The Tacoma Home and Garden Show - The Plant Vendors (Both of Them)

It's sad that there aren't as many plant vendors at big shows as there once were.  However, it's the market that drives such things so, while it's nice to find plant treasures at such events, it's more of a surprise than an expectation.  Speaking of nice surprises, the two plant vendors represented did a bang-up job of display and offered some great plants.  I was especially proud of our own Willow Tree Gardens and Interiors' space and plant offerings.

The sign that always draws gardeners like moths to a flame. 

The Tacoma Show is always in January, a difficult time to sell plants as winter is still in full swing. BTW, The Garage is a cocktail lounge, a nice new addition for those more interested in plant-based beverages than plants. 

Don't these tables make you long for those long summer evenings spent outside?

A second sighting of Lavendula 'Meerlo.' It almost came home with me but as it was the last one they had, it stayed behind for someone who really needed it to find.

Cute motorcycle and side car.   Did you notice the plant on the far right of the picture?

That's Carpenteria californica 'Elizabeth,' an evergreen with  sweet white flowers in the summer and interesting flaking bark.  Mine thrives in the hell strip with little water in the summer.  Worth the search or you could just stop by Willow Tree. 

There were a few nice indoor plant offerings as well. 

Reminders that spring is just around the corner.  For some reason I didn't photograph all four of these seasonal displays.  It was really interesting to see the autumn and winter displays alongside spring and summer.  A nice reminder of the year's cycle.

More delicious evergreen foliage. 

Let's face it, you're a good looking guy but perhaps you could run a comb through your hair. 

Mak Lilies & Perennials, the other plant vendor at the show has been there before and again laid out a nice display, including live blooms.

Because it's January,  there offerings were all sold  as dormant stock.(Technically lily bulbs never go truly dormant as some others do.) Anyway, there were lots of perennials including these sea creature looking eremurus and lots of beautiful - looking hemerocallis.  If allowed to linger here, several things would have come home with me but it's so early in the season, Willow Tree is local so things can be purchased there when my car is only a few steps from the cash register, I might not get things planted because the ground is still to saturated to dig, and blah, blah, blah  (Way to support the plant vendors at the show, dumb-ass.)  Note to self:  If you want to see more plant vendors at this show, you'd better support them!  (Is that a great excuse for buying more plants or what? )

Many thanks to both plant vendors for all the hard work to make the plant sale part of the show a delightful experience!

Stay tuned for more from the Tacoma Show!