Photo Gallery

"A Feast for the Senses!” 

Tons of Vendors, lots of fun, and it’s all free! 

OUR BIG ANNUAL EVENT FOR THE YEAR!
DATE - May 13, 2023 - annually the 2nd Saturday in May 

HOURS - 9am-5pm
LOCATION - 1810 N Greene St, Spokane, WA  
EMAIL - gardenexpo@comcast.net
Admission is FREE with free parking  
An Extraordinary Annual Event - 22nd Annual Spokane Garden Expo 

Bring your wagon or garden cart and get ready to capture some choice selections!

Be sure to check out over 20 new vendors in the SCC Lair Cafe. 

• Exotic Specialty Plants for Sale 
• Lecture Series - Speakers listed in show brochure
• One-of-a-Kind Garden Art 
• Door Prizes - Sign up at table in front of main eastside entrance inside 
• Garden Accessories & Décor 
• Unique Gifts 
• Food - Lots of wonderful food options 

G A R D E N E X P O D E M O N S T R A T I O N S 

May 13, 2023

Spokane Community College Lair Conference Room, 1810 N Greene St, Spokane, WA

10am - Katie Shipman & Dylan McGillen, owners Planted Plant Co. - “Terrarium Building” - Creating your own terrarium is a great way to bring a little greenery into your home without a lot of maintenance. This demonstration will show you how to make your own simple mini tabletop garden. They are fun to create and are a great way to perk up your indoor space. In addition to being enjoyable and decorative, terrariums are also easy to care for and simply beautiful. We honestly think the world would be a better place if everyone would make one!

11am - Amy Gurel, owner & artist of AJ Made With Love - “Cultured Sea Glass Suncatcher” - The artist will go through the process of how she got started with recycled glass and wire wrapping. She will also demonstrate how she hand makes each link of the chain as well as wire wraps the tumbled glass. Once those two steps are discussed she will then put it all together with a piece of driftwood to create a stunning one-of-a-kind suncatcher that you can adorn any blank spot inside or outside of your home or place of work. Don't forget to stop by Amy’s Expo booth after the demo to check out many more of her one-of-a-kind creations.

1pm - Amy Hendricks, Dryland Revival - "Hugelkultur: A Centuries-Old Raised Bed Gardening Technique" - Learn how to create your own hugelkutur beds for water efficient gardening. Hugelkultur is a permaculture method of making garden beds by layering logs, branches, leaves, and other organic plant debris with compost and soil. In German, hugelkultur literally means “hill culture”. It has been practiced by natural farmers and gardeners around the world for centuries. The concept is rapidly gaining popularity as a cost-effective way to fill raised garden beds, planter boxes, and containers too. 

2pm - Linda Hagen Miller, owner Northwest Spindrift - “Driftwood and Bead Spinner” - Learn how to make a driftwood and bead spinner for your patio, deck or yard. Spinners are also known as Valhalla Ladders, which were crafted by early Nordic adventures as totems to protect the home. You will learn where to collect driftwood (you do not have to go to the ocean!), how to clean and varnish it and how to drill the holes needed to string driftwood with colorful beads. We'll go over the tools, beads and wire you will need. If time allows, I'll demonstrate how to use the same supplies to make a beaded wind chime. A supply list will be available to help you get started on your own Valhalla Ladder.

G A R D E N E X P O S E M I N A R S 

May 13, 2023

Spokane Community College Lair Auditorium, 1810 N Greene St, Spokane, WA

10am - Kelly Chadwick - Founder, Spirit Pruners - “Edible Spring & Summer Mushrooms in Your Yard” - For many people, the mushrooms that pop up in their backyards are mysterious, intriguing and sometimes worrying, and raise the question, “Why are mushrooms growing in my backyard?” Beautiful and unique backyard mushrooms are intriguing but some are also poisonous, so it’s always best not to touch or eat any unknown wild mushrooms that appear in your yard. But, most common backyard mushrooms are harmless and play an important role in your backyard ecosystem. Learn the most common edible mushrooms that arise in the human habitat. We will go over general groups and rules along with culinary characteristics.  

11:30am - Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, Life-long Student of Plants and Earth Repair - “Fragrant gardening, Fragrance-scaping, Scratch & Sniff Plants”- How to work fragrant plants into your landscape, with a special focus on using permaculture methods. We should include fragrant plants in all our landscaping. Good for the health of humans to have fragrant plants to sniff and fragrance wafting through the air. And good for pollinators and the ecosystems. We will cover dozens of plants with fragrant flowers, foliage, and bark. Fragrance throughout the year. Day and Night. Take time to smell the flowers.

1pm - Susan Mulvihill, Author, columnist and Master Gardener - “Vegetable Plant Disorders: Why Blossom-end Rot and Other Weird Problems Occur” - Vegetable gardeners are all too familiar with insect pests and plant diseases. But what about the frustrating problems that are either caused by the weather or something we did or did not do? Susan discusses bitterness, blossom-end rot, bolting, buttoning, fruit cracking, leaf roll, sunburn, sunscald and tomato catfacing. Most of these disorders are preventable. Learn the simple steps you can take in your garden to eliminate or greatly reduce the chance they will become a problem.

2:30pm - Phyllis Stephens, Local Gardening Expert - “A Feast for the Senses!” - Your garden could be so fulfilling, if you plug in. You will explore the garden on all levels by attuning your nose to the scents and training your ears to listen. The smallest of things can transport us back to another place and time: the scent of lilac in the evening, the unmistakable taste of basil, the woolly comfort of lamb’s ears. Each one elicits a memory while creating a new one. Learn to garden with eyes wide open, ears to the ground, and hands outstretched. This beautiful and fun as well as highly practical presentation will lead you through an odyssey of exploration to awaken the senses and arouse your abilities of perception on all levels. 

Note - Programs, times, exhibitors listed are free and subject to change without notice. Limited seating.

 LONG FOR a garden that enriches your life and feeds your soul
SEEK the latest gardening news, tips and shortcuts
CRAVE the newest and coolest plants
ENJOY bringing the fragrance/beauty of the garden indoors
NEED guidance toward more organic practices
WANT down-to-earth ideas that inspire rather than intimidate
LOVE real gardens, by real people
BELIEVE many things are possible with just the planting of a seed  

The Spokane Community College, 1810 N. Greene St, Spokane, WA will spring to life with everything you need to make your garden beautiful at the 22nd annual Garden Expo, May 13, 2023 from 9am-5pm. 

Antiques
Art for the Garden
Baskets
Birdhouses/Feeders  
Books
Bulbs

Candles
Chocolate/Fudge  
Concrete Products
Dahlias
Equipment/Tools
Fabric/Clothing/Hats/Shoes   
Florals 

Food

Furniture
Garden Décor
Gardening Supplies  
Gourmet Food Items  
Gifts
Glass Products  
Hanging Baskets
Herbs 

Home Products
Honey/Bee Products  
Horticultural Organizations  
Hosta
Ice Cream 

Imports
Jewelry
Kitchen Products   
Landscape/Tree Services
Lavender Products   
Lighting and Fountains
Lily Bulbs
Lotion/Skin Care
Metal/Iron Works   
Mosaic Art  
Native Plants 

Orchids
Planters
Plant Fertilizers
Plants Local Vendors
Plants Out of Town Vendors  
Pond Supplies
Pottery/Stone/Concrete/Rock
Reclaimed Art 

Rock Garden Plants
Roses
Seeds

Services
Shade Plants
Soap
Stepping Stones
Structures/Sunrooms  
Succulent Plants
Tea

Tomato Plants
Vegetable/Bedding Plants  
Windchimes
Wood Products/Furniture 

Put May 13, 2023 on your calendar and come join us for a day of fun! It's time for the 22nd Annual Spokane Garden Expo. 

Held at the beautiful Spokane Community College campus, 1810 N Greene St, Spokane WA, each year the garden show draws in thousands of people. 

The Expo offers over 250 booths of fantastic plant and garden-related items. You can explore unique offerings of garden art, wind chimes, planters, garden furniture, iron works, and a wealth of other products. 

It's a great opportunity to get something special for someone to pick up something for your own garden. 

The Garden Expo is presented by The Inland Empire Gardeners (TIEG). This is our 22nd year hosting the Expo. Every year the show provides an opportunity for nurseries and merchants to interact with the community by offering a wealth of goods, services and information. Put the Garden Expo on your calendar and come join us for a day of fun!
 

Location & Directions
The Garden Expo takes place at the Spokane Community College (SCC), 1810 N Greene St, Spokane, WA. Getting to SCC from I-90 Eastbound: Take the Thor/Freya St exit. Turn left at Freya St. *Continue traveling north on Freya St. Freya will become Greene St at Mission Ave. The SCC campus is located at the intersection of Greene St and Mission Ave. You may enter the campus from Greene St or from Mission Ave.  

From I-90 Westbound:  Take the Thor/Freya St exit. Turn right at Freya St. (*see above).  Campus is located on the corner of Green and Mission. The college is less than 2 miles north of the I-90 and Freya Street interchange.  

Parking
Parking for the Expo is limited to the surrounding areas of the Spokane Community College campus. There is a large parking lot of the southeast side of the campus. A transit station has been built on the southeast parking lot if you would like to take the bus. Additional parking is available behind the tennis courts. There is limited designated disabled parking. We highly encourage car-pooling.  
 

Crowds
The Garden Expo is very popular and will be crowded. If you don't like crowds, may we suggest you attend later in the afternoon when the crowds dies down. There is still plenty to see and shop for. In fact, many of the vendors are wheeling and dealing at that point.   
 

Spokane Community College - Venue 

Located at the corner of Mission Ave and Greene St in east Spokane, SCC is highly regarded for its professional-technical programs, including specialties in health sciences; information technology; industrial, manufacturing and automotive technology; hospitality and culinary arts; building trades; and agriculture and natural resource management. The college also has a strong educational tradition in the liberal arts.

Faculty and staff at SCC value and promote the power and growth of learning. The college's four critical learning abilities--responsibility, communication, problem solving and global awareness--are supported and enhanced through curriculum and student services. For more information on their programs go to www.scc.spokane.edu.

ATM
There are 3 ATMs located within the center of Lair building by the college bookstore. Two additional portable ATMs are outside. Efforts have been made to also secure an outdoor, special event ATM. Be sure to have cash on hand, not all vendors take credit cards.   

Info Booth
Expo visitors can stop by the Expo Information Booth outside in front of the circular driveway on the southeast side of the show if you have any questions. There will be a blown-up map of Expo vendor booth space locations in case you are looking for a specific vendor.  Maps are not available for public distribution since it is so large. The Expo is such a big, expansive show it is designed as a go-with-the-flow show, so you should plan to just relax and have fun and take in the vendors and the sights as you come across them.     

Restroom Facilities
The main restrooms at the Expo are located down from the southeast entrance to the Lair building on the right hand side of the long hallway. There are smaller restrooms throughout the Lair facility. Porto Potties will be available at a designated outdoor location by the SCC Gym on the northeast side of the campus.

Volunteer - Help Save the Garden Expo! 

The Garden Expo is for everyone who loves gardening in our region and is a popular and beloved event. It is the highlight of the gardening year for the whole Inland Northwest. If it was known we are struggling to put it on maybe people would step up. At the Expo, we are going to need help with marking the booth spaces, set-up/take down, checking in the vendors and ensuring they can safely access their spaces. Our big concern is having enough volunteer help to hold the event. Please let us know if you (or any of your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, or church, civic organizations, businesses) can fill a position or help out in any way. Contact us at gardenexpo@comcast.net. Thank you!