Marianne Binetti will be performing at the NWFG Festival Feb. 19 to 23 at 11 a.m. daily as host of “Container Showdown,” a design competition on the main stage. Show tickets and information at gardenshow.com A second performance is at 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.

Time to celebrate! Spring has arrived with the opening of the doors to the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival and this year the show runs Feb. 19 to 23, still indoor at Seattle’s Washington State Convention Center.

To order tickets and get all the scoop on vendors, gardens, speakers and to see when I will be hosting “Container Showdown” visit the show website at gardenshow.com. (Hint: I will be hosting the friendly competition between top container garden designers every day at 11 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at the show.)

What will you learn at Container Showdown?

Top designers will be on stage side by side at the NWFG Festival competing for your applause as they put together fabulous plants in pots while navigating challenges and offering garden tips. The plant material is supplied by local nursery Sunnyside near Mt. Vernon so you can be assured that the plants used in the design can be found at local nurseries. The newest and coolest plants available to local gardeners are always stars of the show including evergreen shade loving shrubs like Fastia japonica ‘Spider’s Web’ that became a focal point for several of the winning designs last year.

Growing tips and mistakes not to make at the Container Showdown Competition

The designers at Container Showdown will share their best tips for growing annuals and perennials in pots plus you will hear from herbal experts like Sue Goetz on growing edibles, Justin Henderson on color and Christina Salwitz on plant combinations. Some of the experts will be nationally known designers from out of town but all can share the mistakes not to make when it comes to container gardens.

Tip: You will learn the best tip for figuring out when to water your pot.

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes at Container Showdown

Part of the fun of the festival atmosphere at the NWFG show and to reward the audience watching and clapping for our container design stars will be the flush of free gifts given away to the audience. Thanks to generous sponsors, I will get to give away plants, (Thank You Sunnyside Nursery) water saving devices (Thank you Cascade Water Alliance) and large and small containers that have reservoirs for storing water when you go on vacation. (Thank you Crescent Containers) The fan favorite is always the gift certificates given away to have a buying spree at Sunnyside Nursery. Come early and I will be answering your garden questions and adding more gifts to give to the early birds.

Show Gardens and Vendors

The real stars of the NWFG Festival are always the spectacular show gardens. Be inspired by the fragrance, the flowers and the fun designs inside the convention center. Then take a few steps into the vendor hall and purchase not just plants but tools, seeds, pots, garden ware and garden inspired gifts. This show is the bests place on the planet for garden art. The Vintage Market Place offers all that is rusty and crusty to adorn your naturalistic garden and the local glass artists showcase the orbs, leaves and dazzling glass fantasies that make contemporary garden designs stand out with more magic but less maintenance.

Tip: I make it a point to buy my garden a gift every February at the NWFG show. Last year it was a flowering maple plant that dazzled with orange blooms and black stripes (Abutilon Bengal Tiger) and before that I added a small gate to the fairy garden. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram at Marianne Binetti to see these treasures in my own garden.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.