Greg Graves
- Feb 23, 2016
- 3 min read

2016 Northwest Flower and Garden Show

Tiny Tetons

Now that the 2016 Northwest Flower and Garden Show has come and gone we can look back on some of the highlights of the show this year.The show gardens are always the big draw. The opening gala is centered around them and they are the first thing you see when you enter the main hall. The judging is done on a point system so it is easy to tell the quality of the gardens by the number of gold and silver garden awards. A lot of them were very well done but my favorite was The Hoh: America’s Rain Forest by the Washington park Arboretum. It was heavily native and did feel like a little piece of the rain forest. This garden also got the Pacific Horticulture Award.

seeds

Besides the display gardens the numerous market place vendors would keep anyone busy. They had offerings from plants, garden tools, books, garden ornaments and lots of art. Then there was the vintage market, which for a picker like me was quite fun. I did find a few things, like a very old bug killer called Red Devil. I’m sure it is very toxic so it will be staying in the can but the label was funny. It’s also good to get it out of circulation. I also found some very cool vegetable seeds from Hudson Valley Farms. Each label was painted by a different artist. After the veggies are planted I will definitely save the labels. A friend also had a booth selling her ‘Vintage Floral Creations’.She makes the flowers out of vintage glass. I would have bought another but she was pretty well cleaned out by the time I got there.

winning floral arrangement

In the entry was a floral competition which many local designers take very seriously creating some amazing displays. On the sky-bridge there was a patio/container, vignette competition which is always very creative and diverse. This years theme was ‘America the Beautiful’. I’m sure there were a lot of people that would love to take anyone of them home for their own decks.

I spent most of my time in the ‘Garden Resource’ area. It is the area to find booths to answer a lot of your gardening questions. There were groups specializing in everything from day lilies to roses and public gardens to native plants. I was working at the booth for the Northwest Horticultural Society and the Hardy Fern Foundation. NHS is the one of the largest education non-profit organizations. We do a series of education events including monthly lectures, symposiums, tours, classes and plant salesThe Hardy Fern Foundation also has lectures, hikes and the largest plant sale in the country that specializes in ferns and companion plants.As part of NHS we promote the Pacific Horticultural Society which produces the finest gardening magazine in the country that focuses on the west coast gardener. PHS also has a wonderful tour program and a series of educational events.

South Sound Gardens

Another group Old Goat Farm is involved with is ‘South Sound Gardens’. It is a cooperative effort to encourage people to visit these wonderful gardens in the south sound area. I didn’t get a chance to work the booth because I was busy the next isle over but we did make the 6 containers for the display.

For the serious Hort-Heads the lecture series is unbeatable. There were three separate stages with lectures on each running from morning until night all five days. It’s no wonder this show is so popular. In fact this is the second largest show in the country so for those of you from out of the area it might be a good winter break next year.