NW Flower & Garden Show

I'm usually a lurker on this particular forum...When I first found DG, I thought-"Oh, I'm Pacific Northwest"...ah, not even close. But I enjoy this forum, so I do hang out occasionally.
Question...Any tips for attending the NW Flower Show?
Barbara

Comfortable shoes and the ability to tolerate large crowds.

Hi Chocolatemoose! During the week is usually less crowded, and it seems when I've gone there's a lull in the crowds mid/late afternoon or so.

I second what Susybell said, mid-week is always better. Comfortable shoes are a must, a good backpack or shoulder bag, a sack lunch (it can get pretty pricey there and the line for the Subway sandwich shop in the Convention Center is outrageous.) And of course your camera!

I always go mid week. Take a day off work, wear comfortable shoes and drag my poor DH around to carry all the goodies I buy. (I bring a big beach bag for easy carrying) and I take my camera to snap pictures of things I like and want to remember. I can't remember which it is, but one of the Portland shows also has wine tasteing....DH always volunteers to go with me to that one. lol

Thanks all!
I fly in Tuesday afternoon. Will do the show on Wednesday & Thursday. (Interspersed with a little Seattle clothes shopping.) Fly back home Friday morning.
It will be a nice little winter break. One of my Christmas gifts from my DH!

Hope you have a great trip down and enjoy the show. You are always welcome here. Do they even have a FAR NORTH forum? I think you belong here since you are Northwest of everything.

Thanks Willow! Nope, no Far North. So I float between Pacific NW (which is currently 55-65 degrees warmer than I am), Canadian(where I never post, but am closer to) and Cool Climate (which stays pretty quiet most of the time). Laughed when I read your "you are Northwest of everything"...Hmm, maybe I should see if DG has a Siberian forum...LOL

My brother who lives in Indian, AK is now 55 and getting tired of the cold and dark. He works in construction so there is little to do in the winter. He might move to Spokane. Where it is still wide open country and fewer people and then spend the summers in AK. He's been there for 25 years.

Hi there how is Sunday for going to the show? Susan, Tory and I are going to go. Tory is help Far reaches on Saturday if anyone want to say. First delivery of plants came in. Oh yeah. 6 deliveries next week. Christmas in semi trucks. I love it. Heidi

Heidi-
Hug the pups for me! Scrappy sends his love!

I will be attending on Wednesday probably after 1pm then staying to 5-5:30 when I get my son from daycare.

Yep. $16 ticket, $11 parking, $53 dollars on succulets, and a good time. I really breezed through most of it. It only took 3 hours.

Analog, what did you get??? I did not attend the show this year because I always stay too long and spend too much money. But I love the succulent vendor, if it's the same one that usually is there. Hot pots or something like that? I can spend a lot of time in their booth. Not to mention money.

I'll be going Fri & Sat. Friday is for me to be a plant geek and to do a little shopping. Saturday is to spend with a friend I don't get to see a lot because she's in B'ham. She's not a big gardener, so toning down my geekiness beforehand will make it more fun for her.

AnalogDog...HOW did you do it in three hours???...LOL I could spend three days!
Guess it's because most of you have access to this stuff all the time. I am in total awe, with an incredible case of zone-envy. My spending is limited by what I can get home on the plane or have shipped, but it is an incredible experience. I also can't grow 3/4 of what's here, but that just slows me down, doesn't stop me from trying a few new things, along with drooling over the ones I can grow with a few extra steps.
And coming down here to see things blooming, budding and green is a much needed breath of spring! No jacket for me these last two days...LOL

How did you feel the show compared to previous years, now that it has a new owner?

Who IS the new owner, by the way? Anyone know?

Me, I just found the exotic plants section, found a seller (at rock bottom prices) of caucidiforms, and bought a pile. Picked up a Cyclamen coum for a good price at a place that had them all over. Looked at greenhouses, took some pictures, joined Plant Amnesty and met some old friends at the native plant society. Looked at the pretty landscapes, but they are way out of my league, and went home.

Many could spend the whole day, I did not even try, as I don't do Dahlias or Lilies and want the best. I don't do orchids. To see the plants I did by and look for my recent post in Caudiciforms.

The new owner is O'laughlin, who has been doing the Tacoma and Portland shows for years. They're Tacoma-based, too. http://www.otshows.com/ :) It'll be interesting to see what they've changed.

There's a Caudiciforms forum?

Rob, there are native west coast lilies, y'know-and they're delightful. (lilium columbianum, lilium pardalinum are the PNW ones) And they are sometimes available through bulb vendors or native plant sales. L. Pard is easier to grow in home gardens as they kind of like wet feet. L. Columbianum prefers it on the dryer side, which is trickier.

Nothing or anything against lily or dahalia growers or landscapers in general, I just like weird inside plants. Over adding to my current collection.

I know who to give my succulents to when I'm tired of them, if that even happens.

I hope they did a better job than the Tacoma show, which is kind of pathetic and embarrassing, actually.

They kept a lot of the staffing from the previous folks-that's probably helped.
Oddly, there are two shows in PDX. There's a Yard, Garden & Patio Show done by someone else, and the Portland Yard and Garden show, done by McLoughlin.
YGP is next week, the other is at the end of Feb. They're both cheaper with easier parking than Seattle.

Anyone got any lunch suggestions?

I went to the NWFG Show last night. I wasn't going to go this year but my daughter wanted to go so we went. I've gone every year for at least the last 10 years possibly more and I thought this was the smallest show ever. A lot of vendors that have always been there are not there this year. The display gardens were much smaller than they've ever been although much more realistic in some cases. Much more vegetable garden type displays than I remember ever seeing. A great one in which a truck was planted as a vegetable garden in the engine compartment and bed. The interior was a chicken coop, with old file cabinets whose drawers were used as nests. It was really creative.
I bought all of 3 plants, 2 Red Tiger abutilons and a lemon thyme, that was it.

I spent all day there because I got dropped off so my DH could work all day. It seemed fairly crowded, but I agree that it wasn't as good as usual. If I could have left earlier, I would have. I didn't buy many plants either. I replaced a few things that died, but not a lot of new things. I did buy an orchid for my mom for valentine's day, and a garden basket. It seemed to me that many vendors had smaller booths than usual and the selection was less than in other years. I can't decide if that was due to the change in vendor, the economy, or maybe with people making other commitments because they thought it was cancelled-or all three???

For the first time, I'm wishing I didn't have to go back tomorrow. On the other hand, I'll be able to concentrate on enjoying seeing a friend I rarely get to see because we live at the opposite ends of the state. I also deliberately just walked through the display gardens without stopping to look so they'll seem fresh and fun tomorrow. The bummer is that I know it's going to be much more crowded to see them tomorrow. I did notice the front of the truck, though.

Even only been once before, 3 or 4 years ago, I did notice several vendors missing. (Specifically Donahues and the clematis vendors).

I also thought the booths were smaller, but in chatting with a few vendors, I attributed this to vendors scaling down due to the economy.

Overhearing a lot of conversations, I was sensing the locals felt prices were high, but there are so many options in the PNW, you can price shop. I found it interesting hearing the viewpoints of the locals as opposed to my being from out of the area. I was stressing because I couldn't get things home, as I thought the prices were pretty good, but that's in comparison to what our nurseries will charge for a plant 1/2 the size...Guess I'm just used to the ridiculous prices, but NOT the ridiculous TAXES...LOL

I am a Master Gardener (which is not really a big deal...) and president of our local garden club, so I attended several of the seminars for personal growth and inspiration. I enjoyed each seminar I selected and was sorry I missed a few because I lost track of time.

I thought even if it was scaled down, the show was still pretty incredible...I'm already planning to go back next year and will take a bigger empty suitcase...

I went to the show Thursday from 10:00 to 2:00. Enjoyed looking at the gardens but they never seem to be realistic. The plants seem to be planted to close but creative. The vendor that I missed was the geranium guy from Killdeer farms. I had about 8 differenet tri-color and specialized geraniums. I over winter them every year but forgot about them in the shed when we had the freeze in late Nov. Soo sad. I was looking to replace.

That company Killdeer farms has bad comments on this site so i'm not going to mail order from him. Have any of you ordered from them. Do any of you have a nusery that carries specialty geraniums like Ms. Cox, Frank Headley, star of persia. I did buy 2 hellebours, 2 Japanese Painted Ferns and a Darmera peltata "doonan Form" (The flower is cool, never seen this before)

Springcolor - contact Wells Medina Nursery in Bellevue.
They specialize in the unusual.
Also - if i know what people are looking for, I keep a watch while I nursery hop.
So, I will make note of these & let you know if i find.

Katye

Thank you and I will try Wells

Well, I ended up having a wonderful day today with my friend. We talked and talked and talked and talked and shopped and shopped, and bought some things. Some prices were not bad, some were not good. We mainly concentrated on the non-plant stuff that I don't usually pay as much attention to, the things that are lots more fun to look at with a friend.

Linda, the vegie garden with the truck sounds like fun! Do you have any photos of it?

I forgot to take a camera, and usually my daughter has hers at all times but left it in her truck when I picked her up. Dang it. Hopefully someone else who went will get a picture.

Linda, wish I had know you wanted Abutilon 'red tiger'. I have three rooted cuttings in the greenhouse. I was trying to give those away last year and had no takers, if you can imagine! It's a stunning abutilon. You will love it.
Please check your dmail, if you will, Linda, as I have dmailed you a question about some seeds.
I wonder if Heidi enjoyed the show.
Chocolatemoose, you are right that we can price shop in the PNW for plants more than we realize. I'm always amazed at how much we can buy, and at what good prices for the size of plants.

Springcolor, I know that Watsons here in the south end carries quite an assortment of the scented geraniums. They are also very helpful, and if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can call and find out if they carry them. It is a bit of a drive for you, but is just a wonderful place to visit, and well worth it to find "exactly" what you want.

Rarejem,

I have printed Wells info and will look up Watsons. My friend and I like to check out new nuseries. Thanks

No new D-mail showing for me Pix, do you think it got hijacked by a higher power?

I'm interested to know if an abutilon could be grown as a house plant. I tried to grow one a few years ago, but it didn't make it through the winter even though I put it in a tool shed during the cold snaps.

So where was I when you were trying to give away "red tiger" cuttings? I just got a teeny tiny little start of him this spring... it is just a beautiful plant!

Holly, that is what I am going to try to do with my "red tiger" this next winter..... houseplant. I have absolutely NO room in my greenhouse for any more plants of any size, and besides... what a joy it would be to see those blooms in the winter!

well - they actually do ok indoors, but the aphids will find them in a nano-second. they grew & grew - my savitzii became a shrub. i cut it back & it is back on its way to shrubdom. Harvest Moon was flowering itself to death & then got bigger & NO SPACE!
I have cuttings - Savitzii has white & green splotched (is that a word?) foliage, melon flowers. Yes they will grow too well indoors. I brought mine in because I did not want them to succumb to the cruelty of Winter, which we never had. Another one of those "don't bring an umbrella & it's sure to rain" situations...

My abutilon do quite well in the garage over the winter. I drag my variegated one outside during the day during warmer spells. My red tiger, which hasn't been going outside, is currently blooming in the garage.(It is under a fluorescent fixture, but it's not as warm nor as bright as grow lights) I think the cooler temps keep them from growing as fast.

Hmmm. I will try again, Linda. Who knows? Things have been hijacked before for unknown reasons. We will chalk it up to my perhaps not pushing the right button, or whatever. I'll do it again.

The abutilons were very popular houseplants during victorian times, which is where they gained their popularity as 'flowering maples'. This year I left mine outside, so I'm glad I did cuttings. I just didn't have room in the greenhouse and I forgot to move them into the garage with the other stuff. Red Tiger is a fast grower so given a little fertilizer you will have a good sized plant fairly soon. In the heat of last year mine went crazy. It is possible they will come back by the roots. They are said to be hardy to zone 8.