The January thaw is upon us. Our month of below-freezing weather and snow is giving way to a few 40-degree days. I’m hearing rumblings that gardeners are getting restless and need something to focus on besides reading seed catalogs. Here are some upcoming gardening and plant sale events to look forward to.
The Northwest Flower and Garden Show, Feb. 17-21 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, is a great opportunity to escape the dreary Inland Northwest and get a dose of green to hold you over until March. The show is a mix of beautifully designed show gardens to inspire your planning and the biggest garden-focused market in the Northwest. If you can’t find what you want here, it doesn’t exist. For ticket and show information, check out www.gardenshow.com/.
About the time the glow from the Seattle show wears off, the Spokane Master Gardener Foundation will be hosting its annual Cabin Fever Gardening Symposium on March 12 at the CenterPlace Regional Event Center in Spokane Valley. This year’s keynote speaker will be Gloria Flora of the US Biochar initiative, exploring our relationships with soil, plants, food, and our neighbors to rediscover how the simple act of planting a garden contributes to the well-being of all. Session topics include pruning, naturalizing elements of landscape design, biochar soil amending, growing berries and more. Check out www.mgfsc.org/#!cabin-fever/crd1 for details and registration.
By late April we all will be eager to plant, and the Master Gardener Foundation will be ready with lots of great plants and garden goodies at the annual Master Gardener Garden Fair. This year’s event will be May 7at the Spokane County Extension Center, 222 N. Havana St. Besides plants there will be garden art, tools and gardening demonstrations. Learn more at www.mgfsc.org/#!garden-fair-plant-sale/c1e4h.
The annual Garden Expo put on by the Inland Empire Gardeners is May 14 at Spokane Community College. This year’s theme is “Gardening Thru the Ages – Once Upon a Vine.” SCC’s campus will once again be filled with exotic specialty plants, one-of-a-kind garden art, garden accessories and décor. A lecture series, children’s activities and lots of good food round out the day. Details are available at http://www.tieg.org/.
If you still haven’t satiated your plant lust, the Friends of Manito will be hosting its Manito Plant Sale on June 4 in Manito Park just east of the Gaiser Conservatory. This sale always has a broad selection of unusual and hard-to-find plants, most of which were grown onsite. Proceeds go to fund projects in the park. More information is available at http://www.thefriendsofmanito.org/.
June is the height of the garden season here and the Spokane in Bloom Garden Tour on June 18 is a great way to see some of the best gardens in the area. This year the tour will feature gardens in the Spokane Valley and will have a little of something for everyone. For more information, go to http://tieg.org/Spokane_in_Bloom.html.
Pat Munts is the co-author of Northwest Gardener’s Handbook with Susan Mulvihill. Munts, a Master Gardener, has gardened in Spokane Valley for more than 35 years. She can be reached at pat@ inlandnwgardening.com.
