Monday, February 27, 2023

Seminars and plant shopping at the NW Flower & Garden Fest

I kicked off my 2023 Northwest Flower & Garden Festival experience on Thursday, Feb 16th. I was there bright and early to hear Eric Hsu (plant information coordinator at Chanticleer Garden) talk about vines. Later I listened to Gary Lewis (author of The Complete Book of Ground Covers and owner of Phoenix Perennials) talk about, you guessed it, groundcovers. Oh and look at that! Then it was my turn to speak...

Thank you to everyone who came to my talk, it was a wonderful turnout! 

Oh look, there's my book hanging out next to my friend Lorene's book...

During his presentation Eric called vines "social climbers" (love that) and reminded us that, like toddlers, vines need training. He also reminded me that I simply must find Kintzley's Ghost honeysuckle. 

The show this year featured more plant vendors than I'd seen there in a long while, most of them selling houseplants (cause they're hot, and easy to haul home from the show). This large display was from the Peace Love and Happiness Club.

I found this part of their booth a little disturbing. I assume it was to keep people from pinching pieces of the trendy plants?

The Alpine Gardens booth, which was obviously a lot more than alpines.

Including some very tempting bromeliads/tillandsia

This cutey in the Sunnyside Nursery booth took kokedama to a new place, pineapples! (that's Cryptanthus 'Elaine' btw).

Rita Lee's was up from Oregon, I should have waited until Hortlandia to buy from them, but grabbed a Deuterocohnia brevifolia for a project I'm working on.

Christianson's always has a fabulous selection of plants and a pretty booth.

And who can resist the Andy's Orchids booth? Certainly not I.

A couple of the houseplant vendors came with their tricked-out trailers...


And the Plant Farm came all the way from Spokane!

I got excited when I saw this vendor on the show's Instagram feed


In person I realized they weren't selling the sweet leaf designs, just the trellis. Bummer.

I was also interested in the artwork of lilbitgarden, that's moss!

So what did I buy? Well I had to have this Vriesea saundersii. I have one that I was given when I toured the Amazon Spheres growing greenhouses back in 2019 (it's still alive!) but haven't seen any others available since then. I love the subtle coloration on this plant.

Yes it was more than I should have spent (not telling how much more), but hey... it's been a tough winter.

This was my Andy's Orchids purchase, a very lush and blooming (so many buds have opened since I took this photo) Maxillaria variabilis...

Aren't those adorable little blooms?

That was to be it, until on my last day at the show made the mistake of walking back thru the Andy's Orchids offerings and noticing the word pyrrosia—you know I am a freak for pyrrosia! This was an entirely different species than the ones I'd seen before, so... it became mine.

Pyrrosia nummularifolia, from Thailand.

Having spotted one pyrrosia I had to look around to make sure I wasn't leaving another behind, thus a Pyrrosia piloselloides (Laos) also came home with me.

More pyrrosia is always a good thing!

I also want to share the exciting news that I finally installed a new subscription link here on the blog—thanks to Tamara for the inspiration!

Blogger dropped the service last summer and those who follow danger garden posts by email were left in the dark, so to speak. The list of verified subscribers from the old service has been transferred to the new service follow.it—but if you haven't received an email from them just click here (or on the link below, or over in the sidebar) and sign up! Yay! 

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16 comments:

  1. I was at the show first thing Wednesday morning, before the doors open, (because I couldn't possible wait another minute...) and happy to see more plant venders than in prior years.
    Your new Pyrrosia babies are fantastic. Excellent find.
    Chavli

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    1. Yay for being there as the doors opened, how fun. I would probably do that too if I lived in Seattle (or near). I'm pretty excited about the new pyrrosia, determined to find some way to "plant" them besides just leaving them on the stick.

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  2. Wow, so many plants, so little money :-) I wish we had anything even remotely like this in Northern California.

    I bought a Kintzley's Ghost honeysuckle a few years ago (can't remember where) but I planted it in spring and it didn't have time to establish before our hot summer.

    Are you going to have a post on YOUR presentation? I love the title (and topic).

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    1. It's too bad the SF show had to end. I only went once, and reports are it was in decline then, but it lots of great gardens and plant venders.

      I have a few more in person presentations of that talk to give, then maybe I'll share a post. Thanks for asking!

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  3. Oh, I envy you the Vriesea! The Lonicera is unique and probably a no-go in my climate but it might be worth a try. Like Gerhard, I'd love to hear/see your presentation. I hope to the NWFGF one day. The closest thing we have is the South Coast Plaza Garden Show, scheduled for April, which looks like it's going to have a substantial number of plant vendors - and Muradian pottery and garden displays - again this year.

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    1. I want to respect the fact I still have a few more paid talks to give, then maybe I'll to a blog post on it.

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  4. The lilbitgarden moss art is beautiful! I'll third the interest in your presentation. The poor plants under plastic, makes me feel claustrophobic lol.

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    1. Yes! That's what I was feeling too. So sad that plants have to be kept away from thieves! (unless it was to protect them from damage? keep their air humid?)

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  5. That must have been a great show. Sounds like you had a great time! Congrats on the expansion of your Pyrrosia collection.

    The Vriesea saundersii is very beautiful--all the spots remind me of a Mangave.

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    1. Ha, yep. I thought mangave too, great minds...

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  6. So disappointed to miss the show again this year. Looks like there was a great line up of speakers. Glad your talk went well. Such a great venue to speak in. The new notification link is great.

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    1. Glad you like the link. Maybe you'll make it back in 2024?

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  7. Finally I am back to your blog, Loree! Thank goodness! Love this show!

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  8. Lots of goodies there! Agreed, the hanging display of bag covered plants looks like a dry cleaning shop at best, or a meat hanging locker at worst. Yech. I would have been all over Rita Lee's booth and could always use a few more mini houseplants for my office at work. I am so glad that there is a greater variety of houseplants than there were five years ago, but still in sticker shock given how easy a lot of them are to produce. I've heard from some growers that demand and prices are tapering down.

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    1. You should plan to attend Hortlandia as Rita Lee's will be there.

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