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Saturday, February 2, 2002
Heath, heather and art Shelton-area nursery owner, Olympia artist create display garden for Seattle show STORIES SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN Originally published Saturday, February 2, 2002
HARSTINE ISLAND -- Karla Lortz, sporting black garden clogs as she trudges through puddles, compost trails and gravel roads, has worked with heaths and heathers for years.
But she can't help be dazzled even still -- on the grounds of her own nursery.
"Look at the colors -- on a cloudy, rainy day -- that yellow," Lortz said wandering her home-based Heaths and Heathers nursery north of Shelton. "Isn't that amazing?"
Golds, oranges, reds, pinks, greens, silvers, whites and copper colors cascade across Lortz's land -- all in the form of heath and heather, naturally brilliant in winter.
But these beauties -- normally available only by mail order -- will grow in mail-order obscurity no longer.
They're destined for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show.
Yes, when more than 85,000 people hit the five-day show next week, they'll see South Sound represented in the elaborate set of display gardens.
Lortz, in cooperation with Olympia artist Marian Husted, will present "Past Roots" -- one of 28 featured gardens tucked inside an expanded and enormous 8 acres of garden-show mania in Seattle.
'Past Roots'
"Past Roots" -- a major, almost two-year undertaking, employs a theme to honor American Indians of the Northwest.
"I thought about 'What does the Northwest really mean to me?' " Lortz said. "Native Americans: They're our original inhabitants. I think their artwork should be more utilized."
"Past Roots" includes a longhouse-style arbor, sculptured ravens, teal totem poles and cement walkway stones crafted from molds (one of Husted's specialties), and about 2,000 plants for the 500-square-foot garden.
"It's hard to describe the pressure that you feel because if you fail, you fail in front of 85,000 people," Lortz said. "I do this because it's like the ultimate challenge and a chance to create."
But Lortz should gain quick fans with a palette of heaths and heathers.
Perhaps underappreciated in the Pacific Northwest, heaths and heathers -- in wider variety -- are finally taking off among gardeners.
"They're just gaining in popularity," Lortz said. "They don't know the versatility of the foliage. They just go crazy when they see it. When we go to the shows you'll have a blooming plant and they buy the red foliage plants over the blooming pink and whites."
'Just Butting In'
Lortz and Husted (formerly Cofield) created their first show garden for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in 2000.
They won showgoers' hearts with "Just Butting In," a scene in which a young Irish maiden sculpture (made of mock bronze) stands in a landscape ablaze in heath and heather.
While washing up in a stream after digging heather in the highlands, an intruder -- a goat of the same bronze -- arrives and hints at butting the girl in the behind.
Husted's sculpted figures and backdrop landscape painting -- along with Lortz's heath and heather design -- won the garden show awards including a "Gold" from the North American Heather Society for the best use of heathers and a "Bronze Palette Award" for skillful use of color.
Musings
This year, Lortz borrowed ideas -- with permission -- from "Learning by Designing: Pacific Northwest Coast Native Indian Art."
Canadian artists Jim Gilbert and Karin Clark wrote "Learning by Design" as an instruction and reference guide for artists, teachers, collectors and students.
That format provided just the art ideas Lortz needed -- images of beavers, otters, halibut, hummingbirds, crab and octopus, which Husted then used in paverstone and totem-pole pieces.
"If you live here all your life, you see (Native American art) everywhere you look. I've always respected that," Lortz said. "We tried not to use the traditional (images) like whales and eagles and thunderbirds."
Art
Husted's connections through her art business, Made Marian, helped the project.
Specializing in glass and bronze work as well as mold-making for other artists, Husted brought in a cadre of regional sculptors.
"Past Roots" includes an elegant otter coffee table from native Alaskan Roy Peratrovich Jr. -- a Bainbridge Island artist -- and black ravens by Vashon Island artist Michelle Berlin.
"It's always very exciting," Husted said. "It's a huge production, and it's a lot of work. I don't think any of us is sleeping these days."
Though there's quite a workload, Husted believes a show of this grandeur is just what gardeners need now.
"People really enjoy getting burst of spring a little bit early," Husted said.
That burst in "Past Roots" will come in the various forms of heath and heather -- from fresh, green tree heathers that grow hip high to crouching groundcover heathers and bushy shrubs lush with February foliage and flowers.
Starting today, Lortz and volunteers will work three days to put the garden together.
Lortz -- also busy with two teen-agers in school at Shelton -- had help from her husband, Mike Plomski -- the "unsung hero" of the project -- who worked on much of the garden's construction.
Vision
Ann Engstrom, show manager for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, said she recruited Lortz for her creative vision.
"I'm really excited about her garden this year," Engstrom said. "She can just create a palette with these plants. I was so excited for her to come back this year. She's been sending me pictures. She has those plants looking so awesome in February."
Engstrom believes gardeners will enjoy the unusual varieties Lortz will offer in her garden as well as a sales booth.
"We recognize people who come (to the show) love plants," Engstrom said. "But underlying it all is a love for more plants and new varieties.
"That's where Karla's garden comes in -- who knew you could do all this stuff with heath and heather?"
Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or olyjax@yahoo.com.
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