Dig Customer Appreciation Event with Richie Steffen and Some Surprises

On June seventh, Sylvia and Ross at Dig Nursery threw a customer appreciation event which included delicious refreshments and  a demonstration of the creation of a fern table  by Richie Steffen, curator of the Elizabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden and author of a new book entitled The Plant Lover's Guide to Ferns, which was favorably reviewed by Dominique Browning in the New York Times Book Review.  There were also drawings for prizes.  It was quite a party!

Lots of basil including a variety called lettuce leaf or something like that.  The leaves are much larger than standard basil - perfect for sandwiches!

Tom and I arrived a bit early so that I could scope out the nursery.  Blogging pal Alison pulled into the parking lot at the same time and we had fun checking out plants together!  As we walked in, a familiar person (from Linda Reeder's Blog)  approached.  "You're Glenda." I said.  Glenda was surprised that I knew who she was.  An avid reader of garden blogs, Glenda also loves Dig.  It was a delightful surprise to meet her and her husband Don!  Another very nice lady in attendance thanked me for blogging as often as I do which was very kind of her. I wish that I'd asked her name but she disappeared.

Here's a quick peek at part of the nursery.

Carnivorous plants a go go  from Jim at Courting Frogs

The fabulous metal pergola. 

Sedumville.

Beautiful echeveria pot.  Talk about A Whiter  Shade of Pale!

 I have loved this long stone table running down the middle of the greenhouse since first seeing it.  It works well for displaying merchandise but would also make a wonderful dining table if one had a huge family.

More interesting things inside the greenhouse.

Hover dish beautifully planted.

Another well done Hover dish.  Notice the tentacled planters  in the background.  Aren't they fun?

Exquisite combination!

Leftover piece of cake.  The previous day at Dig, Mari Malcolm of Lusher Life who created the floral wedding cake at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, gave classes on how to create a piece of floral cake using Floral Soil.

Did I mention that I love this table?

There are always fab cut flowers for sale from Sylvia's Garden which we'll tour in another post.

Big barnacles as homes for tillandsias - fun!

Interesting pot!  What would you plant in it?

More interesting sea creatures!

Cool letters, numbers, shapes to be planted with succulents a la Flora Grubb.

More delicious succulents.  Check out the glazes on the pots.  What do you think?  

The  maniacal genius,  Mr. Steffen, attacking a defenseless stump in preparation for his upcoming demonstration.

Cute tillandsia and wood arrangements.

Richie is an engaging and knowledgeable  presenter!   

Perhaps one day I'll get a bee in my bonnet to try this myself.

 

After everything is in place, Richie wraps the fern table in fish line to stabilize it should it need to be transported. 

Voila, the finished fern table.

After the demonstration, Sylvia had Richie draw numbers for prizes.  Mine didn't come up but Tom's did.  Because Tom couldn't decide, I chose  and got a bag containing an Eryngium 'Neptune's Gold' (beautiful) a cute little hand broom that is perfect for the potting bench, and a fifty dollar gift certificate.  Needless to say, I used the gift certificate immediately to buy some cool plants!

Book signing.

Thank you Ross and Sylvia for hosting this fun event!  Everyone seemed to have a grand time!

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show, Another Sneak Peek. Dig!

The amount of planning, ingenuity, and hard work that goes into making the Northwest Flower and Garden Show such a grand experience always amazes me.  On Sunday Afternoon, after work, I went to Vashon Island to visit one of my favorite nurseries and to see the work they'd done on the structure for their booth for this year's show.  The owners, Sylvia and Ross have come up with another amazing creation!   Weaving black steel strips between rusty metal grid yields a beautiful effect.  Ross says that eventually the black paint will wear off and the strips will rust as well.  How cool will that be?

This had been built and they were taking it apart already in preparation of loading it up and rebuilding it at the show.

It makes me tired just thinking of the labor involved!

Like everything at dig, the structure is amazing but the focus will be plants and containers.  Here's a glimpse of some of what will be offered for sale in that woven wonder.  I already see one or two things that need to come home with me!

Sylvia has always carried tillandsias but it seemed like there were more varieties at the nursery than I remembered seeing before.  They're such cool plants and Sylvia said that she liked the fact that you could just plop them in anywhere "like jewelry."

I wish I'd taken more pictures of the wide variety of tillandsias but I was too busy admiring them (and putting them into my pile!

This stunning Yucca elephantipes 'Jewel' is only hardy to about 27 degrees but it would be a great indoor/outdoor plant!  I don't know if this will make it to the show.

Forgot to check the tag on these begonias but should have scooped one up!

 What a treat to see this euphorbia in bloom. 

 Sylvia was still working on this cool birdcage.

Loving these!

And this!

I know that at least one Begonia luxurians is going on the truck!  Aren't those large lush leaves gorgeous?

More goodies just hanging out in the greenhouse.

Swoon...Kalenchoe orygalis 

Some dolt didn't remember that Arbutus menziesii is the name of our native Madrone, one of his favorite trees.  Isn't that foliage spectacular?

Esther pots look great with cacti and succulents!

Just wait to see the cute Esther pots that Sylvia's planted for the show!  My camera lens was still recovering from coming into the moist warmth so my images didn't turn out well.

So I'll tell you that they're planted with Lithops which I find interesting but planted in shallow Esther pots, they make a statement like you wouldn't believe.

Hoya Heaven!  That curly leaved one may need to come home from thee show with me if you don't buy it first!

This greenhouse is full of treasures!  I wonder if Sylvia and Ross would mind if I moved in?  

What's weirder looking than Euphorbia flanaganii?  Euphorbia flanaganii with partial fasciation!  this plant can't decide what it wants to be when it grows up.

This one, fully fasciated, looks a bit like something from under the sea!

Opuntia monacantha variegata with new pads growing out of every surface.  Far out!

 Three words for this brass bird cage:  Fab u lous!

Burlap bag full of bromeliad anyone?   What a great way to sell these, especially at the show where carrying pots of dirt can become cumbersome!  One of these is already hanging in my greenhouse but it would be happier with company!

Cute!

These resemble rain chains; another great way to display tilandsias!

 What a great reason to bring more of these home!

Ultimate revenge!  plants growing in snail shells!

These poor grafted mutants always look sad to me or maybe unreal.

But context is everything and Sylvia can display things so seductively that one might be jumping at the chance to buy a dandelion!

See what I mean?  Now you want a windowsill of them, don't you? 

There are a lot more pictures of scrumptious things inside and out but to see more, you'll have to visit the DIG booth at the show and visit the nursery on Vashon Island!  It's good that there is a ferry ride between this nursery and my house.  Otherwise, I'd  have to simply sign my paycheck over to them each month!