Northwest Flower & garden festival
Celebrating "Spring Fever" in style.
Each year, the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival showcases beautifully designed gardens to educate and inspire attendees. This year, King Conservation District and NW Bloom Ecological Services teamed up to create the Orca Recovery Garden with support from Better Ground and other community partners.
At the Orca Recovery Garden, viewers had the chance to see ideas ranging from creating pollinator-friendly habitat to developing healthier soil and cleaner water. There were elements applicable to home and garden, farm and wooded properties – highlighting approachable conservation efforts in each setting.
This year's theme was Orca.
The Orca Recovery Garden showcased the connection between designed landscapes and the health of surrounding ecosystems and wildlife. It highlighted how simple actions we take at home can multiply into significant impacts that benefit wildlife all the way down the watershed to our iconic Orca.
The garden included over 50 different native and useful plants that provide an array of benefits to the environment like stabilizing and building soil, creating wildlife habitat, and retaining and cleaning water. Other sustainability practices like raised bed gardening and composting bins were also on display.
Want to see the full plants that were in the garden?
Learn something new.
District staff will be presenting valuable information for gardeners who are looking to spread their wings towards native plant species, which not only grow great in the PNW, but are a perfect fit for our local wildlife and pollinators. That, and learn more about building healthy soil in your garden! It might be easier than you think.
Soil Health 101: Evaluation and Managing Your Soil for Healthier Plants
The Benefits and Beauty of Landscaping With Native Plants
Buy Your Tickets!
Purchase online, at a local outlet, or at the show! Tickets to the show can also be purchased on site at the Convention Center any day of the event, up until one hour prior to show closing each day. Adult single day tickets purchased at the Convention Center on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday of the show are $25 at the door.
Want to learn more?
We’ve got tips and tricks for you to garden sustainably and live in harmony with the great outdoors. If you’re looking for more in-depth knowledge, reach out to your local District!
Native Plants for Rain Gardens
Native plants work great in rain gardens! They are adapted to our wet winters, and drought-tolerant in the summer once they
Tips for a Sustainable Yard
Better Backyards means your yard works for you and the ecosystem. Follow these tips to create a thriving, beautiful landscape. Need
Putting the Rain to Work
Here are our top five simple, relatively inexpensive ideas to help you and your yard, and protect our special Northwest environment:
Clallam CD
Mason CD
Thurston CD
Skagit CD
Project Description: The project will restore a three-acre one-hundred and twenty foot wide native tree and shrub buffer on a small Pocket Estuary located on March Point.
Project Location: March Point Estuary
Project Time: 10 am to 1 pm
Contact Person: Bill Blake, bill@skagitcd.org, 360-428-4313
Whatcom CD
Snohomish CD
King CD
Project Description: Join KCD, Green Seattle Partnership and the City of Seattle to enhance Longfellow Creek and support healthy salmon populations.
Project Site: West Seattle, Seattle, WA
Project Time: 10 am -2 p.m.
Contact Person: Nikki Wolf, Nikki.wolf@kingcd.org, 425-282-1909
Project Description: KCD is partnering with the City of Bothell to enhance Parr Creek. Help us plant trees to improve the streamside habitat salmon need to thrive.
Project Site: Bothell Business Park, Bothell, WA
Project Time: 10 am - 2 p.m.
Contact Person: Matt Maria, matt.maria@kingcd.org, 425-282-1934
San Juan Islands CD
Whidbey Island CD
Project Description: Greenbank Farm rain garden restoration project. Master Gardeners will be on hand to lead a rain garden restoration and replanting work party. Partners: WSU Ext, WSU Master Gardeners, Port of Coupeville.
Project Location: Greenbank Farm, 765 Wonn Rd, Greenbank
Project Time: 1 - 4 pm
Contact Person: Shannon Bly, shannon@whidbeycd.org, 360-678-4708
Sunlight Shores Shoreline Restoration Community Planting
Project Description: Join the Sunlight Shores Community in their second native planting as part of their voluntary shoreline restoration project. Planting native vegetation along shorelines and waterways prevents erosion and buffers stormwater run-off, benefitting salmon and Orcas.
Project Location: Sunlight Shores, Clinton
Project Time: 9am-noon
Contact Person: Shannon Bly, Shannon@whidbeycd.org, 360-678-4708
Cornet Bay Noxious Weed Removal
Project Description: Come get your aggression out on some noxious weeds on the beautiful Cornet Bay shoreline. Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group will be on hand to assist with the work party and make sure the correct plants are being removed. Noxious weeds on our shorelines crowd out the native plant ecosystem that buffers Puget Sound from our stormwater and provides habitat for pollinators and wildlife.
Project Location: Cornet Bay, North Whidbey
Project Time: 9 am-noon
Contact Person: Shannon Bly, Shannon@whidbeycd.org, 360-678-4708
Pierce CD
Project Description: Join us at the DeMolay Sandspit Nature Preserve for a marine shoreline restoration planting, to help reduce erosion and create better habitat for the entire food chain.
Project Site: Demolay Sandspit Nature Preserve, Fox Island, WA
Project Time: 1-4 p.m.
Contact Person: Camila Matamala-Ost, CamilaM@piercecd.org, 253-845-9770 ext.126
Kitsap CD
Project Description: Invasive weed removal and native planting along a Dogfish creek in the heart of Poulsbo, WA. Join us as we restore critical habitat for salmon and orca.
Project Location: Fish Park, 288 NW Lindvig Way, Poulsbo, WA 98370
Project Time: 9:30 am - 2 pm
Contact Person: Jesse Adams, j-adams@kitsapcd.org, 360-204-5529 ext 123
Jefferson County CD
Start Your Garden Right
If you’re looking to dig into sustainable practices, there’s no better place to start than your own backyard. Your local District holds an annual plant sale at the beginning of the year. This is your chance to plan your dream garden and ask the professionals for tips and tricks on planting, gardening, or any other questions you may have about your property.
Click on your county on the map to visit their plant sale website!
Thank you!
Thank you to contributors, sponsors, and volunteers who helped create this year’s Orca Recovery Garden.
Big Trees Inc., Pacific Topsoils, Marenakos Rock Center, Mutual Materials, UW Recreation Waterfront Activities Center, Wetlands and Woodlands Wholesale, Cascade Cuts, T&L Nursery, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, and the Rainier Beach Urban Farm & Wetlands.
