Magnolia Garden Center joined an elite class of landscape designers at the 2005 Northwest Flower & Garden show when it was announced Tuesday, Feb. 8, that the store's entry garnered a gold medal - the highest award given out by the judges.
The Center's full-sized display garden, a collaborative work co-created by Phil Wood Garden Design and Rock Solid Landscapes, was called "Formality and Exuberance" and was one of 25 show gardens judged at the 17th annual event, which took place Feb. 9-13 at the Washington Convention Center.
Margaret Flaherty, who along with her husband Chuck Flaherty is co-owner of Magnolia Garden Center, said she was thrilled to receive the award. "This was our absolutely first experience of any kind except as customers," Flaherty said of entering this year's event. "It was quite the experience."
She gave a lot of credit for the medal to the two firms that collaborated on the display, adding that Wood previously has entered in eight or nine such shows. Rock Solid, Flaherty said, did "a ton of paving work" for the entry garden.
A significant amount of work went into creating "Formality Exuberance," she said. About a month ago they started cutting stone for the display's fountain, which actually sped up the process of setting up the actual garden the Saturday before the show. Plants, which Flaherty said were the real focus of the display, were put in a greenhouse to "force" them into season for the show.
The crew worked 10 hour days, Saturday through Monday, when they completed the display. "There's so much that goes into those things," she said. "There's so much building, lots of things to consider."
The hard work paid off. Flaherty said she was "totally surprised" to take the gold. "We were just thrilled," she said.
Flaherty said the main objective in entering the show was to draw attention to the Garden Center, to "reach out to people," as she put it.
Each of the show gardens at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show was judged on how well it achieved its own design objectives as well as on the quality of execution, and was then presented a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Crystal award. The displays were judged by Wayne Winterrowd, Barbara Blossom Ashmun and Noel Kingsbury, who also presented the awards Tuesday at a ceremony.
Seattle Youth Garden Works took home this year's The Founder's Cup - best of show - which is one of several supplementary awards handed out at the yearly event.
For more information about the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, call 800-229-6311 or check out the event Web site at www.gardenshow.com.
Rick Levin can be reached at mageditor@nwlink.com or 461-1284.[[In-content Ad]]
