Northwest Flower and Garden Show

Rooted in Landscape

I really miss garden shows – especially my hometown Boston Spring Flower and Garden Show. It’s one reason I was especially excited to be invited to speak at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show last month. It is the second largest show in the country and beloved by all who attend. 

The Show did not disappoint and I now understand why so many attendees rave about it. I was very impressed by the displays – especially the smaller “front porch” vignettes as they showcased some great container gardens. One of the displays by Rooted in Landscape focused on biophilic design in the workspace. You may have remembered biophilic design from another of my newsletters. I think Smitha’s display was very well received as so many of us are working from home since COVID. Who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by greenery and living walls?

I spoke on container gardening, as well as using more foliage in container designs. Both talks seemed well-received, and the best part was talking to attendees afterwards. Spending time with other plant nerds talking plants never gets old. I also participated in Container Wars and, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous. After all, as Michael Jackson put it “I’m a lover, not a fighter.” But it was all in good fun as my opponent and I battled for the coveted blue ribbon. I won but might have had an unfair advantage as my challenger was an authority on roses, not a container gardener. I toyed with the idea of wearing my winning ribbon on the plane home in hopes that its FIRST PLACE message would get me out of coach (maybe someone would think I was coming from the Olympics). In the end I decided to settle in to my lilliputian-sized seat, accept the fact that I would lose feeling in my feet and legs and solace myself with the delicious teeny bag of goldfish.

On my mind.

Flower Shows. Symposiums. Garden Club meetings. I miss the wonderful interactions those venues provided with others who were as passionate about gardening as me.

While COVID threw a wrench in my in-person speaking engagements I was able to adapt and actually found that, as much as I missed seeing fellow gardeners, I liked the Zoom format. Especially on late winter nights – no need to drive on slippery roads, plus I get into my pjs sooners! But now, as things are slowly opening, I am very excited to start doing presentations and workshops (like the succulent pumpkins pictured at the top) in person. 

 I will be at the Berkshire Botanical Garden on November 20th presenting “Winter Wow: Beautiful Containers for the Colder Months”.  I am also beyond thrilled to have been asked to present at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle in February. It is the largest garden show west of Philadelphia and the second largest show in the country. It has been on my bucket list for years and I am so excited to be able to cross it off. I will be giving two talks: the first about creating jaw-dropping container gardens and the second focused on designing beautiful containers using only foliage. I will also be participating in “Container Wars” looking to create some jaw-dropping containers while my competition does the same. It should be fun! 

Since I have some friends in the area, and will be celebrating a big birthday, it could be a Sleepless in Seattle kind of trip!