Northwest Flower & Garden Show: The Container Gardens

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle was held at the Washington State Convention Center a couple of weeks ago - February 8th through the 12th - and Mom and I attended every single day. We decided to stay that long because we figured if we were going to go that far, we might as well take our time and really see it.

With all the seminars and displays and vendors (oh my!), we were busy every moment of every day. We did take some time to walk down to Pike Place Market, which I'll share in another blog post, but the rest of the time was spent at the show.

Night view from the skybridge.

I spent a lot of time looking at the 16 container displays that were set up on the skybridge. Perhaps it's because I feel container challenged. Or maybe it was just because they were so creative, charming, and beautiful. These were mini-sized displays (each in an 8' x 6' space), compared to the large display gardens, but they each packed a punch and contained no less inspiration than their bigger counterparts. Let's take a look...

Since "A Floral Symphony" was the theme, musical influence was seen in nearly all the displays, with some being more obvious with it than others.  No question here in the "Heavy Metal" vignette by Terabithia Landscaping:

Can't get much more musical than a planted piano in this display from Emerald City Orchids. They even planted the piano bench!

Here's another piano-themed planting, from Sunnyside Nursery. I especially love the quoted sentiment here: "In the garden, everyone can be an artist without apology or explanation." Ravenna Gardens had a wall plaque with this same sentiment for sale.

Speaking of Ravenna Gardens, they had one of my favorite displays of the entire show:

These metal spiral containers designed by Michelle Meyer of Gardening GaGa! (metalwork by Sarah Lavin) held lots of luscious plants representing all four seasons:

Tiffany Wilfert, of Artisans Cottage held a "Garden Party" that I joined for awhile:

Janit Calvo of Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center provided an escape to a Lilliputian landscape. I really did feel like I was in another world, taking in all the charming little gardens contained in her display.

Molbak's use of bright colors, along with lots of plant textures, made for an eye-catching display.

This seductive potting shed had me coming back again and again. The details in this display were like being in a candy store full of my favorite sweets. In fact, I was so entranced by all the details, I failed to take a photo of the display as a whole. My friend, Christina Salwitz (I call her The Queen of Containers), came to my rescue and has let me borrow her photo of it. thanks, Christina!

This captivating display was done by Cultivar LLC, with terrariums by Midnight Blossom. The company has won the show's Best Design Award for the last two years and the People's Choice Award this year.

Photo by Christina Salwitz

Other miscellaneous container displays:

Veggies in bags! (by Vee Garden)

Pyramid containers are by New Wood Manufacturing. I like how the upside-down
pyramid containers echo the overall upside-down pyramid silhouette, by placing
the smaller pyramid at the bottom rather than the top, as is done traditionally.

This container planting by Studio AB was just succulent perfection coupled
with hardy cyclamen.

Clever use of cymbals by Sunnyside Nursery.

Yes, there's music in this display from West Seattle Nursery via the
subtle "tink" of the brass cups as they float about in the bowl.

And if the show itself didn't have enough to satisfy you, all you had to do was look around the Washington State Convention Center itself:

For more images from the show, featuring the display gardens, see my earlier post:  Why Did I Go To The Northwest Flower & Garden Show...

 

Yet to come:  Pike Place Market