SEQUIM — The 17th annual Soroptimist Gala Garden Show will be bright with gardening ideas and a celebrity guest this weekend in Sequim.
The show will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, 400 W. Fir St.
Entry to the show is $5 per person, while children 12 and younger are admitted free.
More than 40 vendors
More than 40 vendors will have displays of nursery starts, gardening supplies, patio furniture, yard art and yard management for North Olympic Peninsula gardeners at the spring-opening show put on by Soroptimist International of Sequim.
“We are sold out on vendors,” said Linda Klinefelter, co-chair of the garden show committee.
“We’re looking forward to having a great show.”
Featured speaker
The featured speaker this year is Ciscoe Morris, sponsored by 7 Cedars Casino.
Morris, who has “Gardening with Ciscoe” shows on KING-TV and Northwest Cable News, and on the radio at 97.3 KIRO-FM, is a Pacific Northwest gardening expert.
He will speak at 1 p.m. Sunday on the topic “Eek, Squish, Splat: Knowing the Good Bugs from the Bad Bugs.”
“He’s so busy, he only comes to events on Sundays now. We’re really lucky to get him,” Klinefelter said.
Visitors can enter a raffle that includes more than $500 in garden supplies and decor.
Raffle items include a cedar Adirondack chair and table, art from Ernst Fine Art Photography and a garden wagon full of items provided by vendors.
Tickets for the raffle are $3 each and will be available at the garden show.
Featured artist
The featured artist will be Deborah Olander, a Port Angeles photographer.
Olander’s print of “Crocus, Harbinger of Spring” is the featured artwork for the show.
Her work has been exhibited in the LaGrange National XI and XIV juried art exhibitions at LaGrange College in Georgia and at the juried annual Artists Alpine Holiday in Ouray, Colo.
Olander’s photographs have won awards at the Clallam County Fair.
An exhibition of her work is scheduled at the Gallery at the Fifth in Sequim in October 2016.
Both days will feature guest speakers from the Master Gardeners of Clallam County, sponsored by Washington State University.
Here is the schedule:
Saturday
■ 10 a.m. — “Vertical Gardening” with Lorrie Hamilton.
■ 11:15 a.m. — “Heirloom Vegetables and Saving Seeds” with Muriel Nesbitt.
■ 1 p.m. — “Vegetable Gardening” expert panel with Nesbitt, Bob Cain and Marilyn Stewart.
■ 2:15 p.m. — “Tomato Basics and the Results of Local Tomato Trials” with tomato experts panel Judy English, Amanda Rosenberg, John Norgord and Audreen Williams.
Sunday
■ 11 a.m. — “Backyard Greenhouse” with Leilani Wood.
■ 1 p.m. — “Eek, Squish, Splat: Knowing the Good Bugs from the Bad Bugs” with Morris.
The Garden Cafe will be open for breakfast and lunch, offering soups, sandwiches, salads and baked goods.
It will be run by Sequim Fresh Catering and Soroptimist members, Klinefelter said.
Garden show proceeds will support such projects as scholarships, the Women’s Opportunity Award, the Medical Loan Closet, the Women in Networks Program, Sequim Community Aid and the Rose House Shelter.
Most of the funds earned by the Soroptimists — 99 percent — are passed back into the community through scholarships and other donations, the group said.
For more information, visit www.sequimgardenshow.com.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
