Brian Minter: Seattle's Northwest Flower and Garden Festival is just around the corner

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After being lulled by El Niño, Mother Nature’s rather rude introduction to real winter weather with such a bitter cold blast, has left most of us needing a little lift.

I have the perfect suggestion: the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival taking place at the Seattle Washington State Convention Center from Feb. 14 to 18. It’s a few weeks down the calendar, but just the thought of their beautiful spring displays is something to look forward to.

I’ve been a huge fan of this show ever since it was started in 1989, by Duane and Alice Kelly. It was the first major public show held in the convention centre, and it has improved every year since. It’s now rated one of the Top 10 flower shows in the world, and it’s nice to have it so close to home.

The heart and soul of the show are the spectacular display gardens. When you walk into the venue, its like entering a different world. This expansive building is cooled just slightly to help preserve the colour and perfume of the thousands of spring flowers, winter flowering shrubs, perennials, and of course the many specimen trees which have been forced into bloom just for the show.

Theatrical lighting adds to the drama of all this spring beauty by bringing out the vibrance of so many bright colours, and setting the mood for individual show gardens.

This year there are twenty display gardens with a wide variety of themes, but they all come under this year’s theme: I Love Spring!

Even though there will be many show goers surrounding each feature, I go back several times to try to capture the spirit of each design,