MySecretGarden

U.S.A., Washington State. USDA zone 8b. Sunset climate zone 5

NWFGS - 2017. Part 2

Sunday is the last day to visit the Northwest Flower and Garden Show!
It's open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and you can buy a half-day ticket starting from 3 p.m.
If you can't do it this year, mark your calendar for February 2018!

I'm continuing to look at the features of the Show which make me, an amateur gardener, look forward to it from year to year. My previous post is HERE.

7 - As a member of a multi-national family, I like that the Show is multicultural, celebrating different nations' traditions, ways of life and ways of gardening. Just look at these gardens:




Hanami - the annual spring viewing of the cherry blossoms. Family and friends gather on the mats beneath the trees to spend the day relaxing, picnicking and singing.
Some plants used: Japanese maple, camellia sinensis, dwarf hinoki cypress, dwarf Japanese cedar, paperbush, Japanese holly, red margin bamboo, Japanese pieris, Japanese cherry, Yoshino cherry, azalea...





NWFGS - 2017 Is On!

It's the weekend and the Show  is on!
If you live close to Seattle, take this chance to say Hello to spring and to shake off the winter blues!
There will be lots of articles about the Show with deep analysis and some critical commentary, but I, honestly,  just want to lure you into the Washington State Convention Center ( Feb. 22-26, 2017) with some pictures and my own quick thoughts.
Why do I like the Northwest Flower and Garden Show?
Why do I look forward to it every year since we moved to the Greater Seattle area?
1 - This Show is my late-winter coffee.
As coffee gives me a buzz allowing me to shed sleepiness and prepare for the day ahead, the NWFGS helps me to wave Goodbye to the winter blues and embrace the spring even before it comes to my own garden.
What is this if not spring?

'Blooming Abundance' by Flower Growers of Puget Sound

2 - This Show fits my eclectic taste with regard to garden styles.
I do tend to be rather a minimalist when it comes to my own garden, but oh, how I love to look at sumptuous, lush, vibrant gardens in the country and abroad!
That is why I equally enjoyed walking around the seemingly uncomplicated  'Mid-Mod-Mad... It's Cocktail Hour'  as much as bright and striking gardens such as 'Afternoon Tear With Mrs. Pumphrey' and 'Herbal Remedy - The Cure For Cabin Fever'.



"...updated mid-century design... embraces simplistic plant choices, strong angles and geometry of hardscaping made popular in the 1950's and 60's - making a big comeback today"
Among the plants: Carex testacea, Himalayan Birch, Daffodil Jetfire, Papyrus, edibles and herbs
(basil, bay laurel, bear's lime, parsley, Swiss chard, golden celery, kale, lavender, lemon grass, mint, rose scented geranium, rosemary, silver thyme, viola).







 Classic Tudor-style residence entry, formal knot garden, fruit trees, 'woven' planting of blooming plants and bulbs, flagstone path, spacious patio, tiered fountain...








Tuscan-style patio with a fireplace, herbs and edibles, bold kaleidoscope of spring colors, textures which are created by plantings and hardscape materials...






3 - I am a country girl, who was born in the countryside, spent the first years of my life in a small town and who appreciates  natural beauty of forests, mountains, wetlands, etc., etc., etc.
The NWFGS always has gardens that evoke the feelings of being in the great outdoors, such as 'An Evening in the Mountains':



Berry bushes, herbs, strawberries, natural stone patio, large boulders, practical seating spots, fire pit, waterfall and bubbling stream...
Plants used: hyacinths, cyclamen, snowdrops, iris, daffodil, Siberian squill, apple mint, sage, alpine strawberry, Archer's Gold thyme, Caraway thyme, wheatgrass, bleeding heart, red flowering currant, red twig dogwood, yellow twig dogwood, evergreen huckleberry, azalea, winter daphne, blueberry, Snow Goose flowering cherry, Thundercloud flowering plum, Whitebarked Himalayan birch, weeping Alaska cedar, Serbian spruce, Horstman Blue Atlas cedar, Excelsa cedar, mountain hemlock.







4 -  I do love Italian gardens. I have a page in this blog 'Garden of the World That I Visited' with pictures of several breathtaking Italian gardens.
The Show never fails to take me back to Italy and its gardens with their statuary and stoneware, flowing water, geometric structure, fruit trees and other typical features, such as this year's 'Villa Primavera': 



Inspired by the Amalfi Coast of Southern Italy. Edible fruit such as grape, olive, lemon plus herbs,
vine-covered arbor, built-in pizza oven, wall fountain...






5 - I do love vegetable gardening
The Show gives ideas to an ordinary amateur gardener as well as a serious vegetable grower.
 Look at this year's  'Honey, We Shrunk The Farm: Urban Farming In Style':



Hoop house, aquaponic system, espaliered fruit trees, beehives, insect hotel, chicken coop...


My Snowy Garden - February 2017

Snow... Not very often in our neck of the woods, just once-twice a year. That is why - lots of pictures. 
The snow was very heavy. Beautiful and dangerous. 
9 a.m. - pictures are bluish. I was sweeping the snow from some trees bent to the ground and bushes.
12:30 p.m. - more snow. Broken branches, split shrubs... 
Can't even say that I worked hard with my broom for a couple of hours earlier in the morning. 


 These palm trees in containers are tough, but I try to help them and sweep the snow

 Japanese maples are beautiful any time of the year



Sure, this birdbath would be more safe if covered for winter, but I want to see it year around, I love it. I remove water periodically.


 Kitchen garden. Garlic is growing nicely, and I know it'll survive.




 I brushed the snow off this bamboo

 Sorry, Red Plastic Tub, I left you outside... I was already doing some spring ha-ha cleaning!

 Potting bench. And what is that tall brown stick on the right?
It's my tallest Tetrapanax.


 I hope this huge rhododendron branch will be OK. Cleaned it a bit.






Two bent Aralia plants created an arch



I do love Fatsia japonica (aralia).  I'm sure my plants will be fine.


 Yucca will be fine, too

 It's No School day...  
It's also No Milk Delivery Day and No Trash Pick Up Day. But our postman made it!




Beautiful Japanese maple, a gift from a wonderful gardener. Thank you Radell!


 This Agapanthus was a star in the winter garden... till it collapsed.  


 Great illustration - why it's dry under the big trees.




California lilacs, above and below, bent down as never before. Swept some snow off them.




Clematis montana

 Terrace/Cottage Garden


 Another Aralia


 Even wire plant supports look decorative under the snow






We made a circle around the house

 How would my garden look without  these huge trees?




Someone is very happy!




 Escallonia border was hit hard. Many branches got broken.
Greener part - it's where I removed some snow.




Noon. The same places, but with more snow. 




 Snowing again...






 It's a joke, but - isn't it a good time to trim these California lilacs? 
I wouldn't even need a ladder to reach their tops!

 More snow on the maple

 The rhododendron branch lifted a bit  after I brushed off some snow, but more snow is coming...


Cyclamen are protected by the trees. It's nice to see some color!




 Ouch! Almost all my boxwoods look like this









Thank you for walking with me. I hope you stayed warm!


***Copyright 2017 TatyanaS

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