Art in the Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden

Nigel and I went to the Art in the Garden festival at the Bellevue Botanical Garden on Saturday. This was the third annual Art in the Garden, a show that features the sculptures and garden art of 25 Northwest artists, both on display and for sale, some simple, some elaborate, in metal, wood, blown and fused glass, ceramics, bronze and other outdoor-appropriate materials. The day started off cool, but warmed up rather quickly since it was very sunny.

I've been wanting to see the new suspension bridge at the Bellevue Botanical Garden for a while, ever since Mother's Day this year when it opened. Given that he has an engineering bent, Nigel wanted to see it too.

Welcome to Jurassic Park!

Nigel went ahead of me. I accused him, more than once, of deliberately shaking the bridge. Poor man, falsely accused! He was outraged. Although quite sturdy and made with enormous cables, the bridge is much more bouncy than I thought it would be.

After checking out the bridge, Nigel found a shady spot to sit and read his Kindle, while I made the rounds of the artists. There was a lot of glasswork, which is understandable, given we live in the glass art capital of the world, and some of it was really beautiful. But it can get a bit monotonous after a while. In fact, there were so many glass artists there I completely lost track of whose work I was photographing!

I did think this was a really cute bug vignette!

Loved these glass leaves!

I don't know where I'd put this full-size decorated torso, but it was pretty cool!

This red agave was the size of a real agave, but quite a bit more expensive -- $430.

I could see these huge herons beside my stream!

There was a dragon on top of the Visitor's Center!

And some owls too!

Wouldn't this woodpecker look great on the side of a tree?

I want this rooster too!

Loved this earthenware pot!

Another cool torso, with mosaics on it!

I just adore mosaic art, and these mandalas really appealed to me! (I should have bought one.)

There were faux cave paintings as well.

Everyone admired this dangling mosaiced mermaid.

Nice detail on a metal trellis

I'd love some mosaic stepping stones like these, but they were for sale as a complete set for $300, and I didn't want the birdbath.

I also managed to wander around the gardens and get a few shots of plants!

Was this plant with big leaves Astilboides? Darmera? Nope, the tag under it said Peltoboykinia tellimoides x watanabei.

Tricyrtis flowers are so small and hard to spot, but so sweet and delicate when you see them up close.

This blackberry lily had the most enormous seedpods!

Nice foliage combo! Golden Hakone grass and Daphne odora (possibly 'Mae-Jima')

It was hard to miss the large crowd around local plant guru and media personality Ciscoe Morris, who was leading a group around the garden, pointing out his favorite plants and looking very hot (temperature-wise, that is!)

Artist Info (for artists whose work is featured here, there were lots more whose business cards I didn't get -- click on names to reach websites):

Marcus Harper, glass artist
marcusharper@comcast.net
253-517-8130

Driftwood Creations
Carol Bryant
360-445-2182

Dean Tile and Design
Carol Rose Dean
info@deantile.com
360-331-1295

Jesse Kelly, glass artist
jessekellyglass@gmail.com
206-354-7368

Abraxas Crow Company
Gunter Reimnitz
Forge/Weld/Cut/Bend Steel Sculptures
reimnitz@olypen.com
360-379-3281

Unique Ceramics
Barbara Wyatt
BarbBQ3@aol.com
425-478-3801

Lance H. Carleton, sculptor
lancecarleton@comcast.net
206-617-9007

Mad Mosaics
Carman Komm
madmosaics@aol.com
253-250-3253

The show runs on Sunday, August 26 as well, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Today Was a Two-Fer!

Today was a Two-Fer -- Two For the Price of One! I've been wanting to join Les's Winter Walk-Off  for a couple of years. If you're not familiar with the Winter Walk-Off, here's what Les at A Tidewater Gardener has to say about it:

"On your own two feet, leave the house and share what can be seen within walking (or biking) distance of your home (if you want to drive to your walk that's OK too).  Your post does not have to be about gardening or a travelogue, unless you want it to be.  Maybe instead you will find some unusual patterns, interesting shadows, signs of spring, a favorite restaurant or shop, questionable landscaping or local eyesores.  Whatever, just keep your eyes and mind open, be creative and have fun, but don't show anything from your own garden."

Why haven't I joined this before? Two words -- Cold and Rain. I don't like to walk in either (yes, I'm a wimp), but unfortunately, those two words describe our Pacific Northwest winter. Our entire winter. A day without either is a rarity, and I only have until March 19 to participate. Yesterday was one such rarity, but I didn't want to walk, I wanted to garden in my own garden. So I did. I managed to weed and cutback and clean out all the beds in the back garden.

This morning promised to be warm and not raining as well, but -- well, today I wanted to go to the Northwest Perennial Alliance's March Mania Plant Sale at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Hmmm...how could I incorporate a walk and the plant sale? I could walk AT the Bellevue Botanical Garden! Technically, it's not my neighborhood, but I'm going to interpret the "rules" loosely. Les says I can drive and then walk, so that's what I did.

If you're really jonesing for pictures of a couple of (summertime) walks I took through my neighborhood and town, you can check out this post, and this post, from my other blog The 40-Pound Chicken Challenge.

So, after that long-winded preamble --

There were plenty of vendors out today for the sale

More vendors -- in fact, there were even more beyond, around the corner of the building

Did I buy plants? yes But not Hellebores. I'm sure that surprised you. After I had paid for my non-Hellebore plants, I retrieved Nigel from his reading corner inside the building, and we set off on our stroll. Our first stop was the Water-wise Garden, which had this gorgeous stand of Epimedium, a wonderful dry shade plant.

I don't know which Epimedium this is, but it's got really pretty leaves for this time of year.

Then we checked out the Northwest Perennial Alliance's Perennial Border. At the moment there's not much blooming there except Hellebores and Crocuses.

The NPA border has a happy gnome!

After a perusal of the border, the path onward beckons

Mahonia blooming beside the path

There were lots of this favorite PNW native small tree -- Indian plum, aka Oemleria cerasiformis

I was surprised to see flowers budding already on the flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum.

This -- most likely Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn' -- smelled heavenly and was blooming profusely

A moss-covered nurse log in the Native Discovery Garden

Moss covers everything here, whether it's a rolling stone or a still one

Fall's detritus still hung, captured in plenty of branches

Rather than veer off to the relatively new suspension bridge, which has been open less than a year, we ventured into the Japanese Garden, which I have never seen. For a summer-time post with pictures of the bridge, look here.

We spied this strange metal object from across the garden.

It's an enormous drainage hatch!

 

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So I'm sure you're wondering what I bought at the plant sale...

From top right, going clockwise: Epimedium versicolor, Melianthus major, Cardiocrinum giganteum yunnanense, black mondo grass, and Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea'

My baby Cardiocrinum. I hope I can keep it alive.

Have you been doing any gardening lately? Or taken any walks? Thinking of participating in Les's Winter Walk-Off? I'm so glad I finally did.