A Couple of Favorites from the Nortwest Flower and Garden Show

 

There were a lot of wonderful gardens at the show this year!  One of my favorites was The Lost Gardener - A Journey from the Wild to the Cultivated.  The use of several Schefflera macrophyllas alone made my heart palpitate.

 

 The Lost Gardener was designed by RHR Horticulture and Landwave designs aka Riz Reyes.  It is always amazing to me that in seventy two hours, the convention center is magically (Riz would probably say that three sleepless days of work is not really magic) transformed into a series of amazing gardens.  What is even more impressive is that this is Mr. Reyes first garden entry in the show. 

The Lost Gardener was a plant nerd paradise which included many unusual favorites.  Note the Schefflera taiwaniana to the lower left of it's larger cousin.  The garden could not simply be taken in in a cursory walk by as it was so packed with great green treasures that more and more became apparent as one lingered.  Although the stars of the garden (for me) were the less common plants, there were also some great common workhorses like Viburnum davidii playing an important role.

Is that a nolina?  In looking at Riz's plant list I noticed that I missed spotting a few plants. 

 So much green goodness and the use of Cardiocrinum giganteum  seed pods is way cool!  This is a garden at which I wouldn't mind staring for quite a while!

 Another favorite was A Hobbit's New Zeland Garden created by the Arboretum Foundation.   Of course, I loved the phormiums and cordylines.  Are those tree ferns adorable or what?

 It's difficult to see but in the middle of the picture there is a little stream with a fogger that added more mystery and magic to the scene.

 The slope that you saw in the first picture is the roof of this hobbit home.  If this whole thing could be transported to my back yard I'd be a happy man.

 Wouldn't this be a great tool shed/ space to store the lawn mower.  Now let's see, if our garage mysteriously burned to the ground, do you suppose the insurance company would allow us to replace it with this?

There are many more wonderful gardens and ideas to share from the NWFGS. 

 

I'll leave you with this shot taken in the "Vintage Marketplace"  which represents what I heard a lot of over the last few days. No, not a whole lot of nothing but rather ooo's (and aah's too.)