LAST BATCH OF PHOTOS FROM SEATTLE.....

A few photos I left out from the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle last weekend.....The first photo is an incredibly OOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDDD t-shirt from KXL radio of when my darling Mike Darcy began his radio show - so many years ago...he looks like a baby! The second photo is Mike's daughter-in-law, the charming Anne, who brought the shirt to share with us all at the show - and give us all a huge laugh!

The last three shots are of Mike Darcy interviewing the legendary garden dude, Ed Hume, for his radio show! It was a real honor to get to meet Mr. Hume....total garden hero!

I even got to be a little bit of radio filler on Saturday! Mike had an extra few minutes on his show - so he was kind enough to put me on the air and ask about some of the trends I have been following in the garden furnishings/fabrics/color world - from all of the design shows we have attended recently. What a treat! It is such fun to be on his show..........

Be sure and tune in to Mikes show every Saturday morning from 9-12. There is so much to learn from him......

Well, that's it for now........

Chef in my garden...benefit for Growing Gardens

Last night Frenchy and I attended a lovely charity dinner for Growing Gardens, a non-profit here in Portland which combats hunger by building organic Home Gardens in urban backyards and schools. The event was held in uber-gardener Mike Darcy's LOVELY garden and the event was delightful! The chef was David Anderson from Genoa...so you know it had to be killer. Tom from Small Vineyards treated us all to special wines from Italy...even though I don't like wines, I do love Proseco....and I had my fill!

Mike and his incredibly lovely wife Linda were the hostess's with the mostest.....

I was trying to send a bunch of pictures from my iphone to blogger but my battery ran out and died right in the middle...figures!

Anyhoo......here's what I've got in the way of photos before we lost power.

Love that Mike Darcy!!!

Thanks Mikey for letting me be on your radio show this morning! And thanks to your lovely wife, Miss Linda for a terrific lunch date! You guys are the best!!!!

Love this chief Joseph pine....

MUST HAVE! The yellow fall/winter color is amazing. 15 feet in 30 years and only 10 feet wide - perfect for the smaller garden...

I'm just getting ready to go on the radio at 10:45 with the amazing Mike Darcy of KXL Radio AM 750.....YIPPEE!!!!!! Tune in if you can.....

YIPPEE!!!!! It's the Yard, Garden & Patio Show!

It's that time of year again - Thank God!!!!!! Today was the start of the Yard, Garden & Patio Show at the Oregon Convention Center. I was DYING to get over there to hear Dan Hinkley - DAN HINKLEY! - speak - but I had client appointments and could not make it...not so for tomorrow - I am heading over there bright and early to take a quick run about the place and then I am lucky enough to have been invited by my darling Mike Darcy to be on his radio show at 10:45 on KXL Radio - AM 750. YIPPEE!!! I love that man......and being on his show is a total blast.....so come down and get a seat during his show or show up at 12 to see Dan Hinkley speak about Tree, Vines and Shrubs - he is indeed the master - and then hang around to see Mike Darcy and Kym Pokorny o the Oregonian talk about " a few of their favorite plants" at 3! All in all, a delightful gardening day will be had - prepare to shop, look and listen!!!!!

Oh...and before I forget....I am hosting a seminar of my own called "Decorate the Outdoors" Sunday morning at 10:30 - don't forget - all seminars at this weekends show are FREE!!!!!...Free is a VERY good price! I would love to see you there!!!!

See you at the show!

The last of the Seattle Garden Show pictures and a lovely dinner for 10 at Wild Ginger with Mike Darcy et al. Whew!!! I am sooooooo tired!!!!

Sent from my iPhone

Mr. Darcy and Brian from Monrovia at Wild Ginger for a lovely dinner!

Me andiss Sabrina at the train station. Headed off to Seattle for the weekend at the northwest garden show with Mike Darcy!! Yippee!!!!!!

Time to get shopping......

YIPPEE!!!!! The holidays are here! I love this season, even though I am in retail..LOVE IT! I am so excited about all the lovely things we have received in the shop over the last few weeks! I had almost forgotten what we were getting since I had placed all these orders in August/September, so what a treat to open all the boxes! I made a conscious effort to buy lots of small but beautiful hostess and tank you gifts for all the fabulous parties you will be attending like Middle Kingdom porcelain vases, each presented in its own little linen box with toggle closure, Aquiesse candles and sooo much more. Our holiday windows will be installed on Nov 25th and will be featuring my favorites! One window will be filled with hand knit sock monkeys from Nepal along with beautifully colored lacquer serving trays and boxes. The other window will be the second time we will have "the tipsy gnome xmas party" with LOTS of gnomes of great character having a party in the forest along with concrete mushrooms, hand felted mushrooms and hand felted gnome ornaments. I can't wait to put in the windows! I love good window displays! I love going to a big city - bigger than Portland, like NYC or London and check out the windows. I was in Chicago in Sept. and the Ralph Lauren windows on Michigan Ave were magnificent!

But if you are looking for a gift that goes above and beyond the hostess gift - for your sweety perhaps, we just got the new Marquetry merino wool throws by Kelly Wearstler for SFERRA. Dear God they are beautiful! They have a reversible abstracted faux bois pattern in three colors; mandarin, cove and slate. All so lovely! Perfect for a cozy winter evening to keep you sweety warm! We also got the Thistle cocktail napkins....hostess gift anyone???

It has been so blustery here in Portland this last week - perfect Winnie the Pooh weather. Makes me want soup and stew and warm drinks. It is just about time to make up a big batch of hot buttered rum mix - you know the one with butter and ice cream - it truly DOES NOT SUCK. I remember the first time I made it - at the home of Miss Sus - now lives in Pittsburgh - bummer! Anyhoo......we had so much fun making the batter and eating it and drinking the results that Frenchy had to come retrieve my sloppy drunk self after work. YIKES! Do you remember that Sus? Thanks again - 5 years later......

OK then.......I have been a busy little blogger this morning - a morning at home with a sleeping Stella made it all possible.....off I go now....I have to meet the darling Mike Darcy from 'In the Garden with Mike Darcy' on KXL radio - Since I am a HUGE Jane Austen geek - I just consider him to be my personal Mr. Darcy - anyway - he has a business selling HUGE and beautiful garden containers and I need to get cracking on a Spring '10 order - then the lovely Miss Sue and I need to record our next episode of http://www.homestlyehappyhour.blogspot.com/ for Wednesday. Where are we going for happy hour? It's a mystery....guess you will just have to check it out on Wednesday at 6.....

Have a great Monday!

Now that it seems that the last of the snow has occurred here in Portland, I can finally take my car to the windshield guy and get a new one. I have had two enormous cracks running the entire length of my windshield since December. What is the point of getting it changed if you know you are going to get more snow and your new windshield would not last the week with the amount of gravel we put on the roads over here. Besides, I think it has been kinda fun watching the cracks travel so far. Now that I have that taken care of I can move on two my two new obsessions this week; 1) Starting my seeds for spring and 2) Plant Nerd Night with Mike Darcy. OK, maybe there is a third thing; more of a burning question really, like how is it possible that 8 chairs leave the manufacturer at one time, on the same truck and with the same tracking numbers and just two days later, only three of the eight actually arrive? Why? I guess it will remain a mystery for the ages.

Within the last 2 weeks I have received about 20, OK maybe 10 seed and plant catalogs in the mail. Not catalogs so much as plant porn. With the help of these so called catalogs, my current seed obsession is for a new tomato called "Orange Paruche". Isn’t an orange tomato kind of an oxymoron? This variety has super flavorful and sweet 1½” fruit on a compact and vigorous plant and is available through Territorial Seed Co.(http://www.territorialseed.com/). I am also starting a beautiful all white radish called "Icicle Short Top". It is a very mild 4-5" radish that is ready to harvest in 20 days! I love a nice quick growing vegetable, talk about immediate gratification. You should really peruse tier catalog, there is so much good stuff - even quite a bit I bet you have never heard of! The best part of using seeds from Territorial is that they are local company here in the Northwest and I love to be able to shop local when I can.

You don’t need a greenhouse to start your seeds; a sunny windowsill will do nicely; but you are going to need a few supplies to get started. I am sure you have all seen the little seed starting peat pellets at your local nursery. I personally have not had any luck with starting seeds in that manner, so I use Black Gold seed starting mix and trays of 2” peat pots. With the pots, you actually fill them with the soil and a few seeds and voila! Water like mad and after the seeds reach about 2 inches, thin then out and give individual plants their own pots. When the plants get to about 7 – 9” and the weather outside is well past frost, the peat pots are ready to be planted outside. Mid April is usually about the right time. If you choose tomatoes, pick a site with PLENTY of sun, give them lost of water and good staking and watch them go! YIPPEE! Fresh tomatoes! This year I am going to start sugar snap peas, tomatoes and eggplant!

Last on my list today is the absolutely geekiest plant event of the year in Portland, but Dear God I LOVE IT! For those of you that are not total plant geeks like me and/or those who don't have a chance to be in Portland this weekend, please turn on your Portland filter now. This Friday is Plant Nerd Night with Mike Darcy and KXL Radio. What? You have never been? Well then mark your calendar for Friday, March 6th at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 2000 Country Club Road, Lake Oswego, Oregon (across from Lake Oswego High School). This is a free event, doors open at 6 and the event starts at 7 pm. Get there early as this is an incredibly popular event and it fills up quickly. Plant Nerd Night is a plant geeks’ dream! A place to see and be seen, your host, Mike Darcy invites local plant vendors to give a brief presentation about what is new and hot in their nurseries this year. After our usual gray winters, it is a spark of light and fresh ideas for the upcoming planting season. The participating vendors bring a ton of their best plants for sale between 6-7. This years vendors/presenters are Xera Plants (LOVE LOVE), Dancing Oaks Nursery, Terra Nova Nursery, One Green World (edibles only nursery)Thompson’s Nursery, (killer rhodies)and Hydrangeas Plus. There are door prizes of killer plants half-time entertainment from the Chorus of the Goddess Flora, a singing group made up of Hardy Plant Society members signing garden inspired lyrics to well recognized melodies – it is a total kick! So come on down to Plant Nerd night and prepare to be entertained! That’s it for now so Cheers! Here’s to dirt under your nails!