Get Your Dose Of Spring At The Northwest Flower And Garden Festival
When you and winter have stopped talking, the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival swoops in just in time to transport you to a world of ever-blooming color and endless possibility.
The five-day festival, running today through Sunday, is a gardener’s dream day. Equal parts spectacle, shopping, education and entertainment, a day’s ticket includes round-the-clock lectures by horticultural superstars, hunting in the marketplace for everything your garden didn’t know it needed, and dreaming among the 23 show gardens.
The show gardens – full-scale landscapes created by the area’s top designers – are the heart of the show.
This year’s theme is “Gardens of the World,” so you’ll see visions of Ireland, Italy, England, Pakistan, Ghana, China, and Japan represented. “Great Plant Picks” and The Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association spotlight plants that thrive here.
While the gardens may be somewhat fantastical (there is more than one dragon), they are packed with inspirational takeaways to borrow for your home garden – with ideas for patios, rain gardens, and more.
As to the 300-vendor marketplace, you may find robot lawnmowers, hot tubs, grow-your-own mushroom logs, rare plants, or a succulent planter shaped like Sasquatch (no judgment). We’re hoping to find a coral Itoh peony.
How to go:
Hours: Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 20-23), 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Sunday (Feb. 24), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Avoid lines and save money by buying adult tickets online for $22 (www.gardenshow.com). At the door, adult admission is $24; Student (13 to 23 years) – $10; and Children (12 and under) are FREE. Admission is half-price after 3 p.m. Wednesday through Feb. 23 and after 2 p.m. Feb. 24.
