 20 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, on-line, and the printed page. Charlie is the former senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. For 12 years he contributed articles to National Gardening Magazine. Presently he still writes the monthly Edible Landscaping e-newsletter for NGA. Charlie has written Vegetable Gardening for Dummies (IDG Books, 2009), The Ultimate Gardener (2009) and contributed the horticultural information to the new cookbook, Vegetables from an Italian Garden (Phaidon Press, 2011). Charlie is the former host of PBS’s Garden Smart, and he has also been a gardening expert on HGTV’s “Today at Home”, Discovery Channel’s “Home Matters”, Sirius Radio’s Martha Stewart Living, and Natural Eating with Elyssa. Charlie holds a B.S. in horticulture and a M.A. in adult education from the University of Vermont.

A Potted Edible Garden
Easy Tips to Grow Healthy Edibles in Small Spaces
Sun, Feb 12 at 11:15 am / DIY Stage
Everyone seems to be growing edibles these days! In this hands-on demonstration, Charlie will show some of the latest products and techniques on the market that help you grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits in various containers in small spaces. Some of the products will include new containers, fertilizers, soils, watering devices, and trellises. Hopefully, you’ll walk away inspired to try growing some edibles on your deck, balcony or patio this summer. This talk is sponsored by Gardener’s Supply Company.  

 

Amy Ockerlander – Garden Educator at Seattle Tilth
Amy Ockerlander is a Garden Educator at Seattle Tilth.  She teaches classes on a variety of topics including organic vegetable gardening, integrated pest management, perennial food gardening, rain water harvesting and permaculture design. Her professional background includes public education in the arts, five years as a staff horticulturalist on the Garden Hotline and nearly 10 years in the nursery trade. She is also an active member of her community garden and an apprentice beekeeper. Seattle Tilth is a nationally recognized non-profit educational organization dedicated to inspiring and educating people to garden organically and conserve natural resources.

Sustainable Container Gardening
Big Harvests with Low Resources the Sustainable Way
Sun, Feb 12 at 3:30 pm / DIY Stage
Container Gardens are essential for city folks interested in growing a little food of their own.  Whether you’re growing a micro-salad garden or patio fruit trees, this demonstration will offer ideas on how to keep your garden big on harvests but low on resources.  Learn to create your own rich compost from food scraps to revitalize your potting soil, instead of buying new soil every year.  See how easy it is to start your own veggies with seeds you saved from last year’s crop.  Discover some homemade bug busters for keeping slugs and other critters away from your greens.

 

So if you’ve only got a small patio or balcony for your garden space, and think you can’t grow edibles or beautiful flowers – think again! You will be inspired by these container designers’ seminars and ready to get your small space growing after the show. Be sure to check out the entire seminar schedule! ~ Janet

Design a Garden – Week 8 Containers

Our 8^th installment of “Design a Garden” gives you the chance to choose from 3 sets of containers to go on the patio of our “Here Comes the Sun” garden. Designer Lloyd Glasscock, of Looking Glass Design will fill these containers with lush plantings from Swansons Nursery working with John Stout of Terra Firma Hardscapes to build the show garden our readers have designed.

 

In our last vote our website readers had three design sketches, and choose Option B. The central focus of this design is a 15 x 20-ft. central stone patio using Montana Bronze Flagstone, bordered by a 15-ft. low wall of Montana Slate Ledgestone, all from Marenakos Rock Center.

 

 

 

A backdrop of large sheltering evergreens and deciduous trees provides shelter and privacy. The sides are bordered with plants mostly native to the Pacific Northwest (the plants were chosen in an earlier vote), including Mahonia x media nervosa, and M. media ‘Charity’, Vaccinium glauco-album, Helleborus ‘Merlin’, and H. ‘Silver Dollar’, along with Rhododendron sino-falconari and R. ‘Ebony Pearl’. A stone fountain along the flagstone walk offers a bubbly focal point.

 

Now you have a chance to be a garden designer! Brad Siebe, President and General Manager of Swansons Nursery and Lloyd Glasscock have chosen three trios of containers for the patio. Which do you think will best go with a garden using the chosen hardscape materials? Click here to vote!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!
To vote, go to the voting page on our website. Every time you vote, give us your email address and you are automatically entered to win our “All That Jazz” grand prize – 2 nights lodging, 4 tickets to the show, $250 cash to spend at the show and more!  ~ Janet

 

Food for Thought: Eat Your Vegetables – Part 2

The entire seminar schedule is now posted on the garden show’s website (YAY!) and we hope you will like the newly redesigned look for the ease of reading. Click on a speakers’ name, and you’ll find their complete biography and more detailed seminar descriptions.

Today we bring you the 2^nd part of our seminar spotlight on edible gardening. The pantry is overflowing with some great speakers and you’ll be able to find many seminars addressing your edible gardening needs. From designing your garden, starting your seeds, preventing diseases, or harvesting your crop, it’s all on our seminar stages.

 

Willi Evans Galloway – Author, “Grow. Cook. Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening”
Willi Galloway is an award winning writer and radio commentator and author of the new book, Grow. Cook. Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening, to be published by Sasquatch in January, 2012. She writes about kitchen gardening and seasonal cooking on her popular blog, DigginFood and pens the weekly column, ‘The Gardener,’ on Apartment Therapy’s Re-Nest blog. Each Tuesday morning, Willi offers vegetable gardening advice on Seattle’s popular NPR call-in show, Greendays. She also teaches a joint gardening and cooking class with chef Matthew Dillon at the Corson Building in Seattle and hosts an online garden to table cooking show, Grow. Cook. Eat., with her husband, Jon. Willi was the West Coast Editor of Organic Gardening magazine from 2003 to 2009. She lives and gardens in Portland, Oregon.

Oh, Grow Up!
Get More Food by Growing Up with DIY Trellises
Wed, Feb 8 at 2 pm / DIY Stage
Growing up is the easiest way to squeeze more food into a small vegetable garden. In this hands-on workshop Willi will demonstrate how to make a super sturdy tomato cage, a pretty bamboo cage for supporting peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, and an A-frame that cucumbers and peas love to scramble up. All of these projects can be built with basic hand tools (a power drill is optional!) and are perfect for people—like Willi—who are DIY challenged.

 

Find out how you can be one of four lucky garden show attendees to get a front-row VIP seat to “Oh, Grow Up!” plus an autographed copy of Willi’s new book. Just go to the Subaru garden on the skybridge Wednesday before the seminar for more information.

 

Grow. Cook. Eat.
Gourmet Vegetable Gardening Made Easy
Thurs, Feb 9 at 1:30 pm / Hood Room
Did you know that you can eat radish pods? Or pea shoots? Or arugula blossoms? Well you can! Gardeners have an opportunity to harvest and eat tons of “delicious extras” and this photo-filled lecture is designed to help you explore the diverse range of food in your garden. Many crops can be eaten at more than one stage of growth or have several edible parts, including fruit, roots, leaves, flower buds, and seed pods. You’ll learn how to harvest crops like garlic scapes and green coriander and discover delicious and beautiful vegetable varieties that perform well in the Pacific Northwest.

 

Amy Ockerlander – Garden Educator at Seattle Tilth
Amy Ockerlander is a Garden Educator at Seattle Tilth.  She teaches classes on a variety of topics including organic vegetable gardening, integrated pest management, perennial food gardening, rain water harvesting and permaculture design. Her professional background includes public education in the arts, five years as a staff horticulturalist on the Garden Hotline and nearly 10 years in the nursery trade. She is also an active member of her community garden and an apprentice beekeeper. Seattle Tilth is a nationally recognized non-profit educational organization dedicated to inspiring and educating people to garden organically and conserve natural resources.

Sustainable Container Gardening
Big Harvests with Low Resources the Sustainable Way
Sun, Feb 12 at 3:30 pm / DIY Stage
Container Gardens are essential for city folks interested in growing a little food of their own.  Whether you’re growing a micro-salad garden or patio fruit trees, this demonstration will offer ideas on how to keep your garden big on harvests but low on resources.  Learn to create your own rich compost from food scraps to revitalize your potting soil, instead of buying new soil every year.  See how easy it is to start your own veggies with seeds you saved from last year’s crop.  Discover some homemade bug busters for keeping slugs and other critters away from your greens.

 

Teresa O’Connor – Blogger, & co-author, “Grocery Gardening”
Teresa O’Connor is an author and speaker about gardening, food and folklore. Trained as a Master Gardener in California and Idaho, she has written for Fine Gardening, Coastal Home, Horticulture and Gardening How-To Magazine. Teresa co-authored “Grocery Gardening: Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food,” (Cool Springs Press, 2010). She also co-hosted a popular podcast for Horticulture Magazine called “Nest in Style on Horticulture Radio.” (Find it on iTunes.) Thousands know Teresa as Seasonal Wisdom from Twitter, Facebook and her blog, which TV personality/tastemaker P. Allen Smith called one of “Ten Great Garden Blogs” for 2011.

The Allure of Edible Flowers
How to Grow, Harvest, Cook & Enjoy Edible Flowers
Thurs, Feb 9 at 9:30 am / Hood Room
The Ancient Romans ate them. So did Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, and Queen Elizabeth I back in the 16^th century. Eating flowers isn’t a foodie fad. History shows it’s a centuries-old culinary tradition still enjoyed around the world. Many of these flowers are easy to grow; some might be growing in your garden right now. Along with eye-opening historical facts, this lively presentation explains how to…
**Grow eight easy edible flowers in your garden (and get names of other common edible flowers)
**Harvest and store edible flowers successfully for the best flavor
**Cook with edible flowers (plus recipes!)
**Eat edible flowers safely (basic safety advice and helpful references provided)

Growing Food in Small Spaces
Tips & Techniques to Maximize Your Edible Garden Harvest
Fri, Feb 10 at 5:30 pm / Rainier Room
Don’t have much space, but want to grow food? No problem. By selecting the right plant varieties and growing spaces, you’ll be amazed at all the food you can grow in small spaces.  Along with lots of helpful tips, this practical presentation will teach how to …
**Select plants for small spaces, such as prolific patio tomatoes that grow two feet high or corn varieties that grow in pots
**Leverage trellises and other vertical support, plus illuminated, self-watering and other cool containers for growing food
**Learn from other small-space gardeners who are growing food everywhere from fire escapes to front porches
**Avoid the most common growing mistakes and enjoy a delicious harvest from your garden, regardless of the size

 

Lisa Taylor –Seattle Tilth Education Program Manager & author, “Your Farm in the City”
Lisa Taylor, author of Your Farm in the City: An Urban Dweller’s Guide to Growing Food and Raising Animals (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2011), lives in Shoreline, Washington with her partner, son and 4 chickens on their city farm. She is Education Program Manager for Seattle Tilth and spends most days growing and eating plants with children. She is passionate about teaching children and their parents where their food comes from and how to care for living things. For Lisa, eating is the main reason for growing plants. Organic, local food never tasted better.

Eating Your Landscape
Exploring Edibles as Landscape Trees, Shrubs & Annuals
Sun, Feb 12 at 12:30 pm / Hood Room
Edible landscapes start in the vegetable garden but they needn’t end there. Explore how selecting edibles as landscape trees, shrubs and annuals can feed the family year round. In addition to traditional vegetable gardens, including multi-purpose elements in your plant selections creates a beautiful, flavorful landscape. Edible landscapes can also lead to healthier eating and cooking. Harvesting and preparing food from your landscape are wonderful family and community experiences. We’ll talk about organic gardening best practices and techniques that enrich the soil and foster biological diversity. We’ll explore the elements of an edible landscape and discuss criteria for selecting edibles. We will also talk about ways to eat your landscape and to preserve your harvest.

 

Bill Thorness – Author, “Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden”
Bill Thorness is a freelance garden writer and author of Edible Heirlooms: Heritage Vegetables for the Maritime Garden (Skipstone Press, 2009). His work has appeared in the Seattle Times, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine and many other regional publications. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Garden Writers Association.

Cool Season Edibles
How to Grow Veggies Year Round
Wed, Feb 8 at 3:15 pm / Hood Room
Put on your Kozy Koat and warm up to gardening during our cool seasons. Starting in early spring and picking up again in late fall, the kitchen garden can be producing a variety of delectable edibles. Expand your vegetable gardening year ’round and be serving up carrots on St. Patrick’s Day, peas at Thanksgiving, salad at the winter solstice and broccoli for Valentine’s Day. Along with insulated gloves, cool-season gardening requires a few specialized contraptions, different techniques and some extra planning. Learn what garden structures will protect your plants from winter and how to build them, proper timing and planting techniques, and what grows well in our mild maritime winter.

 

Wendy Tweten – Garden writer & columnist
For the past ten years Wendy Tweten has written articles on home and garden topics for many Northwest publications and websites, including Organic Gardening, Rainy Side Gardener website, Northwest Garden News. Master Gardener magazine, WestSound Home and Garden magazine, and Home by Design magazine, as well as being a regular columnist for the Kingston Community News. She is the voice of the popular “Miss Snippy” columns, where she imparts her gentle humor along with sound gardening advice. Wendy has spoken to many Kitsap County garden clubs. She is a member of the Garden Writers’ Association, and in 2010 addressed the GWA meeting at Portland’s Yard, Garden & Patio Show with three fellow bloggers, including Amy Stewart. The GWA awarded her a Gold in Electronic Media Writing in 2008, a Silver in Newspaper Writing in 2008, and a Silver in Newspaper Writing in 2009. Wendy trained in nursery management at South Seattle Community College and is an avid home gardener.

At Play in the Potager
Making Vegetable Gardening Fruitful and Fun
Thurs, Feb 9 at 7:15 pm / Hood Room
Let’s face it, growing our own vegetables – though rewarding in so many ways – is also work. So let’s make spending time in the veggie patch as fun and easy as possible. Simple techniques to make the job less demanding include:
**Growing vegetable in containers
**Row covers and season extenders
**Simple water systems with PVC pipe and soaker hoses
**Topdressing and cover crops
**Attracting beneficial insects
**Perennial and replantable crop

The best tip of all, however, is that the true joy of gardening comes from making the garden a place where you want to spend time. The point of any garden, after all, is to entertain the gardener! My favorite diversions include:
**Flowers in the veggie patch
**Herbs and flowers that reseed
**Try new things (even if they’re abject failures!)
**Listen to a good story/Podcast

 

Sue Goetz – Garden coach, designer, writer & speaker
Sue assists gardeners to create timeless gardens and outdoor living spaces with her business Creative Gardener. Her design work has earned gold medals at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show and the Point Defiance Flower and Garden show as well as the Fine Gardening magazine “Best Design” award. Sue is certified as a professional horticulturist with the WSNLA, a board member of The Northwest Horticultural Society and a member of Garden Writers of America. Her garden writing includes a newspaper column “In the Garden” for the Peninsula Gateway and a regular contributor to West Sound Home and Garden magazine and The Tacoma News Tribune. Self-published author of the Creative Garden Guides Series: Herbs to see, to smell, to taste; In Love with Lavender; The Stillroom; and Floribunda. She lives and gardens in Gig Harbor, Washington.

Top Ten Multi-Purpose Herbs
Discover How to Grow & Use Wonderful Herbs
Sat, Feb 11 at 7 pm / DIY Stage
Top ten (and maybe a few bonus ones) herbs with diversity!  Start with their beauty in the landscape and then discover ways to use them. Create culinary treats, body care products and household remedies.  Growing hints, landscape design ideas and recipes included!

 

Mallory Gwynn – Portland TV host, “Simply Gardening”
Mallory’s connection to the gardening world began early. He was born in the middle of a strawberry harvest on his parents’ farm. His Mom and Dad had him out in the fields when he was only three days old. Mallory has grown up loving plants. He enjoys sharing what he knows with anyone who will listen. Mallory has 13 years of experience working the retail, wholesale and farming side of the nursery industry. In October 2002 Mallory first appeared on television on KPTV. His second TV debut involved having his own garden program, “Simply Gardening -Anybody Can Do It,” airing on Comcast channel CNW 14. Mallory has offered garden advice on KPAM 860 for eight years now. His “Simply Gardening Minute” is aired Monday through Saturday on the station. Mallory writes a monthly gardening column for The East County Gazette. He travels the Northwest speaking at numerous events including Portland’s Yard Garden & Patio Show and Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show. Mallory’s greatest passion in life is his family. He and wife Sheri raise five daughters on 2 -1/2 acres South of Portland.

Small Fruits & Berries for Small Spaces
Growing a Healthy Harvest on Patios & Balconies
Sat, Feb 11 at 11:15 am / DIY Stage
Grow your own favorite fruits and berries – no matter how big or small your property is.  You can grow these tasty beauties at your apartment or condo.  Handouts available with lanting information and plant types.

For the complete 2012 Seminar schedule, just go to our website. After you peruse the lineup of stellar speakers, you’re going to want to plan more than one day at the show! And did you know what a great deal our garden show tickets are? A 2- Day Pass is only $29. That’s 22 hours of education for little more than a dollar an hour! Good thing the seats in our new, spacious seminar rooms are twice as padded as the seats in our old location. Not to mention we no longer use those pesky seminar passes! ~ Janet

 

Food for Thought: Eat Your Vegetables – Part 1

More and more people are exploring ways to use their gardening space to grow their own food. It’s fun, it’s healthy, it’s delicious. But what’s the best approach? How do you get started? Which edibles work best for our region? What about patio or balcony gardeners – is there hope for you to grow edibles?

 

From seed to table our Seminar Speakers can answer all your questions about edible gardening. We will have 30 seminars devoted to the topic, so there’s plenty that are right for your kind of garden. Plan to bring your notebook and take lots of notes, because the joy of fresh produce is in your future with our seminars getting you off to a fresh start. Here’s Part 1 of our blogs on our edible gardening seminars.

 

Graham Kerr – Author & TV Star, former ‘The Galloping Gourmet’
Graham Kerr is an internationally known culinary and television personality. He has aired over 1,800 programs with broadcasts in the US, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Asia, Africa, the United Kingdom and Europe. One of his first shows, ‘The Galloping Gourmet,’ brought the art of creative cooking alive to countless television audiences from 1969 – 1971 and made Graham Kerr a household name. He has written over 25 books, with 14 million copies sold. His latest book, Growing at the Speed of Life, was published in January, 2011 by Penguin Corp. From January 1996 through April 2000, Graham was an Editor at Large for Cooking Light, the world’s most widely circulated Epicurean magazine with a readership of 5.7 million. He has received many awards, including the Julia Child Cookbook Award, the James Beard Award, two Emmy nominations for most outstanding daytime programming and induction into the American Culinary Hall of Fame. Today Graham resides in Mount Vernon, Washington, and is working on his goals of increasing people’s daily serving of healthy fruits and vegetables, and reducing portion sizes and making school lunches more delicious and nutritious.

 

Find out how you can win front-row VIP seats for Graham’s seminar – plus an autographed copy of his best-selling book – compliments of Subaru. Just stop by the Subaru garden on the skybridge on Saturday morning before Graham’s seminar for more information.

 

E.G.G.S. – Eat. Grow. Gather. Share.
A Vision for 2020- Join the EGGS Carton Club
Sat, Feb 11 at 11:15 am / Rainier Room
Graham Kerr taught America how to cook with his landmark 1969 – 1971 cooking show, “The Galloping Gourmet.” Now he has a new vision for what America eats, and how they get their food – E.G.G.S. Learn about becoming a part of the E.G.G.S movement that will be launched during the seminar. E.G.G.S. stands for “eat, grow, gather and share”. Kerr proposes that we find a total 12 neighbors with whom we become an Eggs Carton Club (12 eggs!). Members resolve to commit to over a 100% increase in their personal use of edible plant foods by 2020 by eating more, growing more, gathering together( as friends) more and sharing more with those ‘left out’ in these troubled times. Kerr will discuss why this needs to happen..” ..for the common good for and by…We the People”. and provides a web source for encouragement  and guidance to begin the journey as a ” saint Augustine grassroots movement.”

 

Farmer John Muller – Owner, Daylight Gardens & Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farms
Don’t try to call John Muller a fancy name like “horticulturist.” John Muller is first and foremost a farmer, and he’s most at home on his tractor. He and his wife, Eda, own Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm and Daylight Gardens in Half Moon Bay, California. They are both passionate about gardening, and looking at their pumpkin farm, it shows. They have created an aesthetically pleasing, nurturing environment for the many farm visitors that visit each year. This has been done through carefully designed plantings, to give their community and friends a feeling of happiness and joy. Farmer John has been a guest on many television programs and news broadcasts regarding his farming and the farm. He has given seminars for guests at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay, and served as a judge on their “iron chef” type cook-off using local produce. He is also a regional expert on growing giant pumpkins. Farm John has received many awards for his service and environmental activism in California, including the US Presidential Volunteerism Award, the US EPA External Award for Stewardship, the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Sustainability Award, and the US EPA Extra Mile Award. He has served on the City Council for Half Moon Bay since 2006, and presently serves as the Mayor.  

From Seed to Table
Farmer John Shares His Growing Secrets
Fri, Feb 10 at 11:15 am / DIY Stage
Farmer John, a 3^rd generation Family Farmer will share his knowledge and family secrets on vegetable and flower growing to help you take your seed to the table.  As an urban farmer growing for farmers’ markets, select restaurants, and most importantly, his grandchildren, his approach works for first time gardeners and those who love to eat what they grow.  His practical experience will take gardeners from soil preparation, to seed germination, to planting, and finishing with how and when to harvest!

 

Colin McCrate – Co-owner, Seattle Urban Farm Company & co-author, “Food Grown Right”
Colin McCrate is the founder and co-owner of the nationally recognized Seattle Urban Farm Company (SUFCo), which builds edible gardens for families, restaurants, and businesses and helps teach first time gardeners the techniques of organic food production.  Colin learned organic crop management while working on a series of small, family farms and teaching garden-based environmental education.  Colin and SUFCo have been featured in The Seattle Times, Seattle Magazine, Bon Appetit, GQ, Sunset Magazine, Grist, and numerous other publications and online news sites. SUFCo constructed display gardens in the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in 2008 and 2010, winning a Gold Medal, Silver Medal and Pacific Magazine Horticulture Award. Colin and SUFCo co-owner Brad Halm will have a book on home vegetable gardening for beginners, Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard: A Beginner’s guide to growing crops at home, to be published in January of 2012 by Skipstone Press.

The Peak of Perfection
How to Harvest Your Edible Garden Like a Pro
Fri, Feb 10 at 2 pm / Hood Room
Even after successfully building and planting a home vegetable garden, beginners can still be confounded by the development of their crops. We are constantly answering questions like: How big should it be before I harvest it? Where do I cut? What is that long, curly shoot coming out the side?  A series of garden harvest photos and specific instructions on harvesting your crops can help eliminate “harvest anxiety” and ensure that plants are picked at their peak and enjoyed to their fullest. 

Simple Edible Garden Design
Design Primer for Edible Gardening Success
Sun, Feb 12 at 11:15 pm / Rainier Room
Home vegetable gardens don’t need to be overly complex to be beautiful. Colin will show a series of small, medium and large sized home food gardens and talk about the decisions he made in the design and construction process of each garden.  He has found that nearly every home has a space for vegetable gardening.  Finding the right space and coming up with a manageable design can make the difference between garden success and garden paralysis. 

 

Melinda Myers – Milwaukee based columnist, TV host & author, Small Space Gardening
Nationally known gardening expert Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening (Cool Springs Press, 2006). She is the host of the nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moments,” which air on 85 television and radio stations throughout the country (including Spokane, WA and Idaho) and Canada. She also hosted eight seasons of “Great Lakes Gardener” seen on PBS stations throughout the U.S. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and has written for Better Homes and Gardens and Fine Gardening.

Vegetable Gardening Success
Bountiful Gardens with Little Time, Space & Budget
Sunday, Feb 12 at 9:30 am / Hood Room
Learn some tips and strategies that will help you get the most produce out of your garden.  Whether you have a dedicated garden or squeeze fruits, vegetables, and herbs in your landscape wherever space allows, Melinda will help you grow lots of produce no matter your limitations.  We will explore products and plant varieties as well as planting and harvesting techniques to help increase your vegetable gardening success.

 

Charlie Nardozzi – Radio & TV host & author,Vegetable Gardening for Dummies
Charlie Nardozzi is a nationally recognized garden writer, speaker, radio, and television personality. He has worked for more than 20 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, talks, on-line, and the printed page. Charlie is the former senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. For 12 years he contributed articles to National Gardening Magazine. Presently he still writes the monthly Edible Landscaping e-newsletter for NGA. Charlie has written Vegetable Gardening for Dummies (IDG Books, 2009), The Ultimate Gardener (2009) and contributed the horticultural information to the new cookbook, Vegetables from an Italian Garden (Phaidon Press, 2011). Charlie is the former host of PBS’s Garden Smart, and he has also been a gardening expert on HGTV’s “Today at Home”, Discovery Channel’s “Home Matters”, Sirius Radio’s Martha Stewart Living, and Natural Eating with Elyssa. Charlie holds a B.S. in horticulture and a M.A. in adult education from the University of Vermont.

Organic Gardening for Everyone
New Tips, Tools & Techniques for Healthy, Easy Gardens
Sat, Feb 11 at 9:30 am / Hood Room
Organic gardening has been around for years and is still growing, but some gardeners are still intimidated with how to garden organically. There are many new varieties, tools and techniques to make to grow vegetables, fruits, flowers and ornamentals in an environmentally friendly way easier and less time consuming. Learn how you can incorporate organic gardening principles into your yard without working harder or having your plants succumb to pests. Learn about new varieties, biological controls, design ideas, and fertilizing strategies to make yard healthy and productive. This talk is sponsored by Gardener’s Supply Company.

A Potted Edible Garden
Easy Tips to Grow Healthy Edibles in Small Spaces
Sun, Feb 12 at 11:15 am / DIY Stage
Everyone seems to be growing edibles these days! In this hands-on demonstration, Charlie will show some of the latest products and techniques on the market that help you grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits in various containers in small spaces. Some of the products will include new containers, fertilizers, soils, watering devices, and trellises. Hopefully, you’ll walk away inspired to try growing some edibles on your deck, balcony or patio this summer. This talk is sponsored by Gardener’s Supply Company.

 

For the complete 2012 Seminar schedule, just go to our website. After you peruse the lineup of stellar speakers, you’re going to want to plan more than one day at the show! (And for the price of a $16 ticket there isn’t a better value in horticulture education anywhere!) ~ Janet

Top Speakers at 2012 Garden Show

Once again a veritable who’s who in horticulture will be appearing at the 2012 Northwest Flower & Garden Show, as we announce the roster of 116 seminars set for four stages during all five days at the show. Northwest gardeners can’t get enough of our seminars, and considering you can spend 10 hours every day (eight on Sunday) seeing seminars, for the low cost of a $16 Early Bird ticket, it’s the greatest value in garden education going (tickets go on sale November 1). And if you’re able to clone yourself, you can even sit through three seminars simultaneously, in our state-of-the-art Rainier and Hood Rooms and our cool DIY Stage for demos. Plus we’ll have loads of musical fun each day on our Sprout Stage in the PlayGarden.

 

We’ll also have 61 book signings after our seminars, conveniently located just outside our three seminar rooms, courtesy of our friends at University Book Store. There you can buy copies and have them signed and chat with the authors. While you’re at it, buy two copies – autographed books make lovely gifts for your gardening friends.

 

Find out how you can get front-row VIP seats for five seminars by Joe Lamp’l, Graham Kerr, Steve Aitken and Willi Evans Galloway, plus autographed copies of their books. Just stop by the Subaru garden on the skybridge on the morning of their seminars for more information.

 

Many of our speakers have blogs, so if you’d like to get better acquainted with them and read their musings, check out the list of links of our 2012 Speakers’ blogs on the sidebar.

 

STARS OF GARDENING
The show is excited to announce some of the top TV stars speaking at the show, includimg Australian Jamie Durie, host of HGTV’s “The Outdoor Room” and author of seven books. And PBS’ “Growing a Greener World’s” host and producer, Joe Lamp’l, returns to the show for two seminars, thanks to show sponsor Subaru. And back by popular demand, Graham Kerr, America’s beloved former ‘Galloping Gourmet’ will return. If you’re on the fence about edible gardening, Graham is sure to make a believer out of you.

 

Our 2012 Show Judges will each be giving two seminars. Edible gardening doesn’t get any better than landscape architect and author Rosalind Creasy, who started the trend of beautiful, functional edible gardens with her groundbreaking 1982 book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping. New York based Stephen Orr, author of the new book Tomorrow’s Garden and garden editor for Martha Stewart Living will share many good things with show audiences. And Fine Gardening magazine devotees will relish the insights from editor Steve Aitken, who is also a master gardener who gardens in Connecticut.

 

NEW SPEAKERS
The garden show has a strong commitment for bringing you new speakers every year, and this year will be no exception, as 25 new speakers grace our stages. They include Bruce Bailey, owner of Heavy Petal Nursery in Moses Lake, WA; Dr. Richard Bitner, whose passion for conifers has led him to write two leading books, including the most recent, Designing with Conifers; and Billy Goodnick, aka “Garden Wise Guy,” who blogs for Fine Gardening magazine and is well-known for both his humor and his hats. Other new speakers include photographer and new exhibitor Charles Needle; Kingston designer Wendy Tweten, author of the “Miss Snippy” columns; kinesiologist and master gardener Stacy Walters, known for her ‘Fit to Garden’ expertise; Cottage Lake designer Susie Egan; author and container designer Barbara Wise from Tennessee; and garden designer and writer Helen Yoest, who ‘Gardens with Confidence’ in North Carolina.

 

PERENNIAL FAVORITES
Let me start by saying what you all want to hear: Dan is back! Dan Hinkley will be returning after a two-year hiatus, sharing the highs and lows of his Indianola garden (Mother Nature even kills his plants in the winter). Other fan favs include Ciscoe (no last name needed), Lucy Hardiman, Marianne Binetti, Debra Prinzing, and Richie Steffen. Some favorite Northwest writers will be launching new books at the show, so look for seminars by Val Easton (Petal and Twig); Marty Wingate (Landscaping for Privacy); Lorene Edwards Forkner (The Handmade Garden); Willi Evans Galloway (Grow. Cook. Eat.); Jessi Bloom (Free Range Chicken Gardens); and Mary Ann Newcomer (Rocky Mountain Gardener’s Resource). And David Perry will show you how to get incredible garden photography from your iPhone. Seriously. Seeing is believing.

 

GROW YOUR VEGETABLES! (THEN EAT THEM.)
Eating healthy with home-grown food has never been easier, and no matter whether you’re thinking about starting an edible garden, or are an old hand at it, we’ll have edible gardening seminars for everyone – 32 seminars devoted to edible gardening!

 

You no doubt remember the very creative edible garden made from an old pickup truck at the 2010 show – the genius of Seattle Urban Food Company designers, including Colin McCrate, co-author of the upcoming new book Food Grown Right. More local authors speaking about edibles include Bill Thorness, author of Edible Heirlooms; Seattle Tilth’s Lisa Taylor, author of Your Farm in the City, and 425 Magazine style editor Alexandra Hedin.

 

Speakers coming from afar to talk about edibles include Jennifer Bartley, a landscape architect from Ohio and author of The Kitchen Gardener’s Handbook; Idaho’s Teresa O’Connor, co-author of Grocery Gardening; Diane Ott Whealy, founder of Seed Savers Exchange, from Iowa; and British Columbia’s Andrea Bellamy, the author of the best-selling Sugar Snaps & Strawberries. Also sharing edible advice will be Vermont’s Charlie Nardozzi, radio and TV host and author of Vegetable Gardening for Dummies; Milwaukee TV host and author Melinda Myers, and Oregon’s Jayme Jenkins, who will no doubt give you some aHa! moments with her creative demonstrations.

 

We have a bounty of local experts in edible gardening right here in our own backyard, and many are speaking at the show. Among them are Annette Cottrell, co-author of The Urban Farm Handbook; Kathryn Wadsworth and David Deardorff, who manage to turn scientific writing into how-to advice we can understand; Bellingham’s Jennifer Hahn, author of A Cook’s Guide to West Coast Foraging & Cuisine and show garden creator Sue Goetz, who will go herbal with tips on using fresh herbs.

 

SUSTAINABILITY SUCCESS
Sustainability isn’t just about growing edibles. It’s also making wise choices in what you use, ‘repurposing’ items into something new and clever, and knowing your garden conditions so you plant wisely. Matthew Levesque, author of The Revolutionary Yardscape, will share his amazing ideas for creating new things from old stuff. Author Jeff Lowenfels is back with his all-new inspirational talk on the soil food chain, and Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott will get you in touch with your own garden soil. Designer Colleen Miko will demo how to set up a rain barrel system so you can start collecting your own rainwater (something we seem to have a lot of) and Seattle Tilth’s Amy Ockerlander will help you create beautiful container gardens that can survive neglect (we all do that on occasion).

 

Sustainability also means sharing our planet with other creatures, and gardeners do have a passion for encouraging native wildlife into their gardens (well, except perhaps deer). David Mizejewski, spokesperson for the National Wildlife Federation, returns with his popular talk on creating wildlife habitats. New exhibitor Jim Ullrich, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Gig Harbor, will also share his tips on inviting mason bees and birds into your garden. And garden creator Zsophia Pasztor will help you feel at home in a habitat garden.

 

PLANTS, PLANTS AND MORE PLANTS
OK, admit it. Many of you are bonafide plantaholics. So we’ll have plenty of speakers talking about plants in many ways. Long-time exhibitors Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken of Far Reaches Farm will talk about shade garden plants; garden creator Vanca Lumsden will not bog you down with her talk on the best plants for bog gardens. Of course, Lucy Hardiman, who never fails to entertain audiences, returns with a talk on mixed borders and plant combinations.

 

 Writer Mary-Kate Mackey brings you great plants for drought-tolerance; hort head Riz Reyes will be ‘scentsational’ as he talks about the best plants for fragrance; Mary Ann Newcomer will weave garden plant tapestries and designer and author Vanessa Nagel will show you how to best use bold, structural plants in the garden.

 

Succulents are the big thing these days, since they are so unthirsty and totally awesome. We’ll have two of the leading experts talking about succulents. Robin Stockwell, owner of Succulent Gardens Nursery in California, will be speaking for the first time and demonstrating how to create vertical succulent gardens, his specialty. And Debra Lee Baldwin, author of two best-selling books on succulents, returns with her latest design ideas to wow you.

 

DESIGN INSPIRATION
Most people don’t start their gardens with a design – and often regret that. Our seminars on garden design will give you inspiration and help you avoid common mistakes. California designer Rebecca Sweet returns to talk about creating harmony in the garden, and Swansons Nursery manager Meghan Fuller shares ways to be successful with small space design. Monrovia’s Nicholas Staddon will show you designs for creating mystery and drama in the garden, and 2010 and 2011 Founder’s Cup winner Karen Stefonick will present beautiful and livable outdoor rooms. If you’re not a confident designer of floral arrangements, Val Easton, Debra Prinzing and Lana Finegold will all talk about how to use your outdoor foliage for stunning indoor arrangements.

 

GREAT FOR BEGINNERS
If you’re a gardening “grewbie” we have plenty of seminars just right for you, and you don’t have to be fluent in botanical Latin to enjoy these practical tips. Maple expert Barry Hoffer shows you how to plant and prune Japanese maples the right way, while pruning guru Cass Turnbull takes the mystery out of pruning difficult plants. Portland’s Mallory Gwynn will demo how to get the best drip with drip irrigation, and both Nan Sterman and Farmer John Muller will get you started off right with your seed starting.

 

Avoid common garden problems by getting your garden off to a good start. Garden mentor Robin Haglund will help you avoid murder and mayhem (of plants, not your relatives); designer Greg Butler will show you how to solve problems before they get out of hand, and master storyteller Steve Lorton will give you his top tips for inexpensive garden solutions.

 

THE KID IN EVERYONE
The show is again teaming up with Seattle Children’s PlayGarden to create the wildly popular PlayGarden, the perfect place to bring children to learn about nature and gardening. This year’s theme will be “Rockin’ Robin,” so to go with the musical theme, we are bringing in popular children’s entertainers. Children and parents alike will dance and sing along to the playful tunes of Caspar Babypants, aka Chris Ballew, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter with the group “Presidents of the United States of America;” “Your Imaginary Friends,” a singing duo with Jana Vitols and Greg Ruby; children’s singer/songwriter Nancy Stewart, and Seattle Tilth’s ‘Creepin’ Critters.’ We’ll have lively musical programming on the Sprout Stage every show day at 10:30 am, 12:30 am, and 2:30 am.

 

NEW CONFERENCE CENTER
Each week I’ll be posting more details about all of our outstanding seminars, so check back regularly for the full scoop. And don’t forget – the garden show inaugurated the new Conference Center at the show last February, to rave reviews. Audiences loved the spacious rooms, with plenty of seating for all, new chairs with twice the padding, and best of all – no lines and NO seminar passes! So drop in to hear your favorite speakers every day, for the best in garden inspiration, entertainment and education. The full seminar schedule should be posted on our website by early November. ~ Janet