Yee Haw! Subaru Brings a Hoedown to the Garden Show

Subaru is a proud sponsor of the 2012 Northwest Flower & Garden Show. Visit their gardens on the skybridge and in the South Lobby.

Subaru of America is not your ordinary car company. Did you know that their Indiana manufacturing plant is a Zero Landfill Plant? This means ALL waste is recycled or turned into electricity. And the site is designated by the National Wildlife Federation as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat – over 800 acres serve as a home for birds and animals, including white-tail deer, red-tail hawks, blue heron, Canadian geese, mallard ducks, beavers, coyote, snapping turtles and the bald eagle. And Subaru has established a one-of-a-kind corporate initiative with the Subaru Share the Love Garden, which donates to local food banks to combat hunger in the region. Located at the Subaru headquarters in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, garden plots have been adopted by Subaru employee teams.

Don’t Forget – Seminars in New Conference Center

Graham Kerr entertains the audience at the 2011 garden show in our huge new Rainier Room. He’s back speaking on February 11.

Many of you were thwarted in your efforts to get to the garden show last February. Mother Nature wasn’t very kind to the folks who adore her! So you didn’t get to enjoy the new location for our three main seminar rooms – The Conference Center at the Washington State Convention Center. (Or, for those into acronyms, it’s TCC at the WSCC.) We were the first major show to christen this new space, and it worked for our show attendees (and for me and my terrific staff and volunteers) beautifully.

Debra Prinzing shares how to make beautiful bouquets from your own garden. Catch her DIY Stage seminars on February 10 & 11

The Washington State Convention Center proudly opened The Conference Center in July, 2010, a 71,000 square feet of high-end, configurable space built with a LEED-certified eco-friendly design. It boasts adjustable lighting, a built-in sound system and programmable LCD screens at the entrances to the meeting rooms. The Rainier Room, Hood Room, the DIY Stage and the Book Signing Station have never had it so good.

Seminar Spotlight: Sharing Your Garden with Wildlife

As gardeners we have a passion – and a responsibility – for sharing our little plot of Earth with the wildlife that lives there too. From the beloved ‘flying flowers’ such as birds, bees and butterflies, down to the microscopic creatures we cannot even see, we should all make an effort to create beneficial habitat not only for our families, but for all wildlife in our region. But that doesn’t mean an ugly garden! These great seminar speakers will show you how to have a wildlife-friendly garden and a family-friendly garden too, all the while respecting the Earth.

David Mizejewski – TV personality & naturalist with National Wildlife Federation
David is a media personality, author, blogger and a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation. He hosted and co-produced Backyard Habitat on Animal Planet from 2005-2008. He also appeared in an Animal Planet mini-series in April, 2007 called Springwatch U.S.A. He blogs about the BP Oil Spill and about animal oddities for Animal Planet and contributes to NWF’s blog Wildlife Promise. David makes monthly appearances on NBC’s Today Show and is a regular guest on The Martha Stewart Show and ABC’s Good Morning America. He has also appeared on Planet Green’s Renovation Nation; HGTV’s Gardening by the Yard and Curb Appeal; Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet; and CNN’s Headline News and Larry King Live. He is the author of Attracting Birds, Butterflies and Other Backyard Wildlife, (Creative Homeowner, 2004), winner of the 2005 Publisher’s Marketing Association Benjamin Franklin Award. He is also a contributor to Gardening How-To magazine.

Create a Backyard Wildlife Habitat
Attracting Birds, Butterflies & Backyard Wildlife
Fri, Feb 10 at 11:00 am / Hood Room
One of the joys of gardening is creating a beautiful, natural space that you, your family and the local birds, butterflies and other backyard wildlife can enjoy. Join author, blogger and celebrity naturalist David Mizejewski from National Wildlife Federation for a fun and informative talk on creating wildlife-friendly gardens. David will go through each of the four components of habitat – food, water, shelter and places to raise young – explaining each and sharing tips, ideas and projects that participants can implement in their own yards. He will also show you how you can have your garden recognized as an official “Certified Wildlife Habitat” by the National Wildlife Federation. 

James Ullrich – Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Gig Harbor
James Ullrich is the president of Wild Birds Unlimited in Gig Harbor, and is the current president of the Kitsap Audubon Society. He has served on the Kitsap Audubon board of directors for the past eight years, and was past president in 2005. James has given over 75 presentations of Orchard Mason Bees over the years. He has been a guest on the radio programs of Ciscoe Morris, Ed Hume and Scott Conner. He received the “Friend to the Environment” award from Wild Birds Unlimited of Indianapolis, IN, the “Franchisee of the Year” for Wild Birds Unlimited of Indianapolis, IN. the Silver Beaver award from the Boy Scouts of America and the Kingfisher Award from the Kitsap Audubon Society. For the past three years he has written articles on birds and bees for the West Sound Home & Garden magazine. James is a retired Naval officer, and holds a Master’s degree in business administration from the University of Puget Sound. Visit the Wild Birds Unlimited booth, # 953.

Developing a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary
How to Invite Mason Bees & Birds into Your Garden
Wed, Feb 8 at 6:45 pm / DIY Stage
Fri, Feb 10 at 6:45 pm / DIY Stage
Pick up all the latest seasonal tips on developing a Backyard Sanctuary for your backyard birds and Mason Bees.  Everything from developing greenbelt Shelters with yard waste, and maintaining same throughout the year. You’ll learn about setting up appropriate housing for the Cavity Dwelling birds in your backyard, from Nuthatch and Wood duck boxes to Robin roosts, to winter roosts for Chickadees and others. Also learn when to clean them and how often; what food to use on a seasonal basis, to attract the greatest variety of birds to your yard and using the appropriate food to keep as much waste off the ground as possible. When presenting bird food, learn tips on how to keep other unwanted rodents away, from squirrels to Raccoons to rats, the best bird bath options and how to clean them during the pollen and mold seasons, and tips on keeping your food dry and presentable to your birds and squirrels, if you feed both.

Zsofia Pasztor – Garden designer & owner, Innovative Landscape Technologies
Zsofia: Zsofia Pasztor is the owner of Innovative Landscape Technologies. She is a part-time instructor at the Edmonds Community College, a landscape designer, LID construction
consultant, wetland delineator, certified professional horticulturist, certified tree risk assessor, and a certified arborist. As a consultant, she often works with bioretention solutions, vegetated roofs, living walls, edible gardens and permaculture. She is the creator of the ‘Farmer Frog Model’ promoting community based urban farming that protects and restores habitat for people and wildlife at the same time. She is the president of the Sustainable Development Task Force of Snohomish County (SDTF), a member of the Rain Garden Coalition of Snohomish County, and a member of the Curriculum Board for the Edmonds Community College’s Horticultural Department.

At Home in a Habitat Garden
Important Elements for Inviting Wildlife in the Garden
Sun, Feb 12 at 5:00 pm / Rainier Room
Show garden designer Zsofia Pasztor shares her tips for the basics of backyard wildlife habitats – learn the four most important elements of small to medium scale habitat garden; take home simple DIY ideas and solutions.

Joe Lamp’l – Producer and host of “Growing a Greener World” TV
Joe’s infatuation with gardening and nature began as a child after a run-in with his parents’ favorite shrub, he panicked and jammed the broken branch into the ground. A few weeks later, it had taken root. Joe was not only relieved; he was also hooked on horticulture. That passion is evident to a nationwide audience who has watched Joe as host of the popular series, Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network and GardenSMART on PBS. As one of the country’s most recognized and trusted personalities in gardening and sustainability, today, he combines his national television experience and expertise of gardening, environmental stewardship and passion for living a more eco-friendly life, as host and producer of Growing a Greener World on public television. Joe also shares his know-how on NBC’s TODAY SHOW, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Victory Garden on PBS and more. Off-camera, he is founder & CEO of The joe gardener® Company, devoted to environmentally responsible gardening and sustainable outdoor living.

Want to get a front row VIP seat to Joe’s seminars plus a complimentary autographed copy of his book? Visit the Subaru garden on the skybridge for details on Friday and Saturday before Joe’s lectures.  And follow Joe to the Subaru garden to purchase your own signed copy of his book. Joe will be signing books at 2:30 pm Friday and 2:15 pm on Saturday.

Subaru Presents: Growing a Greener World
Gardening to Make a Difference
Fri, Feb 10 at 1:00 pm / Rainier Room
Sat, Feb 11 at 12:45 pm / Rainier Room
Based on his popular PBS television show, “Growing a Greener World” and his best-selling book, The Green Gardeners Guide, TV host Joe Lamp’l shares the most significant actions that gardeners, beginners and veterans alike, can take to make their gardens “greener” and positively impact the planet through sustainable gardening and water conservation. Find out how easy it is to make a difference!

Jeff Lowenfels – Alaska columnist & author, “Teaming with Microbes”
Jeff Lowenfels is America’s longest running garden columnist, having written for the Anchorage Daily News every week for over 36 years. He is host of Alaska’s only garden radio show, “The Garden Party” and author of the award winning book Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide To The Soil Food Web (Timber Press, 2010). A former president of the Garden Writers Association, Fellow and Hall of Fame Member, he is known for his humorous but insightful talks on organic gardening to all manner of audiences throughout the country and for founding ‘Plant A Row For The Hungry,’ which each of you should do.

No More Chemicals in Your Garden!
The Latest Science on Gardening without Chemicals
Thurs, Feb 9 at 6 pm / Hood Room
You can’t really understand sustainable and organic gardening until you learn the fascinating science of the soil food web, Nature’s system that enables all plants to grow without chemicals. This is the who, what, and how to garden without chemicals, updated with the latest from the world of science. Think this sounds dull? Not when it’s told by the award-winning master of microbes, Jeff Lowenfels.

For the complete seminar schedule and all our speaker’s biographies visit our website. ~ Janet

Subaru Reserves VIP Seminar Seats for Lucky Show Attendees

How would you like special VIP front-row seats for some of the most popular speakers at the 2012 Northwest Flower & Garden Show? PLUS get a free, autographed copy of their books? You can if you stop by the Subaru display garden on the skybridge on the morning of each of these seminars for more information on how you could be one of four garden show attendees selected.

Subaru has reserved four VIP seats for five seminars at the garden show. The seminars are:

Steve Aitken – 2012 Show Judge & Editor, Fine Gardening magazine
Why Doesn’t My Garden Look Like That?
10 Questions to Ask About Your Garden’s Design
Wed, Feb 8 at 1 pm / Rainier Room
We have all been in and seen photos of gorgeous gardens that leave us in awe and make us wonder, “Why can’t my garden look like that?” It would be wonderful if there were a one-size-fits-all solution to garden design, but every space and every gardener is unique. Drawing on personal experience as well as his work with outstanding gardeners and designers from around the U. S., Steve Aitken, Editor of Fine Gardening, will present a series of questions to ask when considering how to improve your garden. Whether your area is sunny or shady, sloped or flat, large or small, these questions will address fundamental design issues, which, if addressed can greatly enhance a garden’s form.

Willi Evans Galloway – Author, “Grow. Cook. Eat”
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.

Joe Lamp’l - Producer and host of “Growing a Greener World” TV
Subaru Presents: Growing a Greener World
Gardening to Make a Difference
Fri, Feb 10 at 1:00 pm / Rainier Room AND
Sat, Feb 11 at 12:45 pm / Rainier Room
Based on his popular PBS television show, “Growing a Greener World” and his best-selling book, The Green Gardeners Guide, TV host Joe Lamp’l shares the most significant actions that gardeners, beginners and veterans alike, can take to make their gardens “greener” and positively impact the planet through sustainable gardening and water conservation. Find out how easy it is to make a difference!

Graham Kerr – Author & TV Star, former ‘The Galloping Gourmet’
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.“

Subaru took us on an "Endless Journey" with their 2011 show garden. This year's theme is country western!

To see if you can be one of four lucky people to be front-row, center for these great seminars, just stop by the Subaru display garden and mention the seminar and get more information. Along with the VIP seating you will receive a complimentary autographed copy of books by Joe Lamp’l, Graham Kerr and Willi Evans Galloway.

You can also meet and chat with Joe Lamp’l after his seminars on Friday and Saturday. He’ll be heading up to the Subaru garden where you can purchase his best-selling book, The Green Gardener’s Guide: Simple, Significant Actions to Protect & Preserve our Planet and have Joe sign your book. Joe loves to talk to people about what they are doing to garden in a more sustainable and wildlife-friendly fashion. ~ Janet

Meet Joe Lamp’l, Star of “Growing a Greener World”

MEET JOE!
Subaru Garden on the Skybridge
Friday at 2:15 pm
Saturday at 3:45 pm 

Meet Joe Lamp'l as he signs books at the Subaru garden on the skybridge on Friday and Saturday.

The popular and energetic Joe Lamp’l travels all over the U.S. going to garden shows, but he confesses the Northwest Flower & Garden Show is his favorite show. “The people at the Northwest show are so friendly, the show gardens are incredible, and so many great speakers give seminars at the show – many of them are good friends. I just love to come to the Northwest show.”

Last February Joe was on a mission – to film the garden show for his PBS television series, “Growing a Greener World,” sponsored by Subaru. That involved coordinating and organizing a small team of talented professionals, including producers, writers, cameramen and Joe himself. A huge amount of footage was filmed, interviews were done, and B-roll was shot. There were a lot of tough decisions in the editing room afterwards. “There is so much to see and do at the Northwest Show, we actually had enough footage for two complete episodes.” The special Northwest Flower & Garden Show episode (season 2, episode #205) aired in July, 2011 and can be found online on the GGW website. 

This year Joe won’t exactly be letting moss grow between his toes, but he will have a bit more relaxed schedule – the better for you to meet him and have a chance to chat. Joe loves to talk with fellow gardeners, and his easy-going, Southern charm comes through, along with his passion for helping people solve gardening dilemmas, and sharing ways to garden more sustainably.

Subaru took us on an "Endless Journey" with their 2011 show garden - since Subaru's get such incredibly high mileage!

Joe will be giving two seminars at the show, “Subaru Presents: Growing a Greener World – Gardening to Make a Difference,” on Friday at 1:00 pm and on Saturday at 2:30 pm. After each lecture, Joe will be heading to the Subaru garden on the skybridge, where you can purchase his best-selling book, have a copy signed and meet Joe.

In addition to his television show, Joe is deeply committed to “growing a greener world” through his popular books, blog (the appropriately named “Compost Confidential”) and podcast series, along with a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and regular contributions to popular magazines and social media networks.

Subaru sponsors “Growing a Greener World” TV, along with being a sponsor of the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, because Subaru strongly supports gardeners’ efforts to create a more sustainable, wildlife friendly environment. And they practice this in their own backyard: In 2003, Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. became the first automotive assembly facility to be designated as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Over 800 acres serve as a home for birds and animals, including white-tail deer, red-tail hawks, blue heron, Canadian geese, mallard ducks, beavers, coyote, snapping turtles and the bald eagle. And in 2004, the Subaru of Indiana manufacturing plant became the first automotive assembly facility to be “zero landfill,” meaning all waste is recycled or turned into electricity. In other words, a single-family home produces more waste in a day than the SIA plant does in a year! ~ Janet