Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Part 1: The Gardens

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show this past weekend celebrated its 25 years of existence by featuring display gardens inspired by the silver screens of Hollywood.  The best of the best included "A Hobbit's New Zealand Garden" designed & built by the creative folks at the Washington Park Arboretum.

A Hobbit's New Zealand Garden
I had no idea Middle Earth contained so many cool plants.
Every single plant in this display is indigenous to New Zealand and will become part of the New Zealand garden in the Arboretum (not sure if the hobbit hole is included).

Here are a few other display garden highlights from the show:

The Road to Oz
Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion on their way to the Emerald City.
A River Runs Through It
Beautiful use of an approximately 15' x 15' space
Aliens on Vacation
Odd yet interesting.  This was a very popular display.
Audrey's Roman Holiday
A nice Mediterranean-style garden that brings the indoors outside.
Urban Castaways
These palm trees were HUGE!
Honey, I Shrunk The Yard
Bonsai plants do sort of make you feel like a giant.
Sharing Stone

Renewal: Enchanted April in the Northwest
This is my new favorite type of fencing.
Finally, this next garden was designed by a friend of mine, Riz Reyes of RHR horticulture, and was inspired by the jungles in King Kong, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park.  He has a great eye for detail, color, balance & contrast.  When you add on top of that a ton of cool plants such as Schefflera macrophylla, Wollemia nobilis, Fatsia polycarpa, Nolina nelsonii, Cyclamen coum, Podophyllum delavayi, Cardiocrinum giganteum, and Rhododendron sinogrande well, you end up taking a good chunk of the awards.

The Lost Gardener: A Journey From the Wild to the Cultivated
Looking at it from the more "cultivated" side
The "wild" side of the same garden
Stay tuned for part 2 coming up later in the week!!

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