It’s summertime and that means vacations. You’re a good plant parent and you want to make sure your plants are well taken care of but you don’t need to stay home all summer. I talked to the people who have years and years of knowledge gleaned from experience: the Swansons’ team! They offered their best tips for keeping your outdoor and indoor plants happy and healthy while you’re away.
While hoses, sprinklers, and watering bags are all excellent ways to water, many gardeners are turning to drip irrigation systems for their manifold benefits: once set up properly, a drip irrigation system is efficient, precise, and a relatively low-effort method for keeping our plants well-watered throughout the year. This post is an introduction to the key components and setup of a drip irrigation system.
One of the more common questions that newer gardeners might ask is, “when is the best time of year to prune __________?” This pruning calendar can help guide you to the best times to prune your garden plants. You’ll also find links to other posts with more in-depth information on how to prune, pruning specific plants and categories of plants, and pruning in individual seasons.
You and your rose soul-mates have found each other. Now what? How do you keep them happy and thriving in our maritime Pacific Northwest climate? Roses are not completely carefree, but with a few basic care guidelines, you can grow them successfully and enjoy their beauty for years to come.
Pollinators come in all shapes and sizes: bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, and even bats, just to name a few. Knowing which plants serve our pollinators the best helps create a healthy and vibrant ecosystem where flora and fauna thrive. It also creates a diverse and beautiful garden for us to enjoy. Here are a few of our favorite flowers to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to your garden year after year.
For a tough spot, sometimes you just need a tough but easy-going plant. But that doesn't mean you have to settle for unattractive or boring. Try these beautiful, high-performing plants for year-round interest and worry-free care. They are some of my personal favorites, put to the test in my Northwest garden.
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.
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