The flowers and the bees...

There are a couple of hotels we like stay at when in Seattle for the NWFG Fest, this year we chose the Coast Seattle on 6th Ave (formerly the Hilton). Since it was a tad chilly during the garden show (mornings started out in the low 30's) I took advantage of the hotel's underground concourse, which put me within a few feet of the Convention Center without having to go outside. Part of the walk takes you through the lobby area of Union Square (a high-rise office building complex), where several bright floral arrangements caught my eye.

Seeing them as I came and went over multiple days, I found myself studying the components. At first I was put off by the mix of what I think of as fancy tropicals (the red ginger, Alpinia purpurata I believe, and Anthurium) with more pedestrian Alstroemeria and (gasp!) Hydrangea. They just don't belong together! 

But why not? My garden is a mix of plants from far flung places, and I don't mind that mix up. The colors and textures of the flowers certainly work together—and it's not like they stuck daisies in the mix. The more I questioned my aversion the more I started to warm to the combination.

Here's another, smaller, version with the addition of Moluccella laevis (bells of Ireland), and maybe Eustoma in the center? The larger arrangement feels intentional, where as this one kind of had the look of being made of leftovers. I certainly don't mean that as a bad thing.

There was a florist, Floral Masters, in the building, off to the side on one of the escalator levels. Surely these must be their work? They weren't open when I passed by.

There were several open seating areas spread throughout the lobby, typically there were groups chatting, or solo folks working. Remarkably, all the tables had flowers...

A ceiling reflection.

Spaces with a little more privacy, still with flowers.

What a nice touch.

Hmmm, what's that going on outside?

Be hives!

Bees work too, sometimes adjacent to people working in fancy office building areas.

This was the view from our hotel room. The shorter building in the foreground is the Washington Athletic Club, behind it US Bank Center, which was known as Pacific First Centre back when I lived in Seattle in the 1990's. I managed a store for Williams Sonoma on the ground floor of that building.  

Looking a little to the left we could see a tiny slice of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains between Century Square (the building with the curved tops) and Rainier Square, the dark building with the setbacks. Can you make out the dark dot on the far right side top of the curved glass of Century Square? That's a person. Cleaning the glass? Doing a repair? Dunno, but I do know you couldn't pay me enough to be that person.

The Bit at the End

Do you know the word solastalgia? I just recently learned of it. Coined by Glenn Albrecht and derived from solacium (comfort) and algia (pain), it represents the loss of solace from a changing home environment. Wikipedia says: "Solastalgia is a form of emotional or existential distress caused by negatively perceived environmental change." If you're curious there's further explanation on the Climate Psychiatry Alliance page; here.

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All material © 2009-2026 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.