CONSULT THE DESIGN PROS

To celebrate October's designation as Design Awareness Month, the Seattle Design Center in Georgetown is offering free one-hour consultations with professional interior designers, by appointment. "The choices and options available for creating a beautiful space can appear endless," says Jessica Thomas, Design Center associate director of marketing. "Many have found that help from a professional interior designer opens new doors to creativity and leads to a dream space." Homeowners should bring their plans, magazine clippings, swatches and photos to their "Ask an Expert" hour. The designers will advise clients on selecting fabric, furniture, lighting and floor coverings to create a space that is uniquely their own.
 

A Home Fair, lectures and tour

For more information, or to schedule an appointment on an October Tuesday, call Jessica Thomas at 206-762-1200, ext. 216. The Seattle Design Center is in the south end at 5701 Sixth Ave. S., Seattle.

RESERVE TIME TO WALK

While New England gets all the attention for fall color, Northwest trees keep their autumn glory going much longer. From late September through early November is the perfect time for an outing to Bloedel Reserve at the north tip of Bainbridge Island. You can stroll through more than 60 acres of gardens set into a surround of forest. Follow the trail through a tawny meadow, around a secluded lake in the Bird Refuge and through a deeply green moss garden, then pause for a moment of contemplation at the hushed, hedged Reflection Pool. Most of the autumn fireworks will be found in the towering deciduous trees around the house (the first floor is open to the public), and especially in the Japanese garden, where maples and a graceful katsura tree turn brilliant shades of gold, orange and crimson. Landscape architects Thomas Church, Richard Haag and local designer Fujitaro Kubota each played a part in creating this beautifully designed garden. Bloedel Reserve (206-842-7631)is open to the public by reservation from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; entry fee is $6 for adults and $4 for seniors.

BUNDLES OF BULBS

Few autumn chores are as satisfying as putting bulbs into the ground, but sometimes choosing between all the kinds, colors, heights and bloom times can seem overwhelming. In recent years, bulb catalogs have begun to offer collections of bulbs, presorted by color and selected to bloom together or in succession.

For the first time this fall, Dutch Bulbs offers a perennial tulip mixture that includes five different kinds, advertised as large-flowered, strong-stemmed and dependably perennial. A mix of white, orange, red, pink and yellow, the bulbs ($14.95 for a bag of 25) all bloom together in mid-spring. Or you can order an Oriental hybrid lily mixture (10 topsize bulbs for $19.95) in tints of white through pink that bloom in succession over several summer weeks. Or how about a bag of 40 fringed tulips ($28.95), or a group of daffodils ideal for bouquets ($26.95 for 70 bulbs)? Dutch Bulbs, 800-944-2250; www.dutchgardens.com.

White Flower Farms offers more sophisticated mixes. A selection of the smaller allium bulbs, including the darkly oval A. sphaerocephalon and the pink-tinged A. roseum, is a bargain at 100 bulbs for $13.25. Planted thickly, it takes 50 bulbs to cover 3 to 5 square feet. Blue is a welcome color with spring pastels, which makes the "Rhapsody in Blue Mixture" of iris, hyacinths, anemones and scilla appealing at $16 for 100 bulbs. White Flower Farm, 800-503-9624; www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

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