River rocks, it could be argued, look their best wet.
When plucked from shimmering streams and wave-slapped shorelines, they sparkle like polished gems.
Bring those cool stones home to dry, however, and they quickly turn dull, as if covered in a chalky powder.
Fortunately, there is a place where river rock never loses its luster, and you don’t have to visit a body of water to see it.
You just have to attend Sorticulture, Everett’s free garden and arts festival, opening for its annual three-day run Friday.
That’s where Brittney Baldwin will be selling her handmade river rock pots, planters and steppingstones, with help from her business partner, boyfriend and pot co-creator, Tyler Rourke.
Each pot is made entirely of small river rocks that are kept shiny with the marine-grade glue that holds them all together.
Baldwin, 32, learned the art from her father, Mike Baldwin, a longtime Safeway warehouse worker who started crafting containers as a side business nearly 30 years ago.
Baldwin, while growing up in Bellevue, tagged along with her father to the Redmond farmers market to sell their creations.
During Baldwin’s time at Western Washington University, her father offered to donate his profits to her tuition.
“Basically, making pots supported my college education,” said Baldwin, who sold the vessels at the Bellingham Farmers Market for four years.
Shortly after meeting Rourke in Bellingham in 2005, Baldwin landed a planner job at Shockey Brent, a land-use consulting firm in Everett.
She and Rourke found a home in Everett’s Glacier View neighborhood with a covered area perfect for crafting pots in 2006.
Rourke, who now works in customer service for Tect, an Everett aerospace firm, has helped Baldwin streamline the pot-making process.
He urged her to bring in a small cement mixer to automate the stirring of the epoxy-resin glue and 300-pound batches of pebbles.
“It took some trial and error,” Baldwin said. “Tyler is all about efficiency. He’s really added to this process.”
Baldwin said sedums thrive in the pots, which provide excellent drainage thanks to tiny holes between many of the stones.
Gardeners who want less-porous pots, especially during hot summer spells, can line the containers with plastic bags with holes in them to allow slower drainage, Baldwin said.
Though Baldwin and Rourke used to sell pots at local farmers markets, they’ve scaled back to a much easier schedule of festivals, including Sorticulture, the Sequim Lavender Festival in July, the Coupeville Arts &Crafts Festival in August and Port Townsend’s Wooden Boat Festival in September.
Baldwin and Rourke, who recently started tending chickens and a large vegetable garden in their backyard, appreciate the festival atmosphere.
“People don’t go to Sorticulture or shows like that if they’re in a bad mood,” said Rourke, 29. “You get to interact with a lot of people who are in high spirits.”
Baldwin enjoys seeing people react to their one-of-a-kind creations, which bring together the beauty of shiny stones and the glory of botanical delights.
“They look very natural together,” Baldwin said. “It’s fun.”
Resources
Natural Stone Planters, Everett; 425-971-3572. Contact Brittney Baldwin, brittneybaldwin@hotmail.com, or Tyler Rourke, tylerrourke@hotmail.com
Pot sizes range from a 6-inch- diameter tabletop bowl for $19 to a 125-pound, 24-inch pot for $199. Steppingstones are $15 for a small size and $20 for large.
Find them at booth No. 124.
If you go
What: Sorticulture, Everett’s garden arts festival now in its 12th year, features more than 90 vendors selling rare plants, trellises, fountains, arbors, sculptures, birdhouses and baths, plus pots, containers and statues.
Celebrity garden speakers, such as Ciscoe Morris and Marianne Binetti, will tell you how to pull it all together.
Display gardens, food booths, a wine garden, picnic areas, live music and activities for kids round out the good times.
Where: Legion Park, 145 Alverson Blvd., Everett.
When: Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is free.
How: Parking is limited at the festival, but you can park for free at nearby Everett Community College and take the bus (50 cents each way), which leaves every 15 minutes.
Information: See www.everettwa.org/calendar or call 425-257-7107 for more details.
Music, speakers
Friday
Noon to 1 p.m.: Willi Galloway, “Grow Your Own: Vegetable Gardening Basics”
1:30 to 3:30 p.m.: The Entertaining Quintette, playing 1920s and ’30s jazz.
4 to 5 p.m.: Steve Smith and Sandy Milam, “Happy Hour with the Whistling Gardener and his Sidekick Sandy”
6 to 8 p.m.: The Starlings, playing roots-country-folk Americana
Saturday
10:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Mary Robson, “Great Pots! Color All Summer With Containers”
Noon to 1 p.m.: Lucy Hardiman, “Voluptuous Vignettes: The Art of Creating Plant Combinations”
2 to 3 p.m.: Marty Wingate, “Shrub It Up: Color and Texture for Every Spot in Your Garden”
4 to 6 p.m.: The Senate, a rock-and-roll string band
Sunday
10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Amir Beso, Balkan flamenco guitar fusion
1 to 2:30 p.m.: Ciscoe Morris, “Stump the Chump”
3 to 4 p.m: Marianne Binetti, “Eat Your Front Yard: Growing Food, Fun and Chocolate”
Kid stuff
Art and craft activities for children will be offered in a covered picnic area dubbed Kindergarden, open throughout the festival. Parents will also find the following events on the north lawn of the park:
Saturday
1 to 3 p.m.: “Storytelling for Little Gardeners with the Cat in the Hat”
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Face painting by Colorful Events
Sunday
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Face painting by Colorful Events
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com
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