As Spring Blooms in Our Hearts
February 23, 2026 I By Katie Cox, Executive Director
Winter may have just decided to return to northern Idaho, but I just spent the last few days in the midst of beautiful gardens with all the good smells of fresh flowers and rich soil. It was my first trip to the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle, and although we may be months away from opening our doors at Aster Garden Center, it added multiple layers of excitement to our new adventure.
As this idea germinated over two years ago, there was a gut- feel of the project that “just felt right”. As we developed the idea more and spent time in our community talking with people, we felt so much support that, indeed, we knew we stumbled upon something that made a lot of sense.
To think about conservation at the scale of your yard can be merely interesting, but when you enter into a space with over 20 display gardens (this one was my very favorite), 111 special learning sessions, and over 400 exhibitors, one could say I got giddy about what we can all do together at a community scale.
When you begin thinking of backyard as habitat, and listen to presenters like Jen talk about gardening for the birds, or David discuss pollinators and food gardens as community connection, or talk to Brian about his handmade tools that a lot of thought and passion went into fabricating, the idea of what we want to do right here in our community comes to life.
I am so excited to see where each of you go on this journey, and I am excited that we can be right here to support you. The amount of small acreages of beneficial ecosystems that we can all create together, learning from one another, and supporting each other in whatever we want to do on our little patch of earth is really exciting to me considering the whole host of possibilities. I can imagine touring your space where you may have just decided to really invest in the birds, bees and insects in a 5’x5’ patch in your backyard, taking a small bite out of your yard but a big bite out of increasing habitat for a myriad of critters. Aren’t you excited to see what your neighbor does? Or see what we can do as a community with small forgotten spaces? How might this change the way we think about larger scale community projects?
As it happened for me when I walked into the convention center, I can’t wait to see what blooms in the heart and hands (dirty of course!) of our community.
Let’s keep dreaming,
Katie
P.S. Here is a pro-tip for you. Even if you didn’t get to go to the lectures, many of the slide decks are uploaded here for anyone to look through. Check them out!
