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NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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Posted by chocolatemoose Z1 AK (My Page) on Thu, Feb 8, 07 at 20:46
| I usually "hang out" in the Winter Sowing forum but thought this was the place to ask about this subject...
I'm flying in to Seattle from North Pole, AK to attend the NW Flower & Garden Show for the first time...Anybody going? Any tips on getting the most from the show? I'm flying in a few days early and plan to attend the show Wednesday & Thursday....I'd welcome any comments on what to expect!...THANKS!
Barbara
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Hi Barbara, I will be there those two days also. I think the best advise is to wear comfortable shoes and perhaps bring your own snacks, as what is available there is kind of spendy and well, you will have had better. I do love the show and will be working at the NHS display outside the main entrance doors between 3-6 PM on Wed! Stop by and say hi! |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Thu, Feb 8, 07 at 21:59
| Go at off times like morning or evening. Much more pleasant. Peak hours crowds (in past years, anyway) so heavy you can't see landscape displays without muscling in, like at a festival seating rock show (don't think Pete and Roger will be there, so you don't have to worry about being trampled, anyway). |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| My wife and I like to go fairly early after opening on the first day because the crowds seem manageable and then we can also beat the dinner crowd to the Cheesecake Factory :-) Last year we ended up returning later in the week to help guide a group of seniors from a retirement community through. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Fri, Feb 9, 07 at 0:41
| If that's where you've been eating you should probably walk home afterward. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Comfortable shoes is the best advice. I am going to be there with my 8 mo. old granddaughter and her giant stroller. I don't know how that will work out, but mom and dad will be busy selling dahlia tubors (I hope). Baby literally needs a new pair of shoes - or at least knee pads because she is beginning to take off. I hope you all have a good time. "Baby" is over 20 lbs., so I will get a workout. At the last show she was just a small bump - much easier for my daughter to handle. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| I'll be working there Wednesday as well, returning on my own time for an extended tour on Friday. Hope see you both to say "hi", Mary and Glenn, and anyone else who cares to stop by :-) Emery's will be selling Japanese maple seedlings, Heronswood clonal hellebores and lily bulbs. Some good deals available! Glenn, maybe you can find a tiny replacement for your ailing maple......... |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Pam, any seminars/speakers that you highly recommend? |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| I'm going on Thursday, hoping to get an early start and avoid at least some of the crowds. I'm really looking forward to a color and idea fix more than anything else, although there are a few things I'll be looking to purchase. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| I guess it depends on your interests, Klark. Mine leans towards design issues and specific plants, so I gravitate to those that have some good names attached - Lucy Hardiman, Richard Hartlage, Roger Gossler, Richie Steffen. And since I will be attending Friday, I may try to take in Val Easton's 'Pattern Gardening' presentation - you may have read the discussion of this (she has a new book with the same title) on the Landscape Design forum and I have to admit I don't quite get her point :-) Otherwise, besides Richie, there's not much that piques my interest that day. And of course any presentation by Dan Hinkley is worth attending - he could talk about the color of mud and it would be immensely entertaining. Too bad he's on Sunday only.......I have to work :-( |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Does anyone know if plants sold at the show are approved for export to Canada? If I can bring things home, I might be able to talk DH into going... |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Sat, Feb 10, 07 at 12:15
| Check the garden show web site, they used to have something set up for those wishing to take plants to Canada. Don't know if this will be available this year. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| My only advice is that if you're a short person, don't go. :-P |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| THANK you ALL for the replies! I'm looking forward to it and will be prepared to be patient, NOT one of my virtues... mkirkwag...At 5'2", I am a foot shorter than my Honey. One of his pet names for me is 'Runt'...I am concerned about being tall enough as I am going alone and won't have him to lift me up...LOL Looking predominately for dahlias, lilies, orchids and 'stuff". I'm bringing an extra suitcase for the tubers/bulbs and 'stuff', but haven't figured out how to get orchids home. I've had problems having them shipped both with and without heat packs. I will chance them somehow, as choices are SO limited up here. I'll try to track a few of you down to say hello!
Barbara in AK |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Barbara, really take those advisements to go off peak seriously. I'm 4'11", and after the second time, I really did quite going because all I could see was a sea of backs. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Pam, We'll stop by and see you. I'm working on the next "zone" and need some ideas on how to plant it. I set the posts today for the side fence and gate. If I can get it done in time, I'll click a couple of pics. It's really cool....a combination of cedar/copper fence and arched wrought iron pieces that are going to lead to a tunnel of arbors :-) It's a north-north east facing area with two stories of shade so it's going to be completely different than any other area in my seemingly neverending project. For the first time, I'll be thinking some serious shade! |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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Arrive early, go get your passes for the seminars you wish to see, then see the main garden displays first before the crowds arrive. If you stay until closing, it thins out a lot!
On the last day, in the afternoon, the orchid show has BIG sales because they don't want to ship their orchids back home again.
If you are going to the seminars, even with a pass, the lines start forming at least 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled seminar, so don't wait until the last minute. On the other hand, those seminar rooms hold hundreds of people, so don't be intimidated by the lines.
Buy cool stuff that speaks to you! I got some great trilliums the year before last, and they are coming up NOW!!!
I'll be going on Thursday and hopefully Sunday because I'm a Hinkley groupie.
Enjoy the show! |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| My daughter (the mrs. of Dan's dahlias) said there will be someone to certify any plant material going back to Canada, but they don't work the whole show - you should check their hours as soon as you get there. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| I just looked on the show map and Emery's is just one booth and an aisle from Dan's dahlias, so I will have no problem finding it. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| If any of my GW buddies are planning to stop by Emery's retail booth to say "hi", there's been a late breaking change in my schedule. I'll working there Thursday (rather than Wednesday). And maybe I'll run into some of you as I wander around amusing myself on Friday :-) And be sure to check our container display on the Skybridge - it is not your run-of-the-mill container planting!! Hope everyone who attends enjoys themselves and gets a good dose of early spring fever and comes away ready to start planting!! |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Never heard of North Pole, AK before, but I found it on Google Earth - near Fairbanks. I've never been farther north than Kitimat, BC. Don't leave your snack money at home. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Thanks again for the tips! I was wondering about the procedure for the seminars, so terry_r's info helped. I'm flying out of Fairbanks Monday morn to do some shopping, etc. in Seattle on Mon/Tues. Then Wed/Thurs are devoted to the show. I am SO bummed I will miss the orchid sale on Sunday...I'll plan differently NEXT year. I don't know any of you, but will keep my eye out for any signs of GWebbers. I will be wearing something that either has a rhinestone moose on the front or that says North Pole, AK...SEE ya! Barbara |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| If it's any consolation, I bought a few orchids from Hawaii at the Yard and Garden show last year and none have done well, one is about to bite the dust. I do better with orchids from Aitken's Salmon Creek Gardens, at least in keeping them alive, and one actually bloomed this year.:-) I don't know if they can ship to AK. Their irises are great, too. |
Dan Hinkley
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| I just googled Dan Hinkley and apparently he will be in my area a couple of times in June. He seems to have quite a speaking and traveling schedule. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Itinerary
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Dan's insane! This man is a superhero! R |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| Don't want to pooh pooh it for anyone else but the display gardens were pretty so-so and overall it seemed substandard from years past. We usually judge it by how many times the notepad and camera come out of the bag and it was maybe a couple of times, if that. The crowd was pretty heavy though. |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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- Posted by bboy z8 WA USA (My Page) on
Wed, Feb 14, 07 at 23:37
| So attendance may not have fallen off terribly afterall but the show has been scaled down in anticipation of that. Ha! Most years, including this one (unless I am helping with a booth) I don't think I'm going to go but before it's over... |
RE: NW Flower & Garden Show...Any Tips?
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| I've always wanted to go to this show but it is always around Valentine's Day and I was a florist for 23 years. This year I just got home from over a week in Seattle for the Jan Gift Show and don't want to go back. Oh well..... |
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