Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Northwest Flower and Garden Festival: Display Gardens, Part 1

It used to be the NWFG Show, but this year it's a Festival! Not sure why, but maybe because the show is celebrating 30 years. And so the first garden inside the doors is a giant cake. It is the Theme Garden, titled Cake and Cheers for Thirty Years, produced by the NWFGF and Terra Firma Hardscapes. This circular display features three tiers of bulbs, perennials, shrubs and trees in progressive variations in the color scheme of yellow, orange, and coral. Lighting changes the trunks if small trees from coral to magenta. Glass candles adorn the cake, which is topped by a layered stone fountain. 










Moving on, Treeline Designs presents Soiree of Reflections, featuring a "sculpture hut" of recycled stained glass.  An ancient maple and other rare plants accentuate the setting.
 As much as I appreciated the colorful glass, it was the entry stones of conglomerated fossils and the wonderful old twisty maple that grabbed my attention and admiration. 

 And I loved the under planting of checkered fritillaries. 


 The reflecting pond is not really water at all, but massed flowers created out of recycled glass. 


Redwood Builders LLC, Landscaping designed Pot Party. No, not that kind. These pots contain bonsai, including a 300-year-old cascading Mountain Hemlock on a pedestal in the pond. 
You see evidence here of work still in progress. There were lots of workers in the gardens, but I managed to keep most of them out of my photos. 
Father's Day is the name of the display by Nature Perfect Landscape & Design.  A giant chess board provides entertainment in this "man cave" garden complete with an outdoor kitchen fit for a king. 





Marenakos Rock Company has been the primary supplier of stone for the displays, each year providing over 200 tons. This year they created an exhibit of their own, featuring stone boulders cut to form bridge "railings" over polished stone "water". 


Great Plant Picks displays plants that have been proven over time to be well suited to our climate and to provide beauty and interest in the garden. Local garden guru and all around fun guy Ciscoe Morris was hamming it up as usual. 


There was a touch of Mardi Gras in the New Orleans style Solera Wine Garden. 
Maybe we'll have to indulge when we return on Thursday. 

11 comments:

  1. The gardens get fancier every year. the creativity of the gardeners is truly amazing.

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  2. Show or festival, there's a LOT to see!

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  3. I love all of those boulders and rocks how ever they are arranged.

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  4. Wow, I got my second seed catalog yesterday and now another great post from you to get my fingers craving dirt.
    I loved that chess board.

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  5. amazing colors. designs and craftsmanship...love it!

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  6. Thank you, Linda! I enjoyed your pictures!

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  7. Makes you wonder how long it takes to create the displays! I enjoyed seeing your photos.

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  8. Just wonderful! Why would I even need to go (if I weren't already traveling)? Love your posts about the show. :-)

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  9. So much to see at the "Festival." I think they thought that festival was more of a participatory experience than show. Whatever... I like Alison's name Northwest Flower and Garden Orgy. Treeline Designs Soiree of Reflections, featuring a "sculpture hut" of recycled stained glass had me stumped. The reflecting pool, supposedly recycled glass, leaked and they were containing water early on Thursday morning and the "recycled glass" on the garden structure certainly looked like cellophane to me. Maybe the designer's source fell through or something.

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    1. Yes, that water/glass/whatever thing is a mystery. By Thursday afternoon there was definitely water in the pool.

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  10. Spring already??? My daughter texted us photos of the snow storm yesterday. What a contrast to Seattle!

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