SEE YOU AT THE EVERETT HOME AND GARDEN SHOW 

I don’t know about you but I am so sick and tired of this relentless cold and wet weather I could just spit.  Everywhere I look it seems to appear that spring is here but it sure doesn’t feel like it.  Days in the low to mid 40’s and nights still in the 30’s.  The ground is so cold and wet that I have absolutely no desire to bend down and pull a weed or plant a new perennial.  My vegetable garden soil in my raised beds is ready but every time I think I am going to plant some new transplants it is raining again.  What’s a gardener to do?  Go to the Home and Garden Show of course. 

This week starting Friday and running through Sunday at Comcast Arena in Everett you can get out of the blasted cold and rainy weather and do a little dreaming about all the wonderful things you would like to do to your home and garden this year (if it ever stops raining).  Hundreds of exhibitors will be tempting you with new and exciting ideas, new products and new services.  You can learn all about the new energy efficient (so called “green” or “sustainable”) products that are on the market as well as new techniques for all sorts of home projects.  From kitchens to bathrooms to garages to gardens and patios, there is bound to be something that will catch your interest and send you back home all refreshed and ready to forge ahead (once it stops raining).

In addition to visiting with all these exhibitors you will also have the opportunity to experience several demonstrations and lectures during the course of the weekend.  This is where I get excited because I will be one of those presenters that will be bringing you all the latest scoop on what’s hot in the gardening world from new plant introductions to new products to grow better tomatoes, healthier soils, gardening tips and techniques that I have learned over the years that will save you time and money, pruning advice for your shrubs and vines, how to divide your hostas or make your Rhodies more compact and a whole host of other topics too numerous to mention.

Consider this your personal invitation to join me at the show on Friday at 3 pm and Saturday and/or Sunday at 1pm for a lively discussion each day on whatever gardening questions you would like answered.  It should be lots of fun, so get those questions together now.  The best question of each day gets a free Sunnyside 60^th anniversary edition T-shirt.  I’d like to see Cisco try and top that one!

Between presentations you will also be able to find me upstairs helping with the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens booth.  If you’ve never been to the Arboretum then you are missing a very fine public garden that is located in Legion Park on the north end of Everett.  This small 3-acre park is a real jewel, almost hidden from the rest of Legion Park.  It boasts several themed gardens within its boundaries that include a small urban tree walk near the entrance, a mixed shrub and perennial bed, a newly finished native plant trail, a dwarf conifer garden, a Japanese Maple grove, a Woodland garden and an ambitious rock garden that is currently under construction.  In addition to the gardens there is also a good deal of art on display.  It’s a wonderful place to escape from the hectic demands of everyday life, right here in our own backyard.

The garden is a cooperative effort between the City of Everett Parks Department and a dedicated group of civic minded volunteers.  You can learn more about the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens by stopping by their booth and talking to a volunteer.  For a mere $20 you can become a member and help support ongoing maintenance and capital improvement projects.  Please make it a point during the show to stop in at booths 58 and 59 and tell these folks what a fine job they are doing.  And if you have time after the show (if it isn’t still raining) then dash up to Legion Park and check out the gardens for yourself.  It’s less than a 10-minute drive from the Arena.

Looking forward to seeing you at the show. 

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, a retail garden center that is celebrating 60 years in business in 2008.  You can send your gardening questions to 425-334-2002 or sunnysidenursery@msn.com