he Northwest Flower & Garden Show has been heralding the start
of spring since 1989, as gardening enthusiasts from around the
Northwest flock to this annual celebration held in the beautiful
Washington State Convention Center for five magical days.
But like all gardens this show took traits that are innate to gardeners;
planning, a sprinkle of risk and truth be told, blind faith. The sort of faith
that comes with understanding that if the elements are
in place— seasonally and otherwise, and if the gardens
are tended to with care and a bit of knowledge those
ideas will blossom.
Duane Kelly, founder of the Northwest Flower & Garden
Show, possessed all of these traits along with the
courage to mortgage his house and assume enormous
risk. After visiting the 1987 Philadelphia Flower Show,
Kelly told his wife Alice that he thought Seattle would
be fertile ground for a similar type show.
Kelly was a businessman and had started other
successful ventures, which gave Alice a kind of
confidence—some might qualify as a different kind of
blind faith. She knew that his great idea wasn't just a
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