What is the image that comes to your mind when I say the word ‘tree’?  Is it one of our towering conifers like a Doug Fir or Western Red Cedar, or maybe our native Big Leaf Maple?  Or perhaps your thoughts go to the mighty Oak or Weeping Willow or Sycamore.  These are all large […]

In this last full week of January, when I can truthfully declare that our vacation from gardening is just about over, all around us nature is once again waking up and it is time to prepare for another gardening season.  In my world, what always announces that event is the arrival of bare root fruit […]

While it may be still and quiet in our gardens, it is anything but in the garden center this time of year.  All over Puget Sound, nurseries are receiving their once-a-year deliveries of bare root roses, and diligently pruning and potting them up for you to…

Here at Sunnyside Nursery, we have been teaching classes for years.  This is not unique to our garden center.  No matter where you live in the Puget Sound region, you should be able to find a garden center nearby that offers gardening classes, many of them…

First off, Happy New Year and congratulations on surviving all that 2022 threw at us.  Despite a soggy spring, long dry summer, and a killer freeze in December, I consider the year a success.  I made considerable progress in my new garden, planting a ton of new plants and…

I know a few of you might find it incredibly hard to believe, but I actually spend a considerable amount of time researching my columns rather than just making s#%t up.  In truth, it is probably a combination of both.  We live in the information age where knowledge is all around us, literally at our […]

As we move into the winter season, I am often asked when we should worry and provide protection for our landscapes. There are, of course, many variables that can affect winter hardiness in a plant, but in general, my rule of thumb is…

It’s that time of year again to start looking for cool and fun gifts to give to your favorite gardening friends and what better place to find some stellar ideas than at your local garden center. Here are a few items that I wouldn’t mind receiving this holiday season…

I have to confess that I seldom take time to reflect. I am a “doer” by nature and no sooner do I finish a project, that I am then on to the next challenge – maybe it’s just my creative juices wanting to express themselves, or my type A personality. Whatever is behind my constant […]

For the last two years I have been missing one of my favorite activities this time of year… wreath making at my favorite garden center! Before the pandemic, wreath making had become an annual ritual for our family – it was part of our holiday season festivities, and to a large part helped get us […]