A Taste of Spring at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show!

It had been a rough week. First, my oldest son was sick, then my younger son started coughing, then it snowed and snowed, school was canceled, twice, it was very, very cold (for these parts). We were supposed to get away for a short family vacation but sickness kept us home. I spent several days stuck at home for various reasons. You get the picture. So, what does a woman do? She packs up her son (home from school with a cough) and says, guess where we're going? The garden show!

It was very kid friendly. Kids were even admitted free! They had a scavenger hunt in the display gardens. A piggy bank was hidden and you wrote down where you found it and once you had found all twenty, you would receive a prize. I didn't tell my son about the prize. We spent 90 minutes at the show ( a long time for a 5 year old) and we found 12 of the pigs. I need to send the organizers a note about that little problem.
My favourite display garden (from a gardening and style perspective) was the one done by Christianson's Nursery which is located in Mount Vernon.
My favourite display garden for kid appeal was this Wind in the Willows one.

There was even a little rowboat for C to sit in and watch a little of the Wind in the Willows DVD.
Here is a display with a wolf theme. This is the pigs' brick house.The Alice in Wonderland was the most crowded area. Here's the Queen of Hearts.This is display (using a shipping container as a shed) was created by a 17 year old girl!
I was *amazed* by the displays. Did you know they have 72 hours to set everything up? I would love to see the work that goes on to bring in all those trees and plants!This one was the most jaw-dropping. It looked like the Woodland Park Zoo! There was even a "Sasquatch" hiding by a tree. Can you see him there? If I had more time and my son wasn't with me I would have made notes and taken more flower photos. One cool idea was a path made of walnut shells.
I enjoyed our outing but next year.... I'm going to spend the whole day there. There was so much more to see, especially the vendor area. I did see a booth with some beautiful wreaths.Who's going with me next year?? :)Pin It