Miniature Gardening at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show #4

20/02/2013 at 4:26 pm · Filed under Because it's fun, Customer Interaction, D.I.Y. Ideas, Garden Art, Life-sized Gardening, Miniature Garden Accessories, Miniature Plants, The Business ·Tagged Conifers, fairy garden, garden shows, hinoki cypress, hobby, inspiration, Janit Calvo, miniature, miniature garden, miniature plants, moses lake wa, northwest flower and garden show, plants, sagina subulata, small space gardening

Miniature Gardening at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. This year’s display is called ‘The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette.”

Miniature Gardening at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show #4

Welcome to the fourth blog of our Northwest Flower and Garden Show series. In case you missed it, here are the first installments: #1 of the Series,  Part Deux, Part III.

Aaaaand today was the big opening day of the show and here is our display in pictures – we know you’ve been waiting for it!

We teamed up with Bruce Bailey of Heavy Petal Nursery in Moses Lake, Wa, who did the full-sized plant design and installment, as well as the painting on the backdrop.

A pretty blend of mulberry-reds with a variety of different greens make up the color scheme. We wanted to blend the meadow with the interior and what better way to do that is with a carpet of plants. The ferns, grasses, moss and flowers mix up the textures to make it interesting to the eye.

Hinoki Cypress is a favorite tree for the miniature garden. This one is over 12 years old and is still a great tree for the tiny garden.

Marie Antoinette had rivers and streams built into the landscape so she could have ducks and swans. The green stone sheets available in our online store really helped with the stone wall.

Irish Moss (Sagina subulata) creates an instant lawn. The small bush at the front is a Parahebe that we are testing to see if it behaves this summer. The yellow grass in the river is Miniature Sweet Flag (Acorus griminess ‘Ogon’)

The details lure in the viewer for a closer look.

Lil’ Hameau in HO scale. The gangly Boulevard Cypresses create the illusion of tall trees. The small details, combined with the tiny gravel, deliver the scale of the garden to the viewer. 

Teenie tiny! The grounds close to some of the buildings were kept simple while the larger gardens surrounded the palace, like the popular Gardens of Versailles. That’s a Majestic Japanese Holly on the left that has kept its berries from last summer.

Marie Antoinette was known for her shoes and her fashion but she enjoyed the outdoors and gardens too. She built the Hameau on the palace grounds to simulate a small farm complete with sheep and chickens so she could have a place to play with her children.

The Gardens of Versailles are represented by topiary shoes. The classical diamond motif is repeated on the living cushion.

All I need is a tiny dancer! A little pagoda cinches the scale of the tiny Pixie Dust Dwarf Alberta Spruce. That grass is Irish moss that has been starved – it’s small, yellowy and mossy – and perfect for this wee scene! 

Must get a better picture! Here’s a close up.

Maidenhair Ferns from Fancy Fronds Nursery are mixed with English Daisies.

Steve layered in the back of the display to look like the outside of the Hameau. Marie Antoinette staged several of her outdoor buildings to look like an old farmhouse and barn. This would be an interesting technique to use for miniatures.

A lovely blend of textures and colors by Bruce.

That small Almond Tree on the right is just about to burst into bloom – just in time!

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