The Fabulous Frondrosa Frolic 2014

An apology:  I so enjoyed this event that I forgot to take pictures of the vendors on the other level.  There was a great sempervivum grower who also had bulbs for saffron crocus.  Their farm produces saffron and it must be beautiful in the fall.  I also didn't take pictures of the artists present, maybe because my hands were too full of a flat of assorted sempervivum and  my latest purchase from Barbara Sanderson of Glass Gardens Northwest. Love her fiddlestix! My mule was there but was already busy carrying plants to the plantmobile.

That being said, the day was gorgeous, the setting, as always, beautiful and the plants - oh the plants!  Several of my favorite growers were in attendance.  The Frondrosa Frolic is, for me, kind of the last hurrah of summer plant sales.  The fall sales are fun but the frolic is a festival of high summer fun where it's easy to believe that the warm weather will last forever!

 Here we see some of the offerings of Celestial Dream Gardens.

The event was well attended and as you can see from the wagon (not mine) that people were happily buying plants!

Wind Poppy Farm and Nursery is a regular vendor at the frolic but I've never visited them.  Must rectify that situation!

Part of Far Reaches Farm area, fabulous as always.

The Desert Northwest had incredible xeric plants including some splendid Australians.

 

Here we see Sean of Cistus knighting a customer.   "You are now Sir Yucca Linearifolia!"

Kelly from Far Reaches entertaining shoppers.

The Frolic is as much about people (plant people, hurray) as it is about plants and it's fun to see folks from Washington and Oregon all together in this one place.  Once the sale closes, the vendors have dinner and most spend the night before heading home, great fellowship opportunity!

You never know who you'll run intohere!  This lovely lady is waiting to purchase plants from the Fern Madame herself, Judith Jones, the organizer of this fun event!

Alison, Nigel, Tom and I arranged to meet here, enjoy the Frolic and rendezvous at the Maltby Café (an unforgettable experience in large and delicious breakfast food - You must go!) before heading to Flower World to look at yet more plants. 

 

Judith's garden is full of mementos of her twenty six years of creating gardens at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.  Do you suppose discs are giant Sluggo pellets?

Judith is a fern grower/exprt and her garden has some lovely examples of those but she's also a plant addict (I say that with a great deal of respect and admiration) as is clear from her other collections.

 

There are several large greenhouses on the property of which only one was full of ferns for sale.  This one, into which I peeked,  houses Judith's growing collection of abutilons among others.   

This newest addition to her garden was from the garden,  Judith created for the 2014 Northwest Flower and Garden Show.   

Unfortunately, she says that this was her last year to create a garden for the show.  What a legacy of participation and creativity she's left and how wonderful for her to have mementos such as  this one of her many creations!

I've always loved chimney pots in gardens and these are very nice!

So many areas to sit and visit or simply ponder the meaning of life in this peaceful garden full of  interesting objects.

I don't remember seeing the bees in previous years but it's possible that I simply missed them.  It was great fun to stand and watch the busy inhabitants of these hives coming and going in a fairly predictable pattern.  I wonder if there are air traffic controllers on top of those rocks?

Another spectabulous memento of a NWFGS garden.  This could come live with me whenever they get tired of it there!

Banners adding a jolt of color to the otherwise green scene.

This area of the garden, where the roots of new trees grow down  from the tops of ancient stumps, is magical.   There are several of these.  Were the trees chopped down at some point?  Forest fire?  Curious. 

There are always surprises in this garden!

The back lawn where meals are served to vendors and friends.   

Tools being this well organized is a sign of a disturbed mind.  Or maybe they just knew that hundreds of people would be traipsing through the garden. 

One last look back at the sales area before we head out for brunch!

 

 There are lots of great businesses on the way to Gold Bar and, as has become our tradition, we stopped at a local grower's roadside stand to get our years supply of fresh peaches.  The freezer is now full of sliced peaches for smoothies, cobblers, and crumbles, and enough peach freezer jam to feed a third world country.  It's kind of pretty in there with the colorful jars of peach and strawberry jam artfully lining the door crammed into every nook and cranny available.  BTW, I found the best peach crumble recipe ever here. Just make it and don't skimp on the butter. 

 

Oh well, as another school year is about to begin and my carefree summer vacation draws to a close, it's fun to look back on another Fabulous Fronderosa Frolic and look forward to the next.  Do plan to attend!

 

See posts about previous Frolics here.   Happy Labor Day to my friends in the U.S.