I’ve been attending the annual GardenComm conferences since 2001. This year we gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan the last week of August to visit with old friends, make new ones, learn things to help us as gardeners and business people, and most important to me—visit lots of gardens. Over the course of two days our tour buses took us to 15 gardens. Some were big public gardens, like the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park or Windmill Island Gardens in Holland. But most of the gardens were smaller, private affairs.

This four-minute video slideshow is just a teaser. Sit back, relax, and enjoy. Full screen will enhance your viewing pleasure.

I’ve been attending the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in Seattle since the mid-1990s. It’s one of the premier garden shows in North America and always a delight to savor in February, when spring is just around the corner and we gardeners are thinking about the upcoming season.

Now that we’re mostly out of covid pandemic restrictions, this year’s show feels a lot more like it did pre-pandemic than it did in 2022. The display garden area is back to capacity, with 18 gardens this year. The crowds are back, too. That’s good for business, but does make it a little crowded on the show floor while you’re enjoying the display gardens and shopping among all the vendors.

As I’ve done in many previous years, I photographed each of the display gardens and created a fast-paced video slideshow to give you a feeling for the show. Like other years, the display gardens can best be described as garden theater. There’s dramatic lighting and sometimes you’ll see plant combinations that just won’t work in the real world. But you’ll definitely come away with new ideas to incorporate into your own garden, whether it’s a cool plant you’ve never seen used that way or an idea for a structure or hardscape.

Here’s the video, which runs just over 7 minutes. It’s best on a big screen. Enjoy!