Gardening in the PNW with lots of shade: we mostly love living among the trees. We recognize the importance of preserving and restoring our diminishing urban canopy. But trying to grow colorful flowers, fruits or vegetables under trees can be a challenge. And increasing urbanization brings taller buildings and more shade at ground level. This blog post will help illuminate the types of shade you may be dealing with, discuss other design considerations, and offer sample shade garden designs and plant lists.
For many of us, the choice of which tomatoes to grow can be daunting. We've boiled down the tomato decision process into a few helpful questions and our suggestions: a secret (tomato) sauce, if you will, of how to make the right choice for your individual tomato needs. At the end of this post are a handy infographic and a link to our tomato variety list.
Colorful spring containers celebrate the start of the gardening season and creating them is fun and easy if you know which plants to choose. Look for these great gems to create a new spring container or refresh an existing pot.
Spring gardening is in full swing and we’ve teamed up with our friends at Dunn Lumber to bring you a great DIY building and gardening project you can do at home - no backyard needed! Kirsten will teach you how to make two wooden planter boxes. I’ll help you decide what to plant in them and show you how, step by step!
One of the first activities I want to do outside in early spring is to plant my early spring vegetable garden. There’s nothing like the smooth, clean surface of prepped garden beds, the soil still pristine and just waiting to nurture rows of bright green spring vegetables, carefully planted in perfect rows. It’s like a fresh school notebook - full of promise. But what to plant? Here are a few of my favorite vegetables to plant in spring, with tips on when and how to plant them.
Terrariums, those miniature worlds within glass, have always fascinated me. There is something so satisfying about creating a safe haven where your chosen plants can thrive with very little care. Mollie (our indoor plant specialist) and I decided to make a simple fern terrarium, step by step. With this foundation, you can create your own terrarium, one as elaborate or as minimalist as you would like. Be creative and have fun!
It was a good year. It was also a milestone year, as we celebrated Swansons’ 90th year of business in Seattle! It's a bit hard to imagine what life was like when August and Selma Swanson and their three children arrived here to make a new start. Seattle, like much of the United States in the early 1920s, was a place of optimism and upheaval.
Thanks to everyone who was a part of this amazing year at Swansons! We launched a blog, started the Grow With Us Project, interviewed Seattle gardening celebrities, created kitty-friendly planters for a houseboat, pruned, weeded, planted and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Here's a quick look at 2014 in photos from Digging Deeper. And this is just a taste of our year! See A Year in Photos, our Facebook album, for more fun.
With our recent chilly temps and current dreary, grey drizzle, it feels like the perfect time to stay inside and cozy up with a mug of tea and a good book. With that in mind, I offer up a curated selection of Swansons' literary offerings, available in our conservatory gift shop. From cookbooks to gardening classics to gorgeous coffee table books, there are more than enough choices to while away the long rainy season.
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