Still life with Space Needle (The Northwest Flower and Garden Show 2012, part two…the plants!)

During the NWFG Show we stayed in a hotel near Seattle Center and the Space Needle. Naturally I wanted my plant purchases to benefit from what natural light was available so I lined them up on the window sill. Then I noticed the Space Needle peeking out from between them.

I don’t know why but I’ve never lost my joy at spotting the Needle. Even when I lived in Seattle I’d turn a corner, see it and smile…it’s the man-made landmark equivalent of Mt Rainer to the south. Naturally I couldn’t let this photo opportunity pass by undocumented.

My purchases at the show included a Banksia marginata (from The Desert Northwest, so glad to see some of Ian’s plants at the show!)

Grevillea ‘Poorinda Leane’

Grevillea victoriae

Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum)

And a couple of Euphorbia tirucalli (Sticks on Fire) which were too short for their own window portrait but you can make them out in the group shot if you look close.

So that’s what I bought, but of course I came away from the show with several new plant crushes. In the display gardens I fell for Salvia apiana, or White Sage. This plant has been on my Annie’s Annuals wishlist for awhile but this is the first time I’ve seen it in person.

Grevillea x gaudichaudii, love those leaves! I'm afraid this one is going to be hard to find.

This one was labeled as Pyrrosia sheareri but the photos I see when I look up that name don’t entirely jive with what I saw at the show. Now granted of course the lighting made it impossible to really see the plant.

What do you think?

Sophora microphylla, again bad lighting for taking a picture but this one was a beauty.

An entire container planted with Yucca aloifolia ‘Purpurea’ makes a statement doesn’t it?

So much so that I almost missed what was right next to it, a Euphorbia I’ve never heard of Euphorbia characias 'Portuguese Velvet'

Beautiful, and evidently I’m not the only one who thinks so, click here to read the description Kelley of Far Reaches Farm wrote for this plant.

At first glance I thought this was a baby pink Kniphofia (try not to be scared by the glowing Zebra).

But it’s not. The kind fellow manning the booth (from the Buchart Gardens) told me it’s name, which I promptly forgot. I believe it’s a bulb from South Africa? (*update it's Velthemia capensis, more info here*)

Every year I’m tempted by this Erica ‘Winter Fire”

Every year I manage to pass it by.

Here I thought I had discovered a new Acacia, but it was labeled simply Acacia pravissima. The stems look so much darker than the ones I’ve got...striking!

A little succulent eye-candy in the Monrovia booth.

And finally I would be remiss not to mention the fabulous seminars I enjoyed at the show. I learned about building vertical succulent gardens with Robin Stockwell from the nursery Succulent Gardens. I heard Dan Hinkley talk about survivors at his garden in Indianola, WA (and a few of his plant hunting adventures) and Lucy Hardiman discuss winning plant combinations.

On a whim I decided to attend the lecture by Stephen Orr and was I glad I did, he was an excellent speaker. He touched on subjects from his book Tomorrow’s Garden as well as from his “day job” as Editorial Director for Gardening at Martha Stewart Living. When recounting his travels in preparation for writing the book he mentioned a visit to Portland, and noted that here people seem to garden with an eye towards the street. Making a garden with the purpose of sharing it, instead of hiding it away in the back yard. Since he was speaking in Seattle this wasn’t a lame attempt to earn points with the crowd, in fact he expressed concern that Seattleites might hate Portland, a "rivalry" kind of thing. Much to my relief the crowd assured him that wasn’t the case. When talking about the new issue of MSL and a story he did profiling three popular garden bloggers he asked “what is it with garden bloggers?” every garden blogger offers you a cocktail when you visit their garden! What can I say, we are an entertaining bunch! In case you haven’t seen the new issue of MSL that he was referring to it’s worth checking out…after all Martha is on the cover with Agaves!