Northwest Flower & Garden Show
Seattle, WA, 2006
 

The first evening there, I met with the Garden Writers for an informal get together. It was great to see friends from this region and also we had the opportunity to listen to a fellow speaking about flower shows in general and what they were doing to try and get more people attending. He said with declining nursery sales and overall declining attendance at flower shows in general they have had to make some changes for the future. Baby boomers are getting older and we have mature gardens – when you have a mature garden you spend less time at flower shows. When the garden is young you are more likely to attend flower shows. Our dollars are perhaps being spent on garden accessories rather than plant material, unless of course, it is a plant that we just must have! We don’t want to work as hard as before, we are downsizing to balcony, condo, patio or deck gardens. As a result some of the changes they have made to the show this year are firstly taking the word ‘show’ out of it and calling it a Festival. Raising the level of fun involved by creating new areas like the children’s area – getting them involved as they are the up and coming gardeners. At the same time they are educating people with lots speakers and an ‘Ask the Expert’ area where you can ask questions of the local master gardeners. They are trying to make it more family friendly by changing the price of tickets to 3.00 for children up to 17 years old (under 5 years old free). 8.00 for students 25 years and younger and you can get a two day pass for 28.00. I loved the people walking around with the tall poles and bright flowers perched on top and a big question mark in the center of the flower. Those were people you could ask questions of…a novel idea and hard to miss.

Continued....