2020 Display Gardens
Experience Spring Fever from over Twenty Unique Display Gardens
Each year, over twenty different Garden Creators from around the Pacific Northwest put their blood, sweat and tears into their display gardens. These incredible works of art, constructed in under 72 hours on the show floor, are central to what makes the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival a world-renowned experience of garden design and innovation.
This year’s Garden Creators will aim to evoke “Spring Fever” as festival-goers will be allowed closer to the gardens than ever before.
Thank you to our material sponsors - these gardens would not be possible without their contributions!
Sawdust and mulch provided by 
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Natural stone provided by
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Hill Top FarmThe two-time “Best in Show” winner Christianson’s Nursery takes you to a farmhouse garden in the English countryside with this floral and fragrant display. As seasoned veterans in restoring buildings and greenhouses at their home base in Mount Vernon, Washington, it’s clear their expertise carries over to this garden. Spot the antique tools and lighting that harkens back to the 1920’s, which might make you feel like you’re in the middle of an orchard taking a breath of fresh air.
Using perennials and plants adaptive to the Pacific Northwest, this garden features vegetables, peonies, lilacs, iris, rhododendron and azaleas, among other plants surrounding the farmhouse facade.
Garden Creator: Christianson's Nursery & Greenhouse; Mount Vernon, WA
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Contemporary Outdoor LivingNew to the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival is Contemporary Landscaping. Using a mix of modern media and permeable surfaces, this garden feels like an extension of the home. Take a seat in the outdoor living room and admire the eco-conscious furniture, including a dining table, benches, fire pit and water feature for a modern, urban space. Feel inspired by the sense of ease and intimacy in this garden, which incorporates grasses and sedge, along with evergreen foliage plants to create the feel of an urban secluded garden. Take-home ideas: Utilizing a small space for planting; creating a year-round garden; designing an outdoor living area for entertaining
Garden Creator: Contemporary Landscaping LLC; Rainier, WA |
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An Artist's RetreatStep into a serene, green oasis that blends traditional Japanese details with a naturalistic Northwest style. The unique details of this garden highlight Elandan Gardens’ expertise in combining modern and traditional elements into masterpieces. Sculptures by garden designer Will Robinson act as focal points throughout the landscape. Surrounding these unique sculptures are meticulously trained bonsai trees, mountain rock, mature Black Pines and a peaceful water feature. Acknowledging the importance of eco-friendly gardening, this landscape uses little to no fertilizer or pesticides to maintain its gorgeous greenery. Take-home ideas: Approach landscape design in a sculptural way; build a garden around focal points of sculptural interest
Garden Creator: Elandan Gardens, ltd; Bremerton, WA |
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“Come Out and Play!”Make yourself at home in this playful, family garden with features that are sure to excite people of all ages. Adults can lean back and relax on the circular paver patio while children climb on a custom-built play structure. Engage the whole family in a game of giant jenga or organic, imaginative Tic Tac TOAD. Fancy Plants Gardens and Susan Browne Landscape Design beautifully crafted a space for kids and parents to play, eat and rest in this family-focused, cheerful garden. Take-home ideas: Blending relaxation, play, and ornamentation
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Some Like it HotRepresenting its member firms throughout Western Washington, this garden highlights the plants and flowers grown by Flower Growers’ members across the Puget Sound. For over twenty years, their display garden has stayed true to its colors -- by using a lot of color! Assembled by volunteers from various teams, this year’s garden invites you to experience multiple vignettes for a unique walk-through experience. Like what you see? All of the plants featured in this garden are in-season and readily available at your local garden center. Take-home ideas: Dynamic color palettes using a variety of plants and foliage texture; creating a dichotomy between color and stone structures
Garden Creator: Flower Growers of Puget Sound; Redmond, WA |
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Live Like It's Spring! An Urban GardenWith the look and feel of a sophisticated city backyard, this garden matches how you live inside with how you live outside. Privacy is of utmost importance in this urban abode, established by a wall of hedging at the rear of the garden. The covered seating and dining area are framed by a pergola, with the other end lined by raised beds of vegetables. This urban backyard is planted with over 60% evergreen varieties, complemented by perennials and flowering plants. Take-home ideas: Blending of color to draw the eye to your garden’s focal points; mixing scale, foliage texture and color
Garden Creator: Folia Horticultural + Design; Seattle, WA |
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The Gateway To Your GetawayA rookie to the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, this garden is inspired by Pacific Northwest nature for a modern and natural aesthetic. Centered by a thin veneer wall with natural stone, this garden feels like an escape from day-to-day stress. You’ll want to warm up by the fire pit before cooling off near the water feature and sleek blue stone patio. Red Bark Maple trees help the garden stay true to its Pacific Northwest roots and cast a shadow over the colorful planting area for a relaxing and refreshing moment of peace. Take-home ideas: Incorporating a fire pit in your outdoor area; modern irrigation and water feature ideas Garden Creator: GMC Landscapes; Burien, WA |
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Plants for a Better PlanetTake your garden knowledge to the next level and explore an attractive array of plants, perfect for any Pacific Northwest garden. You’ll find a variety of Great Plant Picks’ perennials, shrubs and trees for every season displayed in beautiful containers to showcase samples of this year’s GPP selections. Elisabeth Miller Botanical Garden’s Great Plant Picks is an exceptional educational program that guides gardeners toward the right plants for their environment. Whether your goal is to use plants that require less water, attract and provide for pollinators, or to incorporate more native plants, this garden will show you options selected by professional horticulturalists from the PNW. Take-home ideas: Use of foliage and texture to create a spectacular showpiece in any garden Garden Creator: Great Plant Picks; Seattle, WA |
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The Origins of HorticultureTransport through over 3,500 years of history to experience the foundation of modern horticulture as we know it today. Hartley Botanic shares the timeline that reflects the original passions for plants and trees starting around the 15th century. From the beginning days of plant hunting to the very first plant collections by global explorers, it’s important to appreciate the variety of plants available to us today and the journey people went on to keep them alive for us to enjoy! Using chronological vignettes, architectural details, photos, story boards, and horticultural samplings, this display garden celebrates humankind’s connection to nature and enjoy the rich colors and textures of unique plants, architectural details, and garden ornaments that will take you back in time. Take-home ideas: Incorporating a unique plant can make your entire garden pop; highlighting colors and textures of rare plants
Garden Creator: Hartley Botanic, Inc.; Woburn, MA |
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Rock and Knoll FantasyTapping into the latest trends, Little Prince of Oregon Nursery is making succulent dreams come true in their beautiful Crevice Garden. The focal point of this design is a beautiful sculpture created by Stuart Kendall at Seattle Solstice. Next, follow the stone pathway that crosses the garden to a small, peaceful seating area in the center. From there, you’ll see plants peeking out from snug spots created in stone from Marenakos Rock Center. Little Prince of Oregon Nursery created this garden to show that any gardener can create a natural-looking habitat by showcasing how plants would be found in their natural setting. This visual journey highlights a wide range of plants grown by one of the Northwest’s largest commercial growers. Take-home ideas: Create leading lines through the use of color ; texture similarities and differences
Garden Creator: Little Prince of Oregon Nursery; Aurora, OR |
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Jump Into Spring ‒ Beautiful Natural Swimming PoolHidden behind a relaxing waterfall sits a secret bench from where you can view a serene pond surrounded by lush Northwest style plants and colorful flowers. A deck, flourishing bog area, three 6-feet waterfalls, and a “living” wall frame this picturesque display. Everything you see is not what it seems‒ this pond is more than a landscape masterpiece, it’s a full functioning swimming pool! Traditional swimming pools are not exceptionally popular in the PNW due to the weather, however natural swimming pools out-shine traditional pools and can be enjoyed year-round, making them the perfect solution for PNW yards. Take-home ideas: Swimming pools don’t have to be eyesores ; create your own oasis by adding greenery around your existing pool or water feature
Garden Creator: Nature Perfect Inc.; Tumwater, WA |
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A Quiet PlaceLet yourself relax in a quiet garden space enclosed by stone planters of various heights. With eye-catching accents like a self-contained water feature, trellis structures with hanging orchids and vanilla orchid vines, this garden is perfect for meditation or just enjoying a calm moment. Flat stone interspersed with moss beneath the water feature provides a counterpoint to the pathway. If you’re a fan of orchids, make sure to stop by the Northwest Orchid Society’s garden. While it features many orchids that are best suited for indoors, the plantings can vary to your budget, personal taste and locale. Take-home ideas: Display techniques and creative cultivation methods for orchids; picking a visual accent such as a water feature, trellises and large decorative pots Garden Creator: Northwest Orchid Society; Seattle, WA |
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The Wicked GardensYou’re not in Kansas anymore when you enter this garden space, so follow the yellow brick road and watch out for the creatures you may encounter along the way. Featuring unique golden light fixtures with low-light LEDs, look up and admire the hanging globes suspended from a tree limb in this fairytale-like forest, lighting the way against dark leaf plantings. New to the festival this year, Northwest Outdoor Lighting and Whitmann-Estes Architecture + Landscape flex their lighting and architecture expertise by adding a green background to provide a warm, inviting ambiance -- and remind you that the Emerald City is only a few steps away! Take-home ideas: unique lighting fixtures; using low-voltage LED lights
Garden Creator: Northwest Outdoor Lighting; Woodinville, WA |
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Beneath the BlossomsFrom the blooming cherry trees lining the University of Washington’s campus, to backyard gardens throughout the city, the site of flowering trees is a staple in welcoming spring to the Pacific Northwest. For their first year at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival, Pacific Landscaping looks to celebrate these beautiful trees by creating an urban escape beneath a dense canopy of blossoms. Find yourself enjoying a cup of coffee or tea under a canopy of bright color in your own personal seating area, surrounded by the tranquil sounds of water. Take-home ideas: a contemporary approach to plant massing and layering; designing smaller “rooms” or points of interest within a garden Garden Creator: Pacific Landscaping, Inc.; Seattle, WA |
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Blue Moon RisingImagine stepping just outside the master bedroom into a private garden area, enjoying a cup of tea as the morning dew begins to dry. The gentle flow of the water fountain into the Columbia River basalt water basin provides a tranquil space for a morning meditation or simple moments of quiet before starting your day. Pacific Stone Company has over twenty years participating at the festival under their belt. Their specialty of landscape and hardscape materials are on full display with this majestic, small-space garden outfitted with an outdoor shower. Take-home ideas: plants ideal for new homeowners; water basin and fountain ideas Garden Creator: Pacific Stone Company, Inc.; Everett, WA |
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Where the Wild Things GrowWhen creating a children’s garden, who better to ask than kids? Plantswoman Design’s budding garden designers asked for ‘a place to read,’ followed by places to play and things to explore. Their drawings of swinging chairs, treehouses and hammocks inspired ways to be in the garden. This garden is meant to be an interactive garden between nature, kids, and the rest of the family. Bainbridge Island-based Plantswoman Design is a woman-owned business that believes that creating a space for kids to have outside time is important in our challenging world of screen time. Access and opportunity with few restrictions is the key to making kids feel free to explore in a safe environment. Be sure to check the kid’s designs, ages 4-19, in the garden itself. Take-home ideas: Finding a balance of function, style and beauty that suits the whole family; using plants that create habitat for insects and animals; garden elements that promote interaction Garden Creator: Plantswoman Design; Bainbridge Island, WA |
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Orca Recovery GardenThe Orca Recovery Garden shows how simple actions can have significant impacts that benefit wildlife all the way down the watershed to our iconic Orca. The garden highlights low-impact sustainability practices that are easy to do. These include a raingarden that infiltrates stormwater from the landscape and permeable pavers, a compost bin to build healthy soil, repurposed canoes as raised veggie beds and woody debris that provides multiple benefits such as habitat, retaining and building the soil Take-home ideas: Small actions can have big impacts. Low-impact design ideas, raingardens and healthy soil to retain and clean water; natural yard care; soil building and compost techniques, growing food, repurposed materials.
Garden Creators: Puget Sound Conservation Districts; Renton, WA NW Bloom Ecological Services |
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The Zen of FuriosaInspired by Imperator Furiosa’s passion to make beauty out of what might be considered junk in the 2015 film, Mad Max: Fury Road, this modern garden transforms industrial materials into a beautiful zen oasis. The garden features a plant that is synonymous with zen, the bonsai tree. Six of the seven bonsai trees were salvaged from landscape projects, otherwise destined for the compost bin. The last bonsai is a unique tree from the Pacific Bonsai Museum, equipped with a metal saw blade and nails embedded in the trunk. This tree portrays the irony of this garden, combining chaos and pain with harmony and pleasure. The garden also features a modern metal fountain by Randy Bolander called the “The Wave.” The wave symbolizes the life-giving water at the Citadel in the Mad Max film. Take-home ideas: Seemingly unrelated materials can be incorporated in the garden by creatively playing with its color, form and texture
Garden Creator: Redwood Builders LLC, Landscaping; Maple Valley, WA |
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Washington Park Arboretum: Gateway to a Greener EarthTo honor the upcoming 50th anniversary of Earth Day in April, this globe-shaped garden will represent the diversity of plants from around the world found in Washington Park Arboretum. A combination of native and non-native trees forms the background, while special rhododendrons and other understory plants sit in the foreground. Specimen trees and shrubs will highlight the important contributions to conservation made by the Arboretum and other botanic gardens. These include the stately dawn redwood, nearly extinct in its homeland of China, but now preserved in public gardens worldwide; the wonderfully symmetrical monkey puzzle tree, endangered in its native Chile and Argentina, but a cultivation success story in the Arboretum and Seattle at large; and other beautiful and rare plants. Take-home ideas: Adding biodiversity -- whether from our region or beyond -- to add beauty and resilience to gardens
Garden Creator: Washington Park Arboretum; Seattle, WA |
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2020 Show Recognized!
2020 Show Recognized As One Of The Best By Better Homes & Gardens Magazine.