Northwest Flower & Garden Show 2013

March 1, 2013

Living Amongst the Stars, the Garden Takes Center Stage

Our garden at the 2013 Northwest Flower & Garden Show was a contemporary outdoor space- an intimate garden for two- to get away, and become one with the space, to become a different character than our 8 to 5 selves; one that is deeply grounded in the present moment and not in the busyness of life and its to-do lists. Like good movies do, we aimed to captivate our audience and draw them in to our garden; the way you feel when you get lost in the plot of a movie, becoming the character that you are watching.

Good movies also always have an interesting location, some sort of conflict, mystery, drama, and an underlying message. The underlying message of ‘Living Amongst the Stars’, is that we are all part of something much bigger: a universe that connects each and every one of us. Star-gazing changes our perspective and helps us to see that we, and the problems we sometimes perceive as being so large, are minuscule in the context of an infinite universe.

Creating a garden like this truly takes a team of people and I couldn’t be more grateful for the team we had to work with! I would like to express special thanks to the very special people and companies for working with us to create our gold medal award-winning garden (in no particular order):

Fred and Fred Jr. Moore from M & M Irrigation for their long hours and fabulous carpentry skills building our garden walls and cabana

Mike and the great crew from Bear Creek Landscaping for bringing in the huge Monkey Puzzle tree, their hard work and great attitudes building the garden

Joel from Closer to Nature Landscaping for his hard work and diligence and help in building the garden

Bill Neidermeyer from Mukilteo Cedar and Phil Schneider from Midway Plywood for generously donating all the lumber for the garden

Angela and Stepstone, Inc. for donating the oh-so-popular modular pre-cast concrete pavers

Jennifer Gilbert Asher from Terra Sculpture for creating the beautiful ‘Kismet’ sculpture

Charlie and Diamond Spas for the providing us the stunning stainless steel spa

April and Mike from Luma Stream for providing installing the LED lighting fixtures and ultra-cool colored lights that set the tone for the garden

Dave Hunt and staff from Intuitive Integration for programming the lighting and providing the booming sound system for the garden

Matt Roberts, creator of the concrete lounges (the original inspiration for the garden)

AW Pottery for loaning us pots for the garden

Bedrock Industries for providing the tumbled recycled glass for our water feature

John Dunton, stone sculptor, from On the Rocks for creating our stone table and sculpture

Rock Mountain Products for loaning us the stainless steel gazing balls, granite tiles, and pump for the water feature

Simply Rocks for felt and liner for our water feature

Marenakos Rock Center for delivering and setting the black granite steps (this show could not exist with out them!)

Sawdust Supply Company who provides the unseen (but crucial!) filler for the garden- sawdust!

Don Marshall, staff and students that forced and took care of our plants at Lake Washington Institute of Technology (my Alma mater) and well as helping us set up the garden

Kirsten Lints from Gardens Alive Design for helping to procure plant material

Jaquelyn Davis, Jeannie McNeil (thanks for all the food that kept us going!) and WSNLA and the entire volunteer crew that took part in the set up and take down

Ben and staff at  Windmill Gardens for forcing our bulbs and perennials

Kern and staff and  The Bark & Garden Center for delivering and loaning us plant material

Charlie from Western Nursery Sales for delivering and loaning us plant material

Kathy and Ella from Wetlands & Woodlands for loaning us plant material

And to the following nurseries for donating plant material:

Van Klavern’s Nursery

Bailey Nurseries

Blooming Nursery

Briggs Nursery

Chimmacum woods nursery

Little Prince of Oregon

Robinswood Nursery

Skagit gardens

Sunbreak Nursery

Woodbrook Nursery

We could not have created this garden without all of you! To everyone who has donated and loaned items to us for the show we want you to know how much we appreciate not only your generosity but your faith in us to do you products justice- I hope we did you proud!

And, finally I must give a big thank you to my team of Kyrssie Maybay and Devin Golob– for your hard work and incredible talent in designing and creating the garden. And to John, for creating the amazing play list for the garden and for his continued support and encouragement throughout this process. Also to Gina Mazzaferro Photograpy for the beautiful shots of the garden.

And lastly, to Cyle, Janet and the many others that are the nuts and bolts of the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, for without their hard work and dedication there would be no show for all of us to enjoy!

Until next time….

Heidi

http://youtu.be/O0QspLcDwbs

 

Plant list

Trees
Araucaria araucana Monkey Puzzle tree
Cotinus coggygria ‘Ancot’ Golden Spirit Smoke Tree
Pinus   densiflora ‘Golden Ghost’ Golden Ghost Japanese Red Pine
Cryptomeria   japonica ‘Elegans Aurea’ Japanese Cedar
Cryptomeria   japonica ‘Rein’s Dense’ Rein’s Dense Japanese Cedar
Shrubs
Abelia x grandiflora   ‘Kaleidoscope’ Kaleidoscope Abelia
Ceanothus  thyrsiflorus ‘El Dorado’ El Dorado California   Lilac
Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’ Spreading Japanese Plum Yew
Cephalotaxus   harringtonia Japanese Plum Yew
Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Fastigiata’ Upright Japanese Plum Yew
Choisya   ternata ‘Sundance’ Mexican Orange
Grevillea ‘Marshal Olbrich’ Royal Grevillea
Hebe ‘Karo Golden Esk’ Karo Golden Hebe
Fatsia   japonica Japanese Aralia
Nandina domestica ‘Fire Power’ Fire Power Heavenly Bamboo
Nandina   ‘Moyer’s Red’ Moyer’s Red Heavenly bamboo
Pittosporum   tobira ‘Wheelers Dwarf’ Wheeler’s Dwarf Japanese Mock Orange
Rhododendron ‘Mallotum’ Mallotum Rhododendron
Rhododendron   pseudochrysanthum Pseudochrysanthum   Rhododendron
Tropical and marginally hardy plants
Alpina zerumbet `Variegata` Variegated Ginger
Abutilon spp. Chinese Bellflower
Brugmansia spp. Angel’s Trumpet
Codiaeum variegatum Croton
Punica granatum ‘Orange   Blossom Special’ Orange Blossom Special Dwarf Pomegranate
Edgeworthia chrysantha Chinese Paper Bush
Rhododendron Sinogrande Sinogrande Rhododendron
Perrenials
Acanthus   mollis Bear’s Breeches
Crocosmia   ‘Lucifer’ Lucifer Crocosmia
Helleborus   ‘Jacob’ Jacob Hellebore
Sagina   subulata ‘aurea’ Scotch Moss
Ferns
Dryopteris erythrosora   ‘Brilliance’ Brilliance Autumn Fern
Polystichum  polyblepharum Tassle Fern
Grass-like plants
Acorus gramineus ‘Oborozuki’ Golden Sweet Flag
acorus gramineus ‘ogon’ Golden Dwarf Sweet Flag
Carex trifida ‘Rekohu Sunrise’ Variegated Tataki Grass
Liriope muscari ‘Big Blue’ Big Blue Lilyturf
Phormium ‘Wings of Gold’ New Zealand Flax
Yucca aloifolia   ‘purpurea’ Purple Leaf  Spanish Dagger
Bulbs
Hyacinth   ‘Carnegie’ Carnegie Hyacinth
Narcissus   ‘Tiritomba’ Tiritomba Split Cup Daffodil
Lilium   ‘Venezuela’ Venezuela Oriental Lily
Lilium   ‘Montenegro’ Monte Negro Asiatic Lilly
Narcissus   ‘Double Beauty’ Double Beauty Double daffodil
Narcisiss   ‘ Tritomba’ Tritomba Double Daffodil
Tulipa   ‘Frohnleiten’ Frohnleiten Tulip

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