Edmonds in Bloom names 2016 garden, business winners at annual reception

It was an evening to celebrate the beauty of gardens as Edmonds in Bloom announced the winners of this year’s garden competition and recognized participating local businesses at a gala reception in the Edmonds Center for the Arts lobby.

Noted author, 25-year Pacific Magazine columnist, and avid gardener Valerie Easton gave an engaging keynote address on the joys and obsessions of gardening.

“Let me tell you, plant lust is real and it has serious repercussions,” she quipped. “Symptoms are serious overplanting, and ultimately creating a garden that outstrips your ability to maintain it, ending up giving more stress than peace. This is not the way it should be!”

Easton went on to provide common-sense tips on how to have a garden that brings maximum enjoyment and happiness. This includes choosing the right plants — the kind that require only easy care — and tolerating imperfections.

“Gardens are always changing — embrace and enjoy this,” she advised. “The whole point is to get outdoors and participate in the natural creativity of growing things.”

The club also introduced its new graphic artist, 2012 Edmonds-Woodway High School graduate Megan Lees. Lees graduated this year from Western Washington University with a degree in graphic design, and returned to Edmonds to work with Edmonds in Bloom.

But it wasn’t all gardens, as the club also announced that 2016 Mountlake Terrace High School graduate Bonnie Winters had been selected as the recipient of the club’s $1,000 scholarship. Winters, a recent award winner at the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair for her project demonstrating how lead-contaminated soils can be detoxified by growing certain plants, will begin her studies in paleobotany at Humboldt State University this fall. “I’m so thrilled,” she said. “This scholarship has made it possible for me to follow my passion and pursue this course of study.”

Here are the winners of the 2016 Edmonds in Bloom Garden Competition and Business Recognition awards:

Multi-family Category: Renee Reed (Honorable Mention: Ai Ho; Michelle and Mile Martin; Tisci Pasquale; Diana Van Loveren, Woodscreek Place; Emerald Hills Homeowners Association)

Single Family Category: Al and Toni Young; Marjorie Yalowicki; Barry Tharp; Gretchen Stewart; Carol and Doug Sheldon; Connie Pierce; Kirsten Paust; Linda and Gene Nicholson; Karen Neumeister; Patrice Kettner and Bruce Ballard; Rani Kettel; Patty Jayner; Don Hall; Kathleen and Tony Griffin; Kim Collier; Kayla Clark; Sam Christensen and Paul Kandel; Deborah Binder and Gaetan Veilleux; Susan Anderson. (Honorable Mention: Skip DeHennis, Kara Heck, Shelly Hutton, Rita Miller, Myung Ju)

Youth Award: Girl Scout Troop 41425 for planting and maintaining the corner gardens at the Perrinville post office.

Special Award: North Sound Church for years of maintaining beautiful flower gardens at the historic 1909 First Baptist Church at 4th and Bell and in recognition of the Church’s recent addition to the Edmonds Register of Historic Places.

Business Recognition Entrants: Art Spot, Chanterelle, Christopher Framing and Gallery, City Kitty, Cline Jewelers, Coldwell Banker Bain, Comstock Jewelers, Edmonds Automotive, Edmonds Barber Shop, Edmonds Frame Design and Atelier, Edmonds Law Center, Edward Jones, Fifth Avenue Animal Hospital, Five Corners Styling, Gallery North, Garden Gear, Ideal Salon, Infinity Mortgage, Ivar’s Seafood Bar, Dr. Howard Jue, Louvre Coffee Shop, McDonald-McGarry Insurance, Mosaic Group Salon, Pena Salon, Rusty Pelican, J. Rankin Jewelers, Teri’s Toybox, Wishing Stone.

— Story and photos by Larry Vogel

 

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