Shopping the Seattle Northwest Flower & Garden Festival: Brocante Beach House

I fell hook line and sinker for the world Kim & Dino Medica of The Brocante Beach House created at this year's Northwest Flower & Garden Festival. They had a booth in the vintage market section and created a City Living Display named, "Coastal French Cottage." 

I was talking with Kim and she said that they opened their shop on Alki Beach during the pandemic. I told her that we would be sure to visit this Spring when we started visiting the Alki farmer's market again. I can't wait. I mentioned that the mannequin that I had photographed (above) was missing, and she told me that a woman bought it for her daughter who would be wearing it for her wedding on the coast of Oregon this spring! They arranged the whole transaction on the phone from the show and Kim was excited to tell the bride that the dress had been made for the Seattle Opera. How glamourous!

You can see my plate on display (above). I bought two of these gorgeous blue French plates that I can layer in with some of my other dishes. Note to self, plant more medium blue grape hyacinth. They are everything.

I also bought several bundles of pussy willow branches wrapped in brown paper. They were so beautiful and elegant I simply couldn't resist.

"Coastal French Cottage" in City Living section

I absolutely laughed out loud when I read, "I love you. In French" As if she really wants you to know it, and then tags on a way to make it even better. I can see this being used a lot of brilliant ways and I'm here for it. I love the old cloth. I love the block white letters. I love the dirt. It's absolutely great.

It's so great that it took me a while to see the rest of the display. The lion with the hat askew. The cream tin canister planted with blue grape hyacinths. The fact that the dresser has different knobs and pulls all the way down. 

The artist's painting on the easel and a palette smeared with paints - wonderful. A champagne bucket filled with moss -love it. Vibrant double white daffodils sprouting from the cabinet drawer. It all adds up to great visual storytelling.  

#nwfgs #cityliving #springvibesonly 


 

Nature Perfect at Northwest Flower and Garden Festival 2023: Aquaponics in the House

A short video of the stream in action

I want you to really appreciate what Nature Perfect Landscaping & Design created at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival with a show garden inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater including a greenhouse built by Northwest Green Panels. This incredible building puts the beauty of an aquaponics system on display. Aquaponics is a form of agriculture that combines raising fish in tanks while growing plants from the resulting enhanced water. "In aquaponics, the nutrient-rich water from raising fish provides a natural fertilizer for the plants and the plants help to purify the water for the fish."

The fish live in the water inside the greenhouse (above)

Nature Perfect Landscaping designed it so a stream could runs into the green house to a koi fish pond and then that water would flow under the greenhouse floor over to the hydroponic area where plants could thrive on the nutrient-rich water while growing in the greenhouse. It's interesting, creative and a dynamic approach to harnessing the power of byproducts. I almost wish there was an audio narration running inside the greenhouse, as I'm not sure that everyone who toured it understood what they were seeing. Wow. Every elementary school science class should see this as part of a field trip - it opens your eyes to the possibilities and it was built with intention. I loved it.

 The plants are growing hydroponically in the enriched water (above)

 

I was really taken with the beauty and ingenuity of this show garden. The style was true to the Pacific Northwest with the beautiful evergreens, native plants and bronze koi fish sculpture. 

#aquaponics #greehouse #hydroponics #nwfgs #ingenuity 

2023 Seattle Northwest Flower and Garden Festival Show Garden Spotlight

I want to shine a spotlight on a few exceptional show gardens at this year's Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. I loved these 2 gardens for their inspirational qualities that urged the viewer to feel transported.

Show Garden: "Evoke Your Inner Yellowstone"

*photo above by Erica Brown Grivas

Show Garden: "Evoke Your Inner Yellowstone" was inspired by the idea of a Yellowstone campsite combined with the luxury of the Snoqualmie Lodge by Method Hardscapes. I loved their interpretation of Montana chic, from the the large canvas tent with a full bedroom outfit made cozy with a Pendleton prints to the soft glow of light coming from the natural antler chandelier. Pour my coffee in a tin cup, I'm staying.

The entertaining area was grounded by a massive pergola and featured cowhide chairs pulled up to a dinner table perfect for a family dinner under the stars. A pot simmered over a "smoking" wood fire and the atmosphere really made me believe that Method Hardscapes understood the Pacific Northwest aesthetic.  
 

Show Garden: Afterglow by Redwood Builders Landscaping and Bonsai Northwest wants viewers to "step into the afterglow of disaster and appreciate the light and life that comes next." The show garden includes charred wood reminiscent of forest fires and the honors the resilience of nature. The square drop water screen was visually dramatic, yet gentle on the ear, which was an interesting juxtaposition. Sculptural bonsai and dramatic rock placement kept attendees standing transfixed. 

The scale and drama of these two gardens made me want to highlight them first. I promise there is more to come! I'll show you more of the show gardens in another post. 

#nwfgs #seattle #gardenshow #finddelight 

My Mom & Seattle Northwest Flower and Garden Festival

It's taking me longer to write blog posts these days. In my mind they burst like firecrackers, but getting them past the keyboard seems to take longer these days.

So I want to stop and tell you that this year, for me, the best part about the Northwest Flower and Garden Show was that my mom could attend. She had a frightening fall last year at this time and I wasn't sure about anything. But here she is, happy and enjoying it all and I am amazed. And thankful.

Dan took the day off work to enjoy the show with us and help with with logistics and we had a really great day.

Can you see us in the mirror? This show garden by Hello Garden and we loved all of her sweet entertaining touches - silverware, plates and platters mixed around her display garden. It was darling. 

Hello Garden added grow lights to this vintage cabinet to create a gardener's dream set up. We could all take a page from her book and do this! Isn't it awesome?

Aren't the plantings beautiful? I must plant coral tulips and white crocus.

My mom insisted I zoom in and photograph just the coral primulas (photo above)

Anyhoo, 11 months ago I was scared to death, yet here we are walking among the flowers and buying seeds to plant this spring. This is the beauty of every day life.

#nwfgs #seattle #gardenshow #plantlovers #springvibesonly

Arit Anderson: Seattle's Northwest Flower & Garden Show Judge & Speaker

                                        Anne Reeves & Arit Anderson

How luck am I? I adore BBC's Gardeners World and watch it like some kind of  meditative gift to myself.  British gardening, especially when we are in Seattle rainy season is the mental lift I need  The bird song, the garden paths, I can smell the dirt and hear the crunch of the gravel underfoot. I love it all.

Arit Anderson is a presenter on Gardeners World and I was thrilled when I learned that she was the special guest judge for this year's Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, sponsored by the Northwest Horticulture Society. What a perfect guest! Everyone was excited.

Arit has had a very interesting professional life working in fashion and retail, event planning and as a therapist teaching holistic therapies. Her path eventually led her to study gardening at Capel Manor College and made a name for herself when she and 2 other students won the Fresh Talent category for a student design collaboration at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea in 2013. Bravo! 

She is a passionate and talented garden designer who also "won a Gold Medal for her own design at Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court in 2016 in the conceptual category." She's known for for an "ethos (that) includes simplicity and environmental sensitivity." She is an excellent communicator and I found myself spellbound as she told of one particularly grand evening with famed broadcaster biologist and natural historian Sir David Attenborough. Arit along with Adam White and Jane Findlay were honored to present Sir David Attenborough with the 2019 Landscape Institute Lifetime Achievement Award. What an experience! 

A huge point Arit made was that our gardens (our little patch of earth) are literally how we can play a part in caring for the planet. That being responsible with water usage, planting native species, using organic products,  

She was a very engaging speaker and I intend to start listening to her podcast, Sustainable Gardening. Podcasting is such a gift because we can hear directly from so many inspirational figures around the world on a regular basis. If you have not had the chance to get acquainted with Arit Anderson and her marvelous effect on the world, please let this be your invitation to learn more. She's fantastic.

#gardenersworld #sustainabilityspeaker #aritanderson

Blooms & Bubbles: Slow Flowers at 2023 Northwest Flowers & Garden Festival

I enjoyed watching Debra Prinzing's Slow Flowers workshop Blooms & Bubbles. Tyra Shenaurlt of the W.W. Seymour Conservatory taught this workshop on building a living arrangement with spring plants. 

Slow Flowers doyenne and author of 10 books and her acclaimed Slow Flower podcast, Debra Prinzing welcomed the thrilled registrants to the plant arranging demonstration and gave a warm introduction to horticulturist Tyra Shenaurlt. 

Everyone seems so very engaged and happy. I think it's great to have additional for-purchase activities for interested attendees at garden shows like this. I would happily plant an herb pot or plant a wire head with succulents on top - it would be fun!
 

The pot, plants and supplies were arranged at each place, along with a pot of dirt to pull from in the center of the table. The attendees listened to each step Tyra explained and then you could hear the swell of chatter and laughter as everyone relaxed and got to it. I think the show would benefit from more workshops like this because everyone really liked bringing the aspirational ideas of the show down into their own two hands. The project wasn't hard, but it was satisfying. And that is what people want, to feel like they accomplished something in a space of time and have something to show for it. Win-win.    

#nwfgs #bloomsandbubbles #slowflowers #finddelight #seattle #indoorgarden

GardenComm Friends at Northwest Flower & Garden Festival

It is such a joy to be able to participate in the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival again this year. I met my dear friends Mary-Kate Mackey (burgandy) and Marinne Binetti (cream) in the press room at this show in 2016. 

Erica Brown Grivas (coral) and I got to know each other through GardenComm at one of our Regional Connect Meetings just a few years ago and we have talked a mile a minute ever since! She is a phenomenal National Director for our GardenComm Region VI, which covers a vast portion of the Western United States and has been so great to work with.

We all missed being able to see our garden industry friends & colleagues during the pandemic and this photo was taken after the 2023 Press Tour - the start of an incredible week in Seattle.

While I was organizing my photographs, I kept noticing this photograph in my garden show pics and thinking that our group shot (above) matched it. You decide, did we dress for...Spring Vibes Only?

#nwfgs  #springvibesonly #finddelight #gardencomm

Northwest Flower and Garden Festival: A Gardener's Delight

As I slowly get my bearings in the Pacific Northwest, I still have a lot of questions when it comes to the garden. It was exciting to move to a more temperate zone (from 6a to 8b) but my new-construction house means my blank slate garden has gotten softer edges and a bit of texture, but not really changed all that much in 5 years. I now know that roses love it in pots here, so I can take advantage of the sun at the front of the house and have enormous healthy rose bushes.  

Where do I flush out ideas for our future? The Northwest Flower & Garden festival. My experience with the GWA (Garden Writers of America, now known as GardenComm) began in the show’s press room. As a blogger since 2007 and a flower enthusiast, I was thrilled to cover this famous show. I have self-published 3 books that highlight my love of flower arranging, gardening, edible flowers and floral portraits.  My mission as a writer and photographer is to dissolve the barrier between busy American women who get their information and inspiration through their phones and the intimidating “you-need-to-know-a-lot” world of flowers.

I was carrying one of my DELIGHT magazine bags (the Rose issue) and it caught the eye of Marianne Binetti and Mary-Kate Mackey. We all started talking and the next thing I knew, they were introducing me to everyone in the press room (loads of GWA members, of course) and encouraging me to come to the GWA Connect Meeting the next night. I met a whirl of members who echoed a message of “I’m so glad you joined!” They were supportive of my work and how I fit into the new definition of garden communicating.

It’s been 7 years later now and I feel like I’ve found long-lost cousins. We speak the same language and love the same things. I walk into the Washington Convention, and I am back at a botanical family reunion, hugging those I’ve gotten to know better through Facebook and introducing myself to names I only know on-screen. It is fantastic.

I want you to buy two tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show (early bird pricing is available thru 2/15) call a friend and attend the show. You will be inspired and delighted. I promise. Continue reading to see just what the show is like.

From my perspective, the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival covers the intersections of all the things I love. Cakes that look like birch trees; air plants arranged like wallpaper and blown glass vegetables that add visual vitamins to any kitchen. It is impossible not to be inspired. Attend free lectures. Watch experts compete in “Container Wars” over the best way to make a showstopping planted container.

At the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, I start my week with the media tour hosted by Marianne Binetti.  Trying to absorb and photograph each of 18 grand show gardens in a manner of minutes is difficult. We all appreciate Marianne’s insight and coaching to keep our lenses focused on the important elements and story-telling details. This year’s theme is “Spring Vibes Only,” and I can’t wait to see the gardens. Built by some of the region’s best designers and landscape professionals, these show gardens are a breath of fresh air.  The outside is brought indoors. Green grass, blooming trees, water flowing, camellias flowering and a carpet of bulbs in bloom – it is the reassurance of spring that we all need in February.

I always take one day of the show to walk the floor with my mom. We admire the show gardens, search for seeds, investigate a vertical aero-growing system and always buy beeswax candles. When we stop for lunch, we always end up sharing a table with other plant lovers and these native gardeners give great advice. It is the perfect way to spend a winters day and I hope I’ve enticed you to join us this year. I know you’ll find delight.

#plantlover #gardener #northwestflowerandgardenfestival #springvibesonly #seattleevents #horticulture #seattle #garden #color #planning #livingwall