A little bit of Italy sprouted in Greenbank earlier this month. A Venetian pastiche with flowing canal, moss-caked stones and time-worn buildings took form in a rickety barn.
Gardeners coaxed the idea from bud to full bloom just in time to be featured as a one of 29 display gardens for Northwest Flower and Garden Show Feb. 19-23 in Seattle. The show garden will be part of the show’s Botanica Artistica.
Designer friends “scattered all over Puget Sound” came together to design and build the display. Vanca Lumsden provided the workspace and quite a bit of inspiration at her Greenbank property. Judith Jones of Gold Bar and Priscilla Dickert of Seattle are the other designers listed as creators of “The Masked Ball: An Architectural Garden Stage.”
But many others helped as well. “People from up and down the island are contributing their time and art,” Lumsden said. Metal workers, glass artists, painters and other gardeners are all designing bits for the garden.
At one time Lumsden supplied nurseries with specialty water plants. “But I found I could make more money cutting wood than selling plants,” she laughed. Today, she and her husband own Adventuresome Rustic Furniture in Greenbank.
This won’t be Lumsden’s maiden foray into designing for the garden show.
“Oh, we’ve been doing gardens for several years,” she said. The group’s other creations can be seen at the garden show’s Web site, www.gardenshow.com. Recent themes have been elaborate prehistoric and undersea tableaux. One even won the prestigious Founder’s Award.
Everything the group creates is built to handle stress since thousands of people wander through the garden show every day. But everything must be light too. It all must be hauled to Seattle, carried in and arranged. And the whole she-bang must be transported, set up and completed in three days. Lumsden hopes to get everything down in one trip in as many trucks and vans as possible. But she’s realistic. “We’ll probably end up making two runs,” she said.
Features of the garden will include a bridge over the flowing canal, lion’s head fountains and gorgeous faux-finished palazzos. Gnarled gilded branches will spiral from terra cotta containers. Greenery will twine and cascade over everything. The creators have thought of every detail, right down to “slime”-finished boards at water level.
While the entire display is complex, Lumdsen and her friends insist on making sure everything is as touchable as possible — especially for children.
“If a child can’t touch something, how can they become interested in it?” she asked.
For kids, (adults too hopefully) a mask shop will also provide some work space to create unique carnival masks.
Lumsden and her cronies will don costumes and masks as they sit in the garden’s bistro during the show, celebrate this year’s garden and discuss future designs.
The creative forces have several more garden plans in the works. “Next year’s will probably have a medieval dragon,” Lumsden said. “But I also want to do a Chinese garden. I found a great red and gold robe with such beautiful sleeves for that one.”
Travel to Seattle for the Masked Ball. It’s cheaper than a trip to Italy.
