I didn’t even spend the entire day at the NW Flower & Garden Show‘s opening day, but my head is still spinning from everything I saw and heard. It’s going to take me a while to sift through all the information and ideas I gathered, and I hope to roll out a few posts as my brain settles and time permits.
(Living wall from “Sky’s the Limit,” designed by Rebecca Cole with materials from Smith & Hawken, implemented by B. Bissell General Contractors.)
One amazing fact – I walked out of a place with hundreds of garden vendors WITHOUT BUYING A SINGLE THING. No wait, that’s a lie, I got a Raintree Nursery catalog for a quarter. Wait, that’s wrong too, my mom sported me the change since I didn’t have it handy. So technically, it’s true, I didn’t buy a thing. Why? I think I was overwhelmed by the multitude of choices and just have to do some more thinking before I start in on the many garden projects that face me this coming season.
But just because I didn’t buy anything, that doesn’t mean I came home empty-handed. Many of the fabulous show gardens’ designers publish plant lists, and I grabbed every one I could find. I also got brochures from some of the public gardens and non-profits that had booths. Favorite schwag: I got some Black-Eyed Susan seeds (I was planning to buy some, so thanks, Smith & Hawken!) and, from the ReStore (fancy salvage goods), a free compact-florescent lightbulb. Woo hoo!
I saw fellow NW blogger Daniel Mount outside a seminar room – we had both just listened to Swedish rock-star landscape architect Ulf Nordfjell speak about his huge design projects in Europe and the UK, and Daniel was heading back in for another lecture, this one by Canadian garden visionary Nori Pope. I hope Daniel decides to share his insights from today, as a long-time show-goer and generally wise and philosophical observer of life in the garden and beyond.
Ideas are free… it’s just the implementation that can cost an arm and a leg! Does attending garden design shows spark your imagination, or is all that perfection (and expense) just too much to deal with?
(PS My guest blog post is up on the Garden Show site. I sweated a topic, then ended up doing something kind of lame. Man, I am in awe of real journalists who can whip this stuff out!)
(PPS If you’re going and want to attend a seminar you know will be packed, look into getting free advance passes, which I believe we finally found at a table on Level 3 North after a lot of wandering around.)
(PPPS Big thanks to my mom, who attended with me as always and never complained once about my slow progress, numerous camera stops, and bizarre zig-zagging itinerary!)
