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Highlights from the 2008 Northwest Flower & Garden Show include edible gardens, condo-sized spaces, interior design strategies used outside, yard decorating ideas and more

From creating an outdoor room to living off your garden’s produce, this year’s Northwest Flower & Garden Show was all about connecting your indoor life with your outdoor spaces. Duane Kelly, chairman and founder of Salmon Bay Events, which produces the show, says that this year’s theme, “Live Beautifully, Live Outdoors,” reflects a trend in outdoor living spaces that has been evolving for the last two years. It’s a trend he doesn’t see slowing down any time soon.

“People [today] view the garden as an extension of the house that happens to be outside—as opposed to 30 years ago, when people viewed the garden as a sanctuary, as the antidote for life,” Kelly says. Homeowners still want ambience from their gardens, but they want them to be more livable, like outdoor rooms. Many gardens at the show devoted space to hardscape elements such as patios with sun-resistant, water-resistant fabrics on furniture, plus rugs, canopies and overhangs, iron and glass outdoor living décor, lighting and tableware.

Writer and garden designer Lorene Edwards Forkner, whose show-garden design won the Founders Cup at the 2003 Northwest Flower & Garden Show, says that creating this type of space means using the same elements outside as inside: tight color palettes, textures and focal points, such as water features, fire pits or sculptural elements.

One of this year’s displays, called “Living It Up,” portrayed three different condo gardens, showing how urban dwellers can enjoy outdoor living. The gardens were placed against a skyline backdrop to show how living plants can enhance even a small terrace. By using containers and implementing the same interior design techniques used for more expansive outdoor living spaces, the display showed how condo residents can enjoy the best of both worlds: a stunning outdoor environment and a city view.

While many focused on living in your outdoor space, other garden designers at the show embraced the idea of living off your space. “There is increasing interest in vegetable gardens, the ‘buy local, conserve energy,’ larger green movement,” Kelly says. The Northwest Horticultural Society’s “Eat Your Vegetables!—Garden to Table” display showed three different kinds of edible gardens: a patio or deck kitchen garden, a contemporary container garden and a formal French potager. They demonstrated how edible plants can be combined with ornamentals or simply act as ornamentals.

Forkner notes that in the past, the show has exhibited fully bloomed flowers, but this year many of those were replaced with fully bloomed fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, tomatoes and peppers. “Local organic food is on a lot of people’s minds,” Forkner says. “If you’re going to have a flowering tree, it might as well be a fruit tree.”

Product-wise, the 2008 Northwest Flower & Garden Show also offered a wide selection of outdoor furniture and garden décor items—many of which help make an outdoor living space a reflection and extension of the interior of the home.


Winged Victory
Garden designer Lorene Edwards Forkner says designers are incorporating interior decorating methods in exterior spaces. These crows, for example, add a personal touch to a garden. Open-Winged Crow, $150 at Abraxas Crow Company, (360) 379-3281.
Garden Guests
“People are always looking to ornament the garden,” Forkner says. What better way than with a sleek, modern bird feeder that decorates the garden while it attracts some of nature’s most beautiful creatures? Modern Bird Feeder $125 at Dig Nursery, 19028 Vashon Highway S.W., Vashon Island, (206) 463-5096.

Perfectly Folded
The simplicity of this chair won’t overpower a small space, and its big-statement feel makes it ideal for condo dwellers. Real Good Chair, $99 at Dig Nursery.
Hip to Be Square
Create a personalized outdoor living space with modern, highly durable chairs and drink stands. Bella Vista Chair, $2,400, and stand, $400, at InGrain Furniture, 2118 E. Olive St., (206) 849-4553.