A Grower Perspective

Dave and I had the pleasure of attending the NW Flower & Garden Show last week in Seattle, Washington. This was the first year we’ve attended and I must say it was quite impressive.  The show filled up several rooms of the downtown Seattle convention center. The display gardens were absolutely stunning.  Huge. I couldn’t begin to imagine how much work must have gone into designing and constructing  these massive gardens inside the convention center.

I was thinking about how to sum up my feelings about this show. I think I went believing that I’d come back with my focus on plants. However, what really struck me at this show was the creativity and inspiration I felt about garden design. I was overwhelmed with the design inspiration I felt about creating outdoor living spaces with everything from plantings, pavers and night lighting to art, accessories and outdoor structures galore. I’ve never felt such a desire to get out into my own garden

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As I've said before, Passionflower is my favorite store in Eugene, Oregon.  Her most recent blog post offers some wonderful inspiration for ornamentation in the garden. This is Jewel's photo from her blog.  I love her ideas and how beautiful her displays are. Check out her post here In fact, I think I'll go down to her store today to view what garden art she has right now.   I'm sure I'll find something perfect!

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This spring has been a whirlwind of activities both at work and at home. Yesterday I happened to take a quiet moment to walk out into my backyard and was delighted to discover that some of my trees were in full bloom. They were glorious. We planted them at various times over the 22 years we have lived in this house. At the time, they were small, seemingly insignificant trees. We planted them knowing that someday in the future they would grow tall and beautiful – providing colorful spring color and lush green canopies in our landscape. Yesterday, I realized that day had arrived. It made me realize, once again, how quickly time passes. I can clearly remember Dave and I planting each one and here we are more than two decades later enjoying their mature beauty.

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When I returned to the office today, I was thrilled to see Nancy's latest container design. She created two planters that are now on each side of our office entrance.  In the center of the pot, is a Boulevard Cypress ( Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Cyano Viridis' ) that is pruned up a ways to expose the lower trunks.  Around the base of the plant, level with the container edge are a Wooly Thyme and Irish Moss.  A simple design but it definitely makes a statement.

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I just received a wonderful phone call.  A few weeks ago, some customers bought Leylandii Cypress (Cupressocyparis leylandii) trees from us to create a screen.  They were trying to sell their house and wanted to block off the neighbors house to create a more private yard.  Their house was on the market and they thought this might help improve their chances for selling.

This customer just called and they were so thrilled having just received a signed offer on their house.  Many prospective buyers had toured their house previously but the first people to tour after the trees were planted were the ones that made an offer.  Coincidence?  Maybe.

Or perhaps the enriching of the landscape and the presence of these trees sweetened the deal and removed the

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