Gardeners are getting excited about the Northwest Flower and Garden Show coming up soon at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. People come from all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond to learn about the latest trends in gardening.

Cindy Walker is coming down from Anchorage, Alaska to attend the show and its many seminars for the second year in a row. She is an Advanced Master Gardener III. She said everyone starts with a 40-hour course followed by a test to become a Master Gardener. After that they must complete 40-hours of volunteer work such as working on a community garden or helping an elementary school gardening program blossom. Walker said the Master Gardener program is all about community service, and giving back what they’ve learned. Her designation was achieved through continuing education in depth on specific gardening subjects.

“It’s dreary outside, and I can’t wait to start gardening,” she said. “But we still have three to four months before we can start gardening. Seattle is our go-to big — we can learn about new gardening trends, the vendors are fabulous, there’s garden art and small plants for purchase that we can’t get in Alaska.”

Walker said the big gardening trend now is growing food. She said the Master Gardener program would like to see more young people get involved and the food trend could be the ticket.

The number one trending plant for 2014 is hemp seed, mainly from the fabric angle. In the past few years kale was the trending vegetable, but she said now anything you can cook with is popular.

“The seminars are very, very good,” she said.

She said she is looking forward to “Taking Your Garden to the Next Level and Making it Pop!” There are several seminars each day, many of them about growing food such as “From Farm to Table Year Round,” and “Growing, Cooking and Sharing Edibles for the Common Good.”

Walker said rooftop gardens are becoming more conspicuous in big cities like Chicago and New York, actually improving the air quality. Most of them are growing — you guessed it — food.

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show runs from Thursday Feb. 5 until Sunday Feb. 9 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.Show hours are Wednesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

You can buy tickets at the Convention Center any day of the event. An adult single day ticket purchased at the Convention Center is $22 for an adult. Save $5 by purchasing your tickets in advance online at www.gardenshow.com/tickets/purchase/. This discount ends at 11:55 p.m. Feb. 4.

You can also order tickets by phone at 1-800-343-6973. Phone orders have a flat $2 shipping/handling fee per order.