The Northwest Flower and Garden Show was in Seattle in Mid-February and I was lucky enough to find time to go! I suggested, to my husband, that we should go but before I even got the whole sentence out he was already shaking his head and responding, “Maybe that’s something Diane would like to do with you!” When I told my friend Diane (she’s the one who is working on my blog with me, lives a few doors down, and kid-shared with me to save on child care) we were high fiving and already making plans. Well, life got in the way and the Saturday of the show she texted and told me that we were missing it! We both scrapped our Sunday plans and decided to venture to the BIG city. (Diane works downtown Seattle but I’m terrified of the place. I much prefer small town life to the big city.)
The displays were stunning! I can’t even imagine the amount of work it takes to haul in rocks, dirt, and all of those plants.
My biggest take-away was that I NEED CHICKENS and I need an adorable chicken coop like this one.
Seriously, I left with plans to talk with our Home Owner’s Association and petition to get chickens. My hubby claims that he is 100% sure there will be “someone” sitting at that meeting in the very front row making sure chickens are not allowed. (Can you guess who that “someone” might be and how he is so sure?)
Another take-away is that I can totally make this:
I fell in love with is greenhouse. It was amazing and not horribly expensive. When my kids are grown and I have a bit more time, I think this needs to happen in my yard.
There were several speakers to choose from. We decided to go to a class on landscaping with herbs. Notice that I didn’t say “gardening” and instead said “landscaping”. This speaker showed how to use tons of different herbs in your landscape rather that just putting herbs in a kitchen garden. I learned a lot and wrote down several herbs that I’m going to grow this summer like Bee Balm, All Spice, and Calendula.
Diane has always wanted bees in her yard and when we found this display, I knew she was sold. She bought Mason Bees for her yard and is storing them in her fridge right now. In a few weeks, she’ll hand her bee hive outside and have her own little pollinators. Her kids weren’t thrilled about the idea of bees but Mason Bees rarely sting and don’t even look like bees. They look more like small flies. She will have beautiful flowers and fruit this year thanks to these guys. As much as I would love to add bees to my garden, I just couldn’t pull the trigger. Maybe they’ll fly up to my house and pollinate once in a while.
There were tons of garden books. Many were on clearance since it was the last day of the show and I bought a couple. I even bought a book on backyard chickens for $4.98. I didn’t buy the book below because it wasn’t on sale, but it’s on my wish list.
So, here’s what I learned from my day at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show:
*I need chickens. I need them now.
*There are so many DIY garden crafts that I should be working on.
*Someday I will have a greenhouse.
*I’m going to try using herbs as landscape plants this summer and see how I like it.
*I need to buy herbs in bulk, rather than just 2 or 3 to put in a kitchen garden. I need a whole border of parsley.
*I’m buying a 2-day pass for the garden show next year because I could spend an entire day in classes and listening to speakers.
Happy gardening!
