Collaboration makes a winning team for a show garden

By Robin Parsons, Spring Greenworks, APLDWA Board Member

Imagine creating a garden that unfolds completely from your imagination. Creating a show garden is all about gathering your most innovative ideas and manifesting them for the public to experience. To make this happen, it is critical that you line up a strong team that is inventive, capable of achieving the goal and that can form a synergistic partnership.

Rejuvenating Waters garden at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival.
Photo: Doreen Wynja

This was our experience at the 2025 Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. Working with Smitha Navda of Rooted In Landscape and Fred Gracey of Terrain was an inspirational experience. The planning of such a project begins almost a year in advance. The concept develops and becomes more refined through the first few months and a design is developed around 6 months in advance. As a team, Smitha and I were very much on the same page as we developed our concept together. Our next step was to present our vision to our contractor, Terrain.

Our rough 3D model and leaf pergola
Photos: Robin Parsons

The landscape plan
Photo: Robin Parsons

This garden would be an immersive experience celebrating the intersection of nature, art, and wellness. Here are the concepts we envisioned:

*Biophilic Design: The garden blended organic forms with modern elements, offering a sensory journey through light, color, water, sound and fragrance. Each detail was thoughtfully curated to enhance physical and mental well-being.

*Lush and Balanced Plant Life: A harmonious mix of exotic and native plants created a verdant tapestry, while ensuring ecological balance. This reflected the value of integrating sustainable and local species into landscape design.

*The ‘Leaf’ Canopy: This innovative structure not only provided a shaded retreat but also demonstrated the potential for sustainable rainwater conservation practices.

*Artistic Expression: Sculptures and art pieces reflected tranquility and transformation, aligning with the garden’s healing theme.

*Traveler’s Path: Visitors walked a carefully designed path, metaphorically representing a transformative journey. The intention was to leave individuals feeling rejuvenated, inspired, and connected to nature by the time they emerged. 

Smitha, Robin and Fred planning the design concept.
Photo: Smitha Navda

The exciting part of working with Fred Gracey at Terrain was his ability to listen. In our first meetings at his offices, we discussed our vision and how it could come together. Fred responded with a complete ‘Can do’ attitude. His determination and enthusiasm were apparent when we discussed the scale and fabrication of our leaf pergola.

Fred assembles the leaf pergola
Photo: Robin Parsons

Fred unpackaging Sid
Photo: Smitha Navda

It’s important to understand your contractors’ special strengths, capabilities and available resources when you determine if they are a good fit for this type of work, and of course, in actual outdoor installations. Fred has a number of fabricators he has worked with over the years which proved to be extremely valuable in our project. Another factor to consider in working with your installer is whether they are willing to do something they have never done and be confident they can achieve a positive outcome.

Over the next few months, we refined our ideas and spent hours sourcing unique materials and plants for the garden. Working with a budget, one has to be creative in sourcing and creating beautiful elements for a project. The task of tagging plants and specifying trees can get very challenging as plants evolve through their seasons. We were able to select some great trees and plant material that Western Nurseries generously allowed us to borrow for the show. Unlike a growing, evolving garden, the show display requires plant material to look its best for the entire week, no matter that the event is in mid-February. This requires a constant ability to shift gears last minute to ensure that all plant material is looking at its best. It is a juggling act that we managed through with the help of T&L Nurseries!

Selecting plants at Western Nursery with Gretchen Bauer
Photo: Smitha Navda

The installation took place in a window of three days where our incredible group of volunteers literally plunged deep in the mulch and sawdust to install the garden. Terrain fabricated the deck, steps, arbor and pergola at their facilities and installed them along with our pond and water feature all in the course of the weekend. Artwork was donated from Bent Productions, along with furnishings from our sponsor, Terrace Dreheim.

Lori and Jon from APLDWA sponsor Environmental Construction build the path while members ready a bed for planting.
Photo: Robin Parsons

The show must go on! As with all the show gardens, the team had to be prepared with plan A, B and C should anything not go as planned. Some designers were even installing at midnight! Fortunately, our custom bench appeared on Sunday afternoon though we were prepared with a plan C. The end result was a successful garden display which received a gold award from the festival judges, reflecting its strong design and commitment to sustainability.

The team takes home a gold award.
Photo: anonymous

The show lasted for 5 days and the APLDWA garden received many accolades. People were most intrigued by the fabrication of the leaf and its function as a water catchment system that gathers rainwater in a pond, filtering into a structural pool. The energy from the crowds and the excitement around the various events kept our adrenaline running high throughout the week. We were very thankful for the community support and enthusiasm displayed by both visitors and our volunteers.

The Rejuvenating Waters garden reflects what is possible when a creative team merges their ideas, innovation and reverence for nature with a commitment to fulfill this vision over the span of eight months. This experience will leave a lasting memory and is a feather in the cap of APLDWA for representing at this event. Robin and Smitha are happy to mentor anyone interested in designing a future show or demonstration garden.

The garden complete!
Photo: Robin Parsons