Author: lorideleuw

2019 NW Flower & Garden Show

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“Orto di Casa” – Small Italian House Garden – 2019 NW Flower & Garden Show Silver Award Winner

Welcome to “Orto di Casa” or Small Italian House Garden. This year’s display garden theme is “Gardens of the World”, so we went to Italy for our inspiration. Additionally, we’re pleased to have been one of the first small gardens at the Flower & Garden Show this year. Most display gardens at the show are around 1,000 sq. ft. and this one is only 171 sq. ft.! One of our objectives was to show how much outdoor living can be created in small spaces.

Upper level seating and firepit

We created two seating areas; an upper level with two chairs around a firepit, and a lower level where you can whip up a pizza in this pint-size pizza oven and enjoy it on this gorgeous live-edge table we made ourselves! (see our previous blog to take a look at the raw piece of wood we found for it) The antique chairs we reupholstered with Italian botanical fabric and cozy up nicely to the table. We partnered with Ragen & Associates for the fabulous Italian pottery you see in this garden.

Our live-edge table and chairs.

The pizza oven area is surrounded by containers filled with culinary herbs so you can easily grab what you need.

Cooking area in the garden.
All finished – time for a toast with Dana, Zilly, and John Stout from Terra Firma who was an instrumental consultant with our hardscaping!

2019 NW Flower & Garden Show Preparation

lorideleuw NW Flower & Garden Show
Northwest Flower & Garden Show 2019

Designs by deLeuw is thrilled to be creating a display garden again at this year’s Flower & Garden Show! The theme for this year’s gardens is Gardens of the World and we’ve chosen Italy’s Chianti Valley in the heart of old Tuscany as our garden location. We’re calling our garden “Orto di Casa”, which loosely translated means small kitchen garden. And we do have a small space this year! Dana Nunnelly, Zilly Aigner and I are designing this garden in only 171 sq. ft.!

Italian Ceramics Shopping at Ragen & Associates

For comparison, most display gardens at the show are 600 sq. ft. to over 1,500 sq. ft.! We’re specifically designing this garden to spotlight the strategic use of small spaces with a focus on entertaining. So if you have a small space in your garden that might be challenging you – come take a look at what we’ve done for some ideas!

Finding just the right piece of wood for our live edge table.

Entertaining guests will be a focus in this garden, with two levels of seating and even a pizza oven… of course! We’re having a blast scouring the area for Italian ceramics and the perfect garden elements. We’re even managing to fit in a ‘live edge’ table that Derek de Leuw will be finishing himself.

Take-home ideas: functional use and enjoyment of small outdoor spaces; multi-tiered seating options.

Save the date: February 20 – 24, 2019, at the Washington State Convention Center. Ticket information here.