There's so much to enjoy in the Pacific Northwest - here's more from my recent whirlwind business trip to Washington State.
While in Seattle, I was interviewed at Amazon Accelerate, an annual company event dedicated to empowering, inspiring, and connecting its sellers. I also visited The Spheres - three spherical conservatories that are part of the Amazon headquarters campus. The Spheres was created to hold more than 40-thousand plants from the cloud forest regions of more than 30-countries as well as an employee lounge, retail stores, and an exhibition area. I toured the lab of my friend, Nathan Myhrvold, founder of Modernist Cuisine and the lead author of the Modernist Cuisine book series. And before leaving, I enjoyed a lovely Japanese dinner at Sushi Kappo Tamura, which specializes in local, seasonal, and sustainable ingredients for all its dishes.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Amazon Accelerate is the company’s annual summit event created for sellers to hear about new innovations, engage in learning sessions, and network with peers.
My interview was conducted by Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Selling Partner Services. I spoke about building a business, maintaining a brand, and inspiring creativity.
The audience included more than 18,500 attendees – both in person and online.
I have visited The Spheres several times before. They first opened in January 2018. While used primarily for Amazon employees, the conservatories are open for weekly tours and various exhibits. This tree is Aloe tongaensis, a massive, slow-growing upright, branching tree that can grow up to 12 feet tall and six feet wide.
This is the 4th floor living wall – home to large specimen aroids, including Anthurium veitchii, Anthurium queremalense, Monstera deliciosa, and Philodendron plowmanii.
Heather Kirkland and Daisy Schwartzberg Toye from my traveling team are standing in front of a living wall and the giant leaf of Anthurium queremalense, a very rare specimen native to the tropical rainforests of South America, particularly in regions like Colombia. This plant produces some of the largest and most impressive foliage in the genus.
This is Anthurium veitchii, the king anthurium, an epiphytic species of flowering plant in the genus Anthurium with leaves that grow up to three-feet long.
Kerriodoxa elegans, the white backed palm, is a solitary, small to medium-sized palm with beautiful large circular fronds that are glossy green with whitish undersides.
Here is a scaled down version of the Spheres living walls. These all-in-one systems are being tested on site for viability in additional locations within Amazon.
This living wall system is planted with carnivorous plants including Nepenthes, Pinguicula, Drosera, and Sarracenia
Here is a well established living wall system with more than 25 different plant species – all so lush and green.
And still another living wall system includes Medinilla sedifolia, Disterigma campii, Peperomia puteolata, Sphyrospermum dissimile, and Pilea glauca.
I also visited Nathan Myhrvold’s expansive Modern Cuisine cooking lab.
The research laboratory has one of the best-equipped kitchens in the world and includes access to a full set of machining, analytical, and computational facilities. It is also equipped with a state-of-the-art photography studio for groundbreaking photography techniques.
Whenever I am in Seattle, I try to walk through the Pike Place Public Market Center, the city’s original farmers market and the center of locally sourced, artisanal, and specialty foods.
I visited the Pike Place fish guys who always have the freshest seafood options, such as halibut, king salmon, and rainbow trout.
There is also a huge selection of wild salmon from Alaska.
And then I had a wonderful dinner at Sushi Kappo Tamura. Owner and sushi chef Taichi Kitamura prepared a beautiful array of wild, sustainable sushi. His menu changes daily and always has the freshest seafood available. On this night he prepared live spot prawns, wild Alaska halibut, wild Alaska white king salmon, wild Alaska sockeye salmon, toro, geoduck, and wild Alaska black cod.
Here is a sampling of the beautiful sushi. The wild Alaska black cod belly was beautiful and the wild salmon from Alaska was so fresh and delicious.
Chef Kitamura also prepared some delicious ikura from coho salmon.
Here I am with Chef Taichi Kitamura. Chef is originally from Kyoto. He is also a James Beard Award nominee, and an avid fisherman.
And another quick snapshot with Chef Taichi, Toshi Asai who has worked at Sushi Kappo for years, Susan Roxborough from Clarkson Potter and the editor of my 100th cookbook, and my former VP of communications Katie Goldberg who now lives in Seattle and organized the fun dinner.
I always try to include as much as I can during my business trips, so they are productive, informative and fun.
During a recent visit to Indianola, Washington, I made sure to carve out some time to visit my dear friends Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones. While with them, we toured Heronswood, the revered botanical garden they created, which is now owned by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. We enjoyed a tribal dance presented by the PGST, walked through some of Heronswood's gardens, and then visited Windcliff, Dan and Robert's home and current private garden overlooking the Puget Sound. To end the day, Dan and Robert hosted a lovely six course dinner.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Heronswood is a botanical garden located in Kingston, Kitsap County, Washington. The garden was established in 1987 by plantsman Dan Hinkley and his husband, Robert Jones, an architect. It features a unique collection of plantings from Asia, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, South Africa, New Australia & Zealand. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
Heronswood received international acclaim for its large and diverse display garden and is a favorite destination for gardeners, researchers, students and plant lovers alike. Here are views of the Heronswood Potager with boxwood hedges.
Heronswood was sold to the W. Atlee Burpee seed company in 2000 and then to the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe in 2012. Heronswood is now managed under a PGST tribe foundation and maintained by a small staff and crew under Dan’s direction.
I was able to meet with some of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe while there. It is so nice to know how committed they are to maintaining the garden for the community and other visiting garden enthusiasts. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
The group also presented a beautiful dance for us. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, also known as the Port Gamble Indian Community, live on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State. The S’Klallams are Native Americans indigenous to the Pacific Northwest Coast. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
Here I am admiring one of the drums used in the dance presentation. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
And then here’s Dan taking photos of me with some of the tribe members. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
And here’s a group photo of all of us. The Port Gamble S’Klallams are known as the “Strong People” – a name given to them because of their resilience and passion for protecting the places they hold dear. Indeed, Heronswood is in good hands. (Photo by Samantha Jones for Heronswood)
I took many photos while walking through the gardens of Heronswood. This is Fuchsia ‘Debron’s Black Cherry’, with its prolific single flowers
of striking maroon sepals and dark purple to black corollas. This is a hardy and upright variety with medium green foliage.
Hylotelephium ‘Carl’ ‘Carl’ is a clump-forming perennial that features gray-green foliage and pink flowers. It typically grows to about 18-inches tall. Masses of tiny, star-like, pink flowers bloom in September and October. Butterflies love it.
Actaea dahurica has fluffy white flowers densely packed on arching racemes that can reach up tp five-feet high.
And yes, it’s that time of year, when autumn gardens show off their brightly colored Colchicum. This is Colchicum ‘Waterlily,’ the well-loved double pink variety. Each bulb produces five to 10 flowers – so beautiful when planted in groups.
I love Colchicum and have grown different varieties in my gardens for many years.
Colchicum looks great here along the edge of the footpath at Heronswood.
Crambe maritima, also known by its common name sea kale, seakale or crambe grows wild along the coasts of mainland Europe and the British Isles. It is a robust mustard family perennial that typically matures in a spreading mound up to 36-inches tall. The leaves are large, fleshy, shallowly-lobed. They resemble the leaves found on collards and cabbages which are in the same family.
This is a potted Astelia ‘Silver Shadow’ which has long, arched silvery-green sword-like leaf blades that last all year long. The metallic foliage creates an eye-catching display in the garden.
I also captured a photo of this Chanterelle Fountain with Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’ behind it, which is native to the Himalayas. Tiny, rose-red to white flowers bloom June through September on narrow, long-stalked spikes.
Hedychium ‘Tara’ shows rich, orange flowers above sturdy bold green foliage. And, if one is close enough, one can smell its sweet fragrance, that some say is similar to gardenia or honeysuckle.
I couldn’t leave the area without visiting Windcliff, the current home and garden of Dan and Robert on Washington State’s Kitsap Peninsula. The garden is built on a bluff with spectacular views of Mt. Ranier in the distance.
The views are breathtaking. Dan planted drifts of sun-loving perennials, most of which do not need supplemental water during the growing season.
At Windcliff, the combination of varying soil composition, mild climate, and regular rainfall allows for such an exceptional array of plants to be seamlessly grown together.
Dan’s husband, Robert, designed the beautiful, low-lying, one-story house in the front bluff. The home was carefully planned to have unobstructed views of the sound.
Dan loves agapanthus and is always hybridizing them. Although its common name is Lily of the Nile, agapanthus originates at the other end of the African continent, in South Africa. Dan and Robert began planting Windcliff in 2005, and it develops more beautifully every year.
It's always so exciting to see my gardens evolve and transform.
This week, I turned my attention to a bed near the front of my farm outside my main greenhouse. I had already replaced a stand of white pine trunks with a selection of medium sized boxwood and planted hostas and other perennials around them. Recently, I decided to change the space once again, adding about a dozen more boxwood shrubs of different varieties and shapes. Yesterday, while I was in New York City for a long day of business meetings, my gardening team worked hard to get all the specimens in the ground before an afternoon of rain showers.
Enjoy these photos.
The boxwood are all positioned where they should be planted. Boxwood prefers well-drained soil with a lot of organic matter. Loamy soil or sandy conditions are best. Most boxwoods like some shade, but some varieties handle full sun exposure better than others.
Boxwood has upright, naturally cone-shaped habits making them excellent for planting free-form or for a sculpted hedge or border. I use a lot of boxwood in my gardens.
This newest grouping of boxwood is from Select Horticulture Inc., in nearby Pound Ridge, New York. Their specimens are always so lush and healthy.
Once they are in place, the digging begins. Holes are dug twice as wide as the boxwood root balls, but no deeper.
The surrounding soil is sprinkled with a generous amount of fertilizer formulated to maintain deep, lush green foliage. The food is always mixed in, so the fertilizer does not have too much direct contact with the roots, which could burn them.
Scotts Evergreen Flowering Tree & Shrub food is a fertilizer that is ideal for acid-loving trees and shrubs. It encourages vigorous root growth and lush foliage, and is easy to use.
For this project, I called in some help to plant. Norman and his team are fast and efficient and started planting right away.
Norman removes the protective burlap from around the root ball. I believe removing all the material is very important, so there is nothing blocking its root growth.
All the wrapping materials are piled in one area, so the team knows everything was taken off.
Each shrub is slowly rolled into its designated hole.
The shrubs are then backfilled. When planting boxwood, the root ball should be about 1/8 to two inches above the soil surface. This allows the plant to settle properly and ensures proper drainage.
The weather forecast called for showers in the afternoon, so the team worked hard to get everything into the ground.
Here’s another shrub getting planted. All these shrubs are in good condition, but we always position plantings with the best side facing out.
All these shrubs are backfilled properly, but in a few weeks, they will also get a two to three inch layer of mulch made right here at my farm. It helps to retain soil moisture, regulate soil temperature, and insulate the root ball.
Meanwhile, José transplants a smoke bush, Cotinus, to a better location where it could get more light and space to thrive.
After planting, José rakes the area, so it is tidy. Cotinus can grow to a moderate size – up to 15-feet tall and 10-feet wide. It also has an upright, multi-stemmed habit.
Norman also rakes after all the boxwood shrubs are planted.
These shrubs are spaced about three feet apart – enough room to grow but close enough to fill in the area nicely.
In winter, these boxwood will also be covered in protective burlap to prevent snow and ice damage.
I was so excited for this garden to be finished, I asked for photos to be sent to me while I was still busy working in New York City. I think it looks great – what do you think?
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