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Vancouver Garden Show highlights

June 11, 2007 by Andrea Bellamy 5 Comments

While my participation in the disembowelment of a display garden was certainly memorable, I scored more than just discount perennials at the Vancouver Garden Show.

I was very pleased to discover that, although some of the feature gardens kind of sucked (it’s no Chelsea, that’s for sure), the “urban deck showcase” had some really great patios on display. And, I managed to meet the designers behind my favourite three. Can I just say that my generation is rocking? I hear all this stuff about younger people not being interested in gardening, but the best designs were by young’uns.

Aloe%20display%20garden.jpg

First up, Aloe Designs and their sleek and sexy patio (above). Um, drool. Owners Owen and Caitlin seem like my kind of people. They have a wicked sense of style and are interested in sustainability and food security issues. Owen even graduated from the same garden design program as me.

Then there’s Steve from Urban Escapes (whose gorgeous deck I posted a couple days ago). I’m coveting his mad skills in carpentry and construction – if only I could build a screen like that! I love the minimalist water feature he built into that little space.

Finally, there’s Lalieth from Outside Contemporary Garden Design, whose luscious plant combinations are truly inspired. Her deck display demonstrated that you can have a functional, beautiful garden in the space the size of a Mini Cooper.


It’s always fun to meet the people behind one of your favourite products. So it was great to meet Rick from SeaSoil, a family-run, Vancouver Island-based business producing the organic soil I’ve been using in my garden for years. It’s created from a mixture of fish and forest fines composted for two years (so there’s no smell). Rick is now the General Manager in charge of sales and promotions, but he used mix the fish, drive the dump-truck and all kinds of stinky stuff, so he’s got a great insight into the workings of the industry.

I’ve talked about the evils of peat moss before, but until recently, there didn’t seem to be an easy substitute for the bog-draining stuff. Enter Paul from Grotek, another BC company, with Coco Earth, a coconut coir-based medium. I’m excited to try this one out.

mushrooms.jpg

On the inspiration side of things, I loved the way this garden integrated edible mushrooms. I am so nicking this idea for my shade garden.

floral%20chair%20detail.jpg

And while I won’t be using this idea in my garden, I loved the detail behind artist Nicole Dextras’ floral armchair.

How long ’til next years?

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Filed Under: Events, Garden Design, Green Gardening & Living, Inspiration

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. b says

    June 13, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    oh i love the chair! and inquiring minds want to know all about the mushroom garden. that is a fabulous idea!

  2. Wicked Gardener says

    June 16, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    I like the deck. What is on the wall? It looks like a neon sign.

  3. Andrea says

    June 18, 2007 at 8:35 pm

    Bright – The mushroom garden was part of a water themed show garden. There were mushrooms growing in bottles (shown) and also those mushroom starters buried in the ground (that’s what’s on the left of the jar of shrooms).

    Wicked – Ha ha – it does look like neon! But it’s just the designer’s company name (Aloe Design)

  4. Jessica Schessler says

    June 19, 2007 at 8:54 am

    Wow!! What gorgeous patios. If only I had my own backyard to transform…

  5. Nicole Dextras says

    August 22, 2007 at 11:26 am

    Hi- i just caught your entry about my chair in the garden show. if you want to see more pix of the chair as it was transformed with time you can go to this link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndextras/sets/72157600344297843/ The work i do is ephemeral and so it changes and decomposes with time. The chair has so far remained intact in my backyard.

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