Balmy weather at the Bloedel Reserve brought out all the spring flowers
Arriving in Seattle last week for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show was like traveling to the tropics from Siberia. A cold snap in the mid-Atlantic had its icy hold on the region and when I landed in Seattle, I shed all my gloves, jackets and scarves with relief and basked in mid-60’s weather. Flowers were in full bloom outside and native Seattleites assured me that the warmth was unusual weather this early in the season.
Camellias were in full bloom in Seattle
Camellias and Hellebores were in bloom everywhere.
I had never been to the Northwest Flower & Garden show but was doing two presentations there and was very impressed with the size and scale of the show. A heart (It was Valentines weekend) of thousands of succulents towered over the front entrance to the show.
Heart of succulents
The Northwest Flower & Garden Show floor was acres of blooming flowers, vendors, and gardening ideas that I spent two full days exploring.
Steam Punk Garden
The Steam Punk Garden and the Bee Friendly Garden were two of my favorite displays.
Bee Friendly Garden
After doing my speaking duty, I was free to explore.
The show had lots of interesting vendors and it never got too crowded like the Philadelphia flower show where you are always bumping into people trying to get a closer look.
I need this car! Subaru, one of the show sponsors had this gardening dream car on display
Vendors
For vendors, I was expecting the usual mix of home improvement companies and jewelry and scarf vendors. But I was proved wrong with the quality and selection of down to earth garden vendors. A gardener could get into real trouble here!
I could have ordered one of these custom built garden sheds for a mere $7000
I was especially interested in a Cedar Cold Frame kit to extend my growing season. See them at http://www.cedarcoldframes.com/ , but the kit was too bulky to take on a plane. I will probably order one for the spring. The cold frames were well made and they even had one that was table height so you didn’t have to bend over. Also Charley’s Greenhouses had an awesome display and I am seriously considering buying one. I need the triple wall, cedar frame “Northern Heritage” one. I will put this on my Christmas list!
A Charley’s greenhouse with triple wall insulation
The vintage gardening section was incredible. I have never seen vintage vendors at a gardening show before. See my post at Vintage Gardening to see the different kinds of products you could buy. I went through the area three times! How about repurposing an old sink into a potting bench? Or making a hanging container out of an old funnel?
A repurposed funnelA “vintage” sink becomes a potting bench
Chihuly glass is everywhere in Seattle gardens because Dale Chihuly was born in Washington State. We went to the Chihuly gardens and museum in downtown Seattle and I will do a post on that garden later as it was so incredible. But you could buy your very own Chihuly knock off in the market place for quite a bit less than the real thing.
You could buy your own Chihuly glass knock offs at the market place
The flowers of course were stunning with the orchid display especially beautiful. There was a meadow of orchids presented by the Northwest Orchid Society.
Gardening in February is still going on here in the mid-Atlantic even though we have an arctic blast! For some of my winter tips on the best way to start seeds, go to Hartley Botanic’s gardening calendar.
