by Kristen | Mar 21, 2014 | Little Bytes, Plantswoman Design
We are so excited to share with you about Little Bytes (you may have seen us mention it in our recent blog posts). We’ve noticed over the past year many folks saying “I wish I could grow something like that” and “If someone would break it down for me I think I could do that”. Well, we’ve heard you and we are on it. We will be spending the next year (and beyond) focusing some time on “breaking it down” for you, hence the name “Little Bytes”. Little pieces of information you can use in your garden right now!
In taking on this new project I needed some guinea pigs, I mean, “test gardeners”, and who better to work with than my very own daughters, Jennifer and Kristen! You may recognize them as they have helped me with the blog already but now we get to garden together.
A little about Jennifer… She lives here in the Northwest with her husband and daughter, Kayla. She keeps my office humming and the crew on their feet. Jennifer has been dabbling in her garden for the last couple of years and is ready to take on new challenges. She’s agreed to be a test gardener for me and you can check out her profile on our “Meet the Gardener” section of the blog.
A little about Kristen… She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and two kids, Emma and Finn (who have been on the blog before too). Though she is my daughter that doesn’t mean she’s an expert gardener. Actually she’s a beginner. She’s agreed to write about her beginning gardening experiences and share about them with you here on the blog. You can check out her profile on our “Meet the Gardener” section of the blog as well.
Our goal with Little Bytes is to grow gardeners. You don’t have to have any experience with gardening to be able to journey with us and grow something for the first time. We want to foster a community of people who are stepping out to start their garden journey along with seasoned gardeners of all types. So, what do you say, are you in with us?
by Kristen | Feb 21, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
The Northwest Flower and Garden show is officially done! We had such a good show this year and are pleased with the overall response. Today we wanted to share with you some of the highlights of our week.
First up, our garden won a gold medal! You can’t really top that…
Julie Moir Messervy
Next up, we got to meet so many great speakers and was interviewed on camera by GardenTV.tv. Julie Moir Messervy came by for a visit and some wonderful comments. Being one of the judges we were excited to hear her comments about our garden first hand. We were also able to meet Marianne Binetti, Willi Galloway, Robin Haglund, Teresa O’Connor and Debra Prinzing. All wonderful women of the horticultural world.
Cyle and Susan
And we say good bye to our dear friend Cyle Eldred. We owe a great deal to Cyle as he was able to talk me into doing the show in the first place. With his guidance I was able to hone in on what I felt my goals should be in creating a show garden. Alas, the show must go on and we will miss working with Cyle through the craziness that is the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. We wish him the best as he pursues the new adventures that await him.
Now that we are done with the show I have some time to reflect on what we accomplished there. Stay tuned for my thoughts, musings, tips for attending a garden show, and perhaps some news about our exciting year to come.
by Kristen | Feb 9, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
Well folks, the garden show is coming to an end. At 6pm today they will be closing the doors for the last time this season. We had a snow storm roll in last night and, after going to see Sleeping Beauty with my grand-daughter, daughter and her mother-in-law, had a difficult time making it home. Coming in today we wondered if folks would brave the snow or just stay home. So far the last day attendance is pretty steady.
Stay tuned for our highlights from the show tomorrow. Also, the full plant list, complete with photos, is up on the website. Just click the green “Plant List” button on the upper left of this page.
by Kristen | Feb 7, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
Day three has come to an end and we continue to have a great response to our garden. Today, my grand kids came up and, after we visited some of the walk through gardens, we headed over to the kid’s garden area. Now, yesterday I was not totally excited about my preview but, today, I must say, I was surprised by how much the kiddos did enjoy the kid’s garden area. While there were Legos and an opportunity to make your own stop-motion photography stories, we spent most of our time in the foam area.
When the kids had their fill of foam craziness we stopped over and colored a little bit before heading over to make our portable terrariums.
The kids didn’t seem to interested in going back to play with the Legos so we actually headed over to the Usborne booth to browse their book selection. Finn entertained himself and many passersby in the kid sized shed across the isle while Emma donned her shopping diva persona to make her selections. Over all, we really did have a great time with our kids at the show. I did have to give up two stones from our garden’s rill for Finn but the kids left happy and tired so it was worth it.
Tomorrow promises to be one of the busiest days at the show but don’t let that deter you if you were thinking of coming out. Just give yourself a little more time to get through the display gardens. You may even try to get there either at opening (9am), close to closing (8pm), or during a meal time hours during which the show floor seems to slow down a bit. Also, don’t forget to swing by and see us for your little treasure from us. Just let them know that you follow us on the blog or any of our other social media outlets!
by Kristen | Feb 6, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
Today we started at 7:30am with the Garden Show Tweet Up! I’m not entirely sure how one signs up for the Tweet Up or what the criteria was for coming but there was quite a diverse group of people to chat with. You might be wondering what a Tweet Up is and what the purpose is (I kind of did the first time round too). Pretty much it is an opportunity for folks that use Twitter to have access to the display gardens before the rest of the crowds get there. This gives them great space to take pictures and talk to garden creators about their gardens. It is a great time to connect with an intentionally more social media savvy group. We tried our best to “work the room” and I do think we were successful as by the time the show started @susan_PWD was getting a great response.
Other notable fun we had today… Susan was interviewed by Garden TV, met many, many great gardeners, garden bloggers, and speakers. Tomorrow the grand kids are coming by to check out the kid area. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I previewed the kid space today and am sad to report it isn’t quite what I expected. I am afraid our 5 and 2 1/2 year old may be too young to appreciate it but we will go and let you know how it goes.
by Kristen | Feb 6, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
The garden show is officially open! Not that you’d know it… Today was a big day for Seattle as we welcomed home our beloved Seahawks. With 700,000 people packing the streets of downtown Seattle the show felt a little empty. The show opened at 9am and the parade was scheduled for 11am. From the moment we got onto the ferry we were surrounded by the 12th Man which made it hard to get around the city, find a parking spot or spot a cab. When we finally got to the Convention Center we were late and met with a problem with the garden’s rill. After some observation and a few system checks the fix was fairly simple, it just needed more water!
After a few hours of meeting and greeting show attendees Kristen and I went down to see if we could see some of the parade. We sat down there for quite sometime and made it until we saw the team busses, the Sea Gals and some other team members we got squished by some rather large folks and decided we were done. We escaped and went to the steakhouse on the same block and watched the rest of the parade on the bar’s TV over some delicious salads. The rest of the day went well. We met some fabulous folks and received great feedback on the garden. We will be back tomorrow and we anticipate to see a more “normal” attendance rate.
***We are working to get the plant list up and running on the site. Thank you for your patience as we complete that project.
by Kristen | Feb 5, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
We are so proud to present to you Plantswoman Design’s GOLD MEDAL winning garden, Terra Cadence: The Rhythm of the Earth! During our time at the gala we heard many great comments about the garden which added to our gold medal excitement. One guest came right up to the edge and stood so still taking it all in. When I looked at her expression she seemed to be in a peaceful place. I thought “YES! She gets it!” We are excited to share this garden with the show attendees starting tomorrow. We will keep posting to this blog daily through out the show so stay tuned as we share our favorite things at the show, explore the kid’s garden area, and what we do when the show doors close for the night.
by Kristen | Feb 4, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
Today is done and so is our garden. We walked off the show floor after 7pm and are so happy with the final result. A small crew will go back in the morning to finish the final “once over” and then we wait. Judging will start after 12pm and we will get to see the results starting at 5:30pm. Here is what our day looked like.
by Kristen | Feb 2, 2014 | Plantswoman Design
Well, today is finished and we’ve gotten a good start. Our timeline is a bit short this year because we will be taking some time off tomorrow for the big game so we are trying to fit as much in as we can each day. Early today the show floor was strangely calm and quiet (as quiet as it could be with heavy machinery moving about) which is kind of odd. As the day progressed you could feel the pace quicken. After reading through the garden descriptions on the website it was interesting to see the garden foundations being laid today. Click through the photos below to read more about our day. Until tomorrow, GO HAWKS!
