Monday, February 19, 2018

A shout-out to some of my favorite vendors at the NWFG Festival

While I didn't buy anything at the recent Northwest Flower and Garden Show/Festival I still appreciate my favorite vendors that continue to show up year after year. Christianson's hauls in quite the vast quantity of plants and plant related items.

This Portulaca molokiniensis tempted me. Not hardy but it's a looker.

It makes me happy to see such a wide variety of plants at a show that seems to have fewer and fewer pant buying opportunities.

I carried around one of those grey-leaved Grevilleas for awhile (on the floor, there's one left, behind the three green leaved ones), then I talked myself out of it. Later I talked myself back into it (after all it's my duty to support the plant vendors!) but when I returned they were all gone! Oh well...

This is a good combo!

Christianson's also had two extraordinary pieces of jewelry on display, a pin...

And a collar (?). They looked to be vintage, they were lovely. And too expensive for me.

Swansons keeps on showing up too...

I think they had this same "fern table on glass" thing in their booth last year.

No worries, those are not real fish.

Love that container, the ribbed metal one.

Although over in the Ravenna Gardens booth...

Was the actual vintage version that my heart pines for.

Everybody loved this book...

I still love the hanging octopus planters...

And giant Monstera leaves are always a good thing.

Kokedama is still popular.

I like the knotted twine accent.

Now that I've finally made peace with the fact there's a huge vintage market in the corner (instead of plant vendors) I actually kind of enjoy it.

After all it's better than gutter covers or hot tubs.

I should have bought one of these...

And enjoyed checking out the vintage barware at Raising the Bar, from Spokane.

Have you missed my posts from Paris? I still have a lot to share!

Love those Royal Copley vases... (I collect them)...

That's a wrap on my coverage of the 2018 NWFG Festival!

Weather Diary, Feb 18: Hi 44, Low 32/ Precip .21" a mix of snow, sleet and rain. As of Feb 19 morning there is snow on the plants and lawns, roads are clear.

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

18 comments:

  1. I didn't even notice the fern table on glass at the Swanson's booth, I like it, but not sure it would work actually out in the garden. I like stone or metal better. It looks very classy though. Are the Royal Copley vases the matched pair with the branches on them? I looked at those too. I am seeing Eiffel Towers everywhere now, there were more just the other day.

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    1. Ya, a big sheet of glass in the garden kind of gives me the shivers. Yes, those are the Royal Copley vases. I tend to be drawn to the green and brown ones and the black ones but have a few of the pink ones.

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  2. Swanson's has a lot of well-done fern tables on stone at the nursery. Maybe they just scraped this on off to put on glass for the show? You highlighted some great show vendors and, like you, I'm happy to see that so many plant vendors make the effort.

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    1. Last year after the show I visited Swansons and took several photos of their fern tables. I was disappointed to see many of them were gone this year.

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  3. Even though you did not buy any plants, you are lucky that typically your weather is such that you can make purchases. Our garden show has houseplants but it's in early feb. and it will be months before we can plant. Makes the show much more boring without all those great plants to look at. I love those gray containers, too. I think they may actually be some kind of trash bin. And yes, great book title. Too funny but perfect.

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    1. Oh I make purchases year round, and then have to tuck them some where safe when the weather isn't such that planting is a good idea. Too wet, too cold, too hot and dry...

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  4. Christianson's has become one of my favorites at the show. They always seem to have something I just can't leave behind. That's where I found my Podocarpus 'Chocolate Box' last year.

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    1. I'd love to visit their nursery someday. Have you been?

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  5. For reasons I can't explain, those owl pots (shown with the octopus planters) are calling me. Now I'll have to go on-line to see if I can find them or something similar.

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    1. Agreed, I thought they were pretty great too.

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  6. When I was last at the NWGFS I drooled at all the plant possibilities for purchase and then managed to pack quite a few Tillandsias into my suitcase. It saddens me that fewer vendors are selling these days, but it takes a lot of work and a whole lot of plants to make a profit. But, I say with pride, I still have some amazing doll body parts to turn into ??? when I pull them out of storage. I loved the Vintage market!

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    1. OMG!! You packed and moved your doll parts? That's hilarious.

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  7. The pin you were admiring looks similar to some of the vintage Trifari made in the 50s and 60s. They were sold in the better department stores. Lots of cool pins like that on Ebay. You can find them at estate sales too. I collected vintage pins of leaves, flowers, and insects for awhile thinking I would make a brooch bouquet of them. There are some crazy fun insect ones out there. Cheers, Alyson

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    1. I have a some Trifari that was my grandmothers, thanks for making that connection. Perhaps it's time for me to dust off my eBay shopping skills....

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  8. I love how well you show the West Coast style- bold contrast in color, bold contrast in texture, size, form... in inspiration to be tried, translated, and customizes into all the other gardening regions.

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    1. I dunno why exactly but your words inspire me!

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  9. So many plants to see! I loved looking at your pictures. BTW, where do you find these octopus planters? I thought Potted carried them but no more, it seems.

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    1. DIGS here in Portland used to, not sure if they're on their online shop or not: https://shopdigsportland.com/collections/all

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