| Say it with gardens, read it in books
One way Portlanders express themselves is through their gardens. The Pacific Northwest is home to a stunning variety of plants -- wild and domestic, edible and ornamental. We're even pushing the boundaries by growing things we never thought would survive here, let alone thrive -- like bananas, and other tropical plants. Multnomah County Library provides resources for growers of all levels and interests. Two books on kitchen gardening caught my eye this year: "Designing the New Kitchen Garden: An American Potager Handbook" by Jennifer R. Bartley is a stunning book, complete with garden plans, and information on integrating a vegetable garden into your landscape. It is a little more challenging than "The Art of the Kitchen Garden" by Jan and Michael Gertley, which may be a little better for the beginner.
Spring Fair has gardening exhibits
If your own garden has left you yearning for some actual plant life, get to the Puyallup Spring Fair, starting Thursday. Sure, they have the usual vendors and exhibits, but here are some can't-miss gardening events and exhibits. Rhodies galore: If you're looking for inspiration, don't miss the more than 800 rhododendron plants in the annual rhody show. Big ones, little ones, wild ones – with 800 to chose from, there's a rhody for everyone. Playshops: When you're learning how to be a beekeeper or remodel your garden, is it really a "work"shop? We think not. From author Mary Robson to host Ciscoe Morris to Marianne Binetti, there's something for everyone. Display gardens: Nearly three-quarters of an acre of exhibits, from new products to plants and bulbs. You probably won't leave empty-handed.
Queen Squeaky Clean
After pouring coffee, she thunders across the floor in her cowboy boots, a brisk progression amid her finely tooled urban landscape of Jo Malone pomegranate candles, smooth marble surfaces and remote controls neatly stacked in a lacquer box on the coffee table. In the wilderness years when she couldn't get arrested on television, she helped her husband's property development company by producing furniture packages for his buy-to-let flats. "I do not deal in flat-pack or veneer," she says, rather grandly, although she is not particularly proud of the work she has done here. "This place isn't really me, it's too sterile," she says, waving at the glass walls, which offer a sliver of the Thames as a view. "We bought it three years ago because we got fed up of staying in London hotels.
Buzzing around the garden, Rochester woman is a busy 'Bee'
Michalene Mangan, gardener extraordinaire and the muscle behind her business, "The Worker Bee," is available to help those of us with too little time and too much to do. Specializing in garden design, planting and maintenance, Mangan loves nothing better than getting her hands in the dirt, pulling weeds, planting flowers and helping clients transform a garden vision into a riot of blooms. Says Mangan, "I have always loved the smell of dirt and getting into it. As a little girl there was a dirt pile under our porch and I loved making mud pies and playing in it." The first seeds of her love of gardening were planted as a young mother in Pennsylvania. "Our first baby-sitter had a garden that was breathtaking," Mangan says. "She became my inspiration and that is when I decided I really wanted to be involved and learn everything I could about the care and feeding of flowers and plants.
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