SEQUIM — Speakers, Master Gardeners, vendors and art will be featured at this weekend’s 20th annual Soroptimist Gala Garden Show fundraiser at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
Doors will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the unit at 400 W. Fir St.
Tickets will be $5 at the door for adults. Children 12 and younger will be admitted free and must be accompanied by an adult.
The show is the club’s main fundraiser, bringing together garden-related products and services.
Soroptimists International of Sequim contributes to local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Sequim Food Bank and Healthy Families of Clallam County.
Featured speaker
Gardening expert Dan Hinkley will present “From There to Here; Interesting and Unusual Plants for the Pacific Northwest” at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Dan Hickley will present “From There to Here: Interesting and Unusual Plants for the Pacific Northwest” during the 20th annual Soroptimist Gala Garden Show.
Hinkley, born in the highlands of North Central Michigan, has had a lifelong interest in all types of plants, from trees to edibles, leading him to earn a bachelor’s degree in ornamental horticulture and horticulture education from Michigan State University in 1976, and a master’s degree in urban horticulture from the University of Washington in 1985.
In 1987, while teaching horticulture at Edmonds Community College, he and his partner, Robert L. Jones, began Heronswood Nursery and Garden near Kingston.
In 2000, Hinkley and Jones sold the operation to W. Atlee Burpee & Co., a national seed and plant distribution firm. Within six months, Burpee declared Chapter 11 and in 2006 the property was shuttered, according to show organizers.
In 2012, the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe purchased Heronswood at auction, and the rebirth and revealing of the overgrown landscape began.
Hinkley now serves as Heronswood’s director.
Hinkley’s devotion to introducing rare and unusual plants to gardeners has led him into the wildernesses of China, South and Central America, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Nepal, Vietnam, Taiwan, Sikkim, Bhutan, Tasmania and Canada numerous times a year for the past 22 years.
His current book, “The Explorers Garden: Rare and Unusual Perennials,” will be available for purchase at the show. He will sign books following his talk.
Other speakers
Other speakers will be featured Saturday:
• 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. — WSU-certified Clallam County Master Gardeners Jan Danford, Audreen Williams, Bob Cain and Muriel Nesbitt will welcome questions from the audience on gardening topics.
• 11:15 a.m. — Marilynn Elliott and Tanya Unruf will present “Gifts of the Garden,” turning ordinary garden objects into decorative objects.
• 1 p.m. — Keith Dekker, a professional landscaper, will discuss the landscape plants that grow well on the Olympic Peninsula.
• 2:15 p.m. — Susan Kalmar will talk about “One Container, Four Seasons,” describing how to rejuvenate containers of plants through the season.
Featured vendor
Three Roosters Nursery of Camano Island will be this year’s featured vendor.
Show attendees can expect to see a variety of pottery, including white, black and red clay-bodied pots and vases with hand-carved designs, plenty of whimsical garden art and an array of low-maintenance succulents.
Owners Bob and Amy Schroepfer have been busy creating one-of-a-kind pieces in their studio throughout the winter in preparation for their debut appearance at the Gala Garden Show, organizers said.
A list of other vendors is available on the show’s website at http://sequim gardenshow.com/.
This year’s artist
This year’s featured artwork, “Friendship Garden,” is by Port Angeles artist Denise Erickson.
Port Angeles artist Denise Erickson was chosen as the 20th annual Soroptimist Gala Garden Show’s featured artist. Erickson’s “Friendship Garden” art graces the show’s posters and promotional materials.
Those familiar with Sequim will recognize Erickson’s photograph as part of the Friendship Garden at Carrie Blake Park.
“Recently, I realized my life has mirrored the rule of thirds, a method to create a pleasing piece of art,” Erickson said.
“A third of my years has been lived in Arizona, a third in Texas and a third divided by our time in Japan and many states. I was 8 when I first saw the rain-washed blue skies of Washington state, and I knew I wanted to return … and so I did in 2002.”
Erickson said her interest in Japanese gardens came from living in Japan, Washington, Oregon and in Belleville, Ill., across the river from the tea house in St. Louis.
“When I heard there was a Japanese garden in Sequim, of course I was determined to see it,” she said. The garden at Carrie Blake Park honors the friendship between the people of Sequim and their sister city, Yamasaki, Japan.
Food available
Soroptimist member Paulette Hill and Rick, her husband — owners of Sequim Fresh Catering — responded with a hearty, “Count us in” when asked for support for the 2018 Garden Show Café.
The Café will offer two soups each day, one vegetarian and one meat-based, along with homemade rolls and cookies, including gluten-free options.
The Soroptimists also will provide salads to round out the luncheon items available from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
For more information about the Gala Garden Show, go to http://sequim gardenshow.com/.
