BLOOMTOWN

Go By Train! ... to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show

"Go By Train" indeed! At the moment it seems a distant memory, with spring weather now well under way, but a couple of weeks ago, I was planning to drive to Seattle with my friend, Erin for our annual trek to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, but severe weather and snowstorms were forecasted that threatened to muck up travel up and down I-5. So at the last minute, we booked a couple of seats on Amtrak.

As it turned out, we saw very little snow from the cozy interior of the train, but it was nice to know that there was at least some snow here and there, in order to justify our trepidation for traveling by car.

I know, I know, a lot of people take the train to the show every year, so it's not a new idea, but it was a first for me, and I have to say that I'm a convert. Even though my friend is usually the driver, I found this to be such a comfortable and relaxing way to go. Very spacious. Free WiFi. Coffee, drinks and snacks. The only downside was that it forced us to be pretty careful about our purchases once we got to the show, because we had to figure out how to get everything home. In the big scheme of things, having some discipline imposed can be a good thing, at least for my pocketbook. I did still manage to shop -- bulbs, tubers and bare root plants pack quite nicely in a suitcase!

On the way up we took the Cascades route, opting to travel in the more spacious business class for a slight up-charge. On the return leg, we took the Coast Starlight to Portland. It's an especially pleasant ride in the observation car -- light, bright and airy. After a late lunch and a glass of wine in the dining car, voila! we're home.

All in all a great way to go  -- I'll definitely consider doing it again next year. 

Bloomtown Facebook Page

I've created a Facebook Page for Bloomtown. Check it out ... become a fan! (You know what I mean if you're on Facebook, or you'll see what I mean when you visit).

My current thinking is that this Facebook page will supplement what I'm doing at my primary Bloomtown site, the blog. I expect that it’ll be a venue where I might post a looser, more eclectic, occasionally off-topic, brand of garden-related content. We'll see what unfolds.

New Toy at Bloomtown ... An IPhone!

Typepad makes it easy to post-on-the-fly with my cool new IPhone. Does this mean more frequent posts on my horizon? We'll see ...for now, a couple of shots taken at the nursery today.

Tool Library in NE Portland

Thanks to my friend Lisa for bringing this cool service to my attention. Click the image below to enlarge for easier reading, or read more about it in their on-line newsletter here.

Marking the Passage of the Giant Sitka

On our recent drive to the coast via Highway 26 we saw a lot of lingering damage from the December storm that pounded the coast and points inland with record-high winds and rainfall. Uprooted trees and precariously leaning trees were everywhere, and lots of evidence attesting to the mounds of work recently done to clear the roads.

One of the heartbreaking casualties of the storm was the towering, record-breaking Sitka spruce just off of Highway 26 as you make your final approach to the Oregon coast. This fallen giant was bested by the high winds, snapping, near as I can tell, about 80 to 100’ off the ground.

We stopped in to pay our respects. What a grand ol’ boy he was.

What I did on my Winter Vacation

Wow, time flies … and it's been awhile since I've posted. I guess I've been taking an unofficial and unscheduled blog-break.

It won't be very long at all and the spring frenzy will be upon me - client projects will be in full swing, and I'll be busy getting the nursery ready to re-open.

But in the meantime, winter is a pretty sleepy time here at Bloomtown. I have a tendency to cozy-up in the studio; work on client projects lined up last fall, do various "housekeeping" types of projects that have built up over the busy season, as well as work on developing new business ideas to explore in the coming year.

I also try to catch up on my reading and catalog perusing. Right now, I am scanning the Territorial Seed Catalog trying to nail down my spring seed order for the vegetable garden. You'll be hearing more about my vegetable gardening efforts this year. For the moment, I'll just say that I am greatly expanding my efforts towards the edibles.

While I'll still have the kitchen garden here at Bloomtown, that I've posted about before, I'm also going to be incorporating more edible plants in my ornamental garden. I've already planted several more blueberry shrubs and added another in-ground columnar apple, to complement those that I have growing in containers in the existing kitchen garden. And finally, this very exciting news; I will be co-gardening with a friend on a new project. We are planning to create a vegetable garden on her front lawn and sharing the bounty between our households. You'll definitely be hearing more on that as things evolve.