2009-04-30

Life in the Garden Part 17: FlorAbundance WA Arboretum Plant Sale


Just when I thought I had my garden habit under control, the Arboretum decides to hold a plant sale. [sigh]

The event is in an old hanger type building at Warren G Magnuson Park. They bring in nurseries and plant vendors from throughout Western WA and the sales benefit the Arboretum Foundation.

I got there at about 11:00 the morning of the first day, 2 hours after it opened. The building was already packed with people browsing plants, asking questions, talking about how much of their garden died this winter, and bemoaning the late Spring.

The aisles seemed wide, but people quickly blocked them looking at plants on each side of the aisle and then stopping to talk to one another in the middle of the aisles to purposely block me from getting to wherever it was I was going. And different groups did this, targeting me every 10 feet.

Sorry. Got a little carried away. I mean they took this as a wonderful opportunity to connect with one another and bond as members of the gardening community.


By noon, it had pretty much cleared out. The check out line, which at one point was more than 150 feet long disapated and they were able to take my money quickly.

I picked up some Tangerine Sage (Salvia elegans) which has a wonderful citrus scent, some Elijah Blue decorative grass (Festuca glauca), a bronze decorative grass whose name I forget, a Hardy Jasmine plant, and some Alpine Strawberry plants (Mignonette) in case my own do not come in.

And of course some coffee.

One thing you can count on at any Puget Sound area event is that there will be a coffee stand. In New York, you can count on a hot dog stand. In Texas, you can count on a BBQ stand. I guess in Cincinnati you can count on finding a chili stand. (I may be making that up)

But noting gets between us and our coffee. Except for all the other people who need their caffeine.

4 comments:

storybeader said...

that's a great opportunity to get some unusual plants. Looks like loads of fun!

brokenteepee said...

No tarragon? heh heh

nipsy said...

Gorgeous. My grandmother and I used to go to the Home and Garden Show in Cleveland for some wonderful garden ideas. Now though, its too commercial.

Cromely said...

@storybeader: The variety of tomato plants available at the show was just mind boggling. They were also sell pepper plants. I never thought they would be NW friendly.

@Pricilla: Heh heh. Good call. I looked for it there, but had no luck. Aparanetly the starts had been really popular. Later in the afternoon, though, I did find French Tarragon at the Sky Nursery in Shoreline, WA. It took a while, though. But at least I didn't need a goat.

@nipsy: I can see that. I went to my first flower and garden show this year, but it also looks like the last year Seattle will host one.

It's interesting how the shows cater to the different gardening types (the lawn people, the decorative landscape people, and the herb/vegetable people). It's a topic I'll explore in more depth once I get the dirt out of my fingernails.