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Gardening: Festivals scheduled to be back in person this year

This year’s Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle, Feb. 9-13, will feature Fleurs de Villes – mannequins dressed in flowers and foliage designed by florists, as shown here from 2020. The display also serves as a fundraiser for breast cancer research. (Pat Munts/For the Spokesman-Review)
By Pat Munts For The Spokesman-Review
This year’s Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle, Feb. 9-13, will feature Fleurs de Villes – mannequins dressed in flowers and foliage designed by florists, as shown here from 2020. The display also serves as a fundraiser for breast cancer research. (Pat Munts/For the Spokesman-Review)

Well, here we are in the new year of 2022. I still haven’t figured out where 2019 went.

It may be snowy and cold out, but it’s time to get the garden event calendars out and plan for spring.

First up this year will be the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. The show will run Feb. 9-13. One of the largest garden shows in the country, the festival features display gardens created by some of the Northwest’s best designers, dozens of gardening seminars and demonstrations by well-known speakers from around the world including Spokane’s own Susan Mulvihill and more than 350 garden focused vendors. The show will also feature a return of Fleurs de Villes a stunning display of floral art mannequins created by top local florists and an opportunity to raise a bouquet to launch ROSÉ, a glorious fresh floral celebration in support of breast cancer research. For tickets, information and COVID requirements go to gardenshow.com/.

The Master Gardener Foundation of Spokane County is bringing back the in-person Cabin Fever Symposium on March 12. This is a fun day of garden talks by local experts and geared for every level of gardener. Details of the day and location are forthcoming at www.mgfsc.org/.

The foundation is also bringing back the in-person Garden Fair Plant Sale over Mother’s Day weekend, May 6-8. The sale will be at a new location this year at the Spokane Conservation District’s new office at 4422 E. Eighth Ave., a mile south of the WSU Extension Office. The main sale will be on May 7. Members of the Master Gardener Foundation will have early access on May 6. You can become a Friend of the Foundation by going to www.mgfsc.org/purchase-membership. Your membership entitles you to access on the early bird day and discounts at local nurseries and garden centers through the rest of the season. May 8 (Mother’s Day) will be bargain day with discounts on all remaining stock.

Garden Expo put on by the Inland Empire Gardeners will be coming back in person May 14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Spokane Community College campus, 1810 N. Greene St. in Spokane. After a two-year hiatus, this year’s show should be packed with unusual plants, vegetable and annual starts and lots of garden art and tools. This is the best place in the region to experience the best of our small-scale nursery growers who come out just for this show. More information will be available later in the season at tieg.org/. Entrance to the show and parking are free. They are also still signing up vendors for booth space.

Tip of the week: This will be a new feature in this column. Each week I’ll share a tip related to gardening. So, this week’s tip is to gather your seed catalogs and get your orders in early. Between lots of new gardeners and rising food prices, popular varieties will go fast.