Planet-friendly horticulture | Garden coaching | Speaker & Educator Wedding and Event Planner & Floral Designer. Formerly Vases Wild. Local delivery available.
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Specializing in local, sustainable, 100% American grown blooms and non-toxic materials. Serving Whidbey Island & the greater Seattle area and available for travel anywhere. Think of us when you need flowers for a wedding or party, as well as birthday, get well, congratulations, or sympathy. We specialize in weddings and event design, and source locally grown and American flowers, always arranging
them with non-toxic methods - we never use poisonous, non-biodegradable floral foam. We also do landscape design for Whidbey Island residences. We just can't get enough of plants!
The Naughty Terriers were digging under the gate, so I dipped into the stone stash and made this little welcome mat moment. That’ll stop them!
My hubby is the master salvager. He’s saved so many great landscape items from heading to the landfill - like all of these materials here!
Made the largest wreath of my life today! 5’ across at its widest! It was a custom order for a big wall. Holiday fun!
I really should have included this pic in my last post. I’m swooning over these seed packets!
I love getting seed from Northwest Meadowscapes! Locally grown, hand-harvested native - TRUE wildflowers - packed with such obvious love and care and art.
If you want to help pollinators and wildlife, using true native meadow species is the way to go. Not those mixes of easy annuals that are from who knows where, with sunflowers and zinnias etc. Those are fine, but indigenous plants are the ones that offer the most support to native insects in all phases of their life forms.
I have dreams of converting all our fields/lawns into Prairie spaces. This winter I am oversowing a small experimental patch I started 2 years ago, and starting some new experiments. I will keep you posted on my efforts.
I am considering buying a kit greenhouse. If you have any experience - please share! Kits you love? Kits you dislike? Features that are a must have or things to avoid? Thanks in advance!
Time for a new hat! How do you like the colors?
Got my garlic planted! A bit later than usual (thanks Covid) but not too late.
First, I select the biggest, best heads from this summers harvest. Then I head to the garden. I cut back whatever is left growing in the bed where I want to plant. Then I fork a shallow trench, lightening up the soil where I will plant without turning it or removing the roots of whatever was there - just enough to be able to poke the bulbs in. I sprinkle a light application of all-purpose organic fertilizer, and tuck the bulbs in. I scatter a thin bit of homemade compost over the top. Then - and I think this is the most important step- I spread back the vegetation I cut off, in this case comfrey, calendula and some old sweet pea vine remnants. This is what will feed my soil - the decomposers need their fall feast! Last I mulch with a thick layer of straw for insulation, w**d suppression, and dessert for the decomposers.
If you haven’t planted your garlic yet - it isn’t too late! It is so satisfying to grow your own! And it is a pretty easy crop.
My honey helped me with my honey! This is my first time harvesting - it was very rewarding. Thank you to my bees!
A little while ago (time is sometimes like a zooming dream) I had the privilege and pleasure of assisting Shane Connolly at a demo and workshop hosted and produced by Debra Prinzing/Slow Flowers. It was a lovely time - thought provoking, inspirational, calming and more. Among the many things Shane spoke about was Constance Spry’s era of arrangements she called “Les Mortes” for their focus on dead plant material. I immediately aligned with this idea. At this time of year especially I am enchanted by the turning cycles of plant life and death. That is the story of this two-sided arrangement, shot by Amber Fouts. How do you like it? Do you enjoy the inclusion of “mortes” (dead thinks) or does that turn you off?
New favorite book! If you haven’t - you should! And actually READ it (at least the first bit) - don’t just skim the pics!
Anyone in the Seattle area who is interested in sustainable floristry will want to attend this lecture and demonstration this Friday. Shane Connolly is world famous and one of the “original” florists to spur this movement. I am looking forward to spending a few days assisting and studying with him. I will hope to see you there!
This is love. My honey built this for me with the help of my dad - but there’s more to the story than that! About 18 years ago we lived in a different house. My dad built us an arbor with a gate for my garden. When we moved to whidbey a little bit later, my dad was very sick with cancer, so we took the arbor top and the sweet heart gate with us. Fast forward to this summer when these naughty beloved terriers forced us to put up a fence, and my dad’s beautiful woodwork finally came out of the garage rafters. Gordon did a great job of giving them new legs to stand on. Whenever I look at them or walk through the gates, I feel the love of these two men I am so lucky to have in my life (and to have had, since my dad passed soon after we moved).
I so enjoyed being the florist for the lovely and colorful wedding of these two sweet hearts at . Also, can we talk about that veil??!! Thanks for the pics !
It’s a wedding weekend! Here’s a little BTS of the palette!!
Colorful containers aren’t just for spring! Your pots can be gorgeous year round. Join me for a class on creating lovely container gardens year round.
Fall Container Concepts
Sunday Sept. 10th, 1-2:30 pm
with Tobey Nelson, CPH
Join us for a fun & inspiring class! Get tips & ideas for making your container plantings attractive year round. We’ll discuss plants, planting, maintenance, and some seasonal tricks for success in every season! Students will receive a coupon for 20% off plants. Class cost is $15, register by calling us at 360-321-9931 or Click Here: https://ventureoutnursery.regfox.com/fall-container-class-2023
I love it when an author so perfectly captures something I feel and think. I have long been an organic gardener, opposed to pesticides, herbicides and GMOs for many reasons. I am reading a book called Song of Increase. While it is about beekeeping (which I understand is a controversial topic in itself), there are concepts that apply to all living beings. I felt moved to share this passage with you.
”Humankind remains unaware of how significant its alterations are to chemical structures and how detrimental those alterations are to finely tuned channels of expression, such as bees. Poison alters the environment on so many levels. When toxic exposure to living beings is gauged, the results are only measured in human scale; what humankind cannot measure is deemed insignificant and, thus, allowable. Even when toxic damage is acknowledged, it may be permitted nonetheless. No weight is given to how genetic aberrations damage the vibration and inhibit the life force of bees.”
If you are not yet an organic gardener, I plead with you to try it out. Our environment is collapsing due to climate change and toxins. We must take better care of this planet and her many residents, not only ourselves. We must shift our Industrial Revolution based thinking which led us away from our connection with the land and instead drive us toward ideas of perfected nature, “pests” and intolerance of their “damage”. We must embrace imperfections in nature. Those little nibbles on a leaf are likely from a critter that will be eaten by a bird you love to watch. The fruit you grow in your garden needs the bees you will sicken with your sprays. The insects that work hard to eat the “pests” that challenge your garden may also need the “w**ds” you spray with your Round Up.
It is high time we all make a change in our gardens and landscapes. Grow food, plant natives, and let nature find a balance. Stop spraying. Compost your lawn and plant native meadow species instead. Plant drought-tolerant plants. Ditch synthetic fertilizers. Love your land and care for it like a precious friend.
End of rant. Thank you for listening. 😋💚🌼🐝🪲
For my events and in my home, I use GoodLight Natural Candles because they are paraffin free. Did you know that paraffin is a petroleum product? Candlelight is romantic, but polluted air isn't! Their candles burn well, and I like that they support wildlife habitat conservation as well! If you'd like to explore their offerings, here's a discount code: https://i.refs.cc/dP02EOUw?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNtaWxlX21lZGl1bSI6IiIsInNtaWxlX2NhbXBhaWduIjoicmVmZXJyYWxfcHJvZ3JhbSJ9
If you have Hydrangea questions you’ll want to join us for this class!
All About Hydrangeas
Sunday June 4th, 1-2:30
with Tobey Nelson CPH
Hydrangeas offer beautiful flowers for the summer garden and also for bringing into the home as cut flowers. They are wonderful planted in beds and also perform well in pots. With so many to choose from, there is a Hydrangea for just about any garden! Join our class to learn about the different types, how to choose which is best for your garden, and how to grow and prune them to ensure the best display possible. $15 per student, and you will receive a 20% off coupon for plants at the class. To register, call us at 360-321-9931 or Click Here: https://ventureoutnursery.regfox.com/all-about-hydrangeas
My Wooly Sunflower (aka Oregon Sunshine aka Eriophyllum lanatum) is flowering!! I have begun planting native perennials in my gardens along with “ornamentals”. Looking at this lovely rich color against its beautiful filigreed grey foliage - well, what isn’t “ornamental” here?!?! Plus drought tolerant and food for pollinators & beneficials = total garden win! You should try it too!
Getting artsy on my woods walk. Gotta take time to notice the sweet cool details! Nature is the ultimate artist - we just need to pay attention.
Flower friends! Join me tomorrow/Sunday when I talk with about sustainable floristry! Joe is one of the most skilled and commercially relevant florists I know. He is committed to sustainable techniques. Best of all, he is fun and he is a great teacher! Our chat promises to be a super good time and I am sure you will learn something too! Check his latest post for details on how to sign up!
Has a super inspiring morning walk at Prairie Days. Seeing this beautiful prairie blooming with Spring Gold, Camas, Golden Paintbrush and Chocolate Lily was breathtaking. Did you know prairie is one of Washington state’s most endangered ecosystems? Let’s all ditch our lawns and plant prairie instead! I am experimenting at my place - maybe some day my “lawns” will look like this!
Starting my day off right, talking seeds & gardening over a lavender latte!
Make this year’s containers your best yet! Join me for a fun class.
Spring Container Planting
Sunday April 16th, 1-2:30 pm
with Tobey Nelson
Looking to take your container gardens to the next level? In this class Tobey will share tips and tricks for growing your most beautiful & successful potted gardens yet! We’ll talk soil, fertility, watering & maintenance. This class will have a focus on how to combine colors and textures for a show-stopping display, which can be applied to not only your pots, but your garden as well! $15 per student, and you will receive a 20% off coupon for plants and at the class. To register call us at 360-321-9931 or Click Here: https://ventureoutnursery.regfox.com/spring-container-planting-class
This Oregon Grape at Greenbank Farm was buzzing with life! I am inspired to plant a whole lot more at my place!
My Eostre gift was an entry stonework project with my hubby! I love finishing long-dangling projects. Also, how crazy is this: all that stone was headed to the dump!! He is a great salvage master!! Most of our hardscape is rescued stuff. (Brown pot is way too small to remain there but is a temporary placeholder).
Langley, WA
98260
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Enjoy all the autumney goodness of this - my last wedding! Feeling pretty good about going out this way!
Ceremony- a "broken arch". Foam free and all lically-grown, of course!
Sometimes simple is best!
Tour of today's wedding reception at @fireseedcatering
As my wedding season comes to a close, I want to share my gratitude for all the farmers who work so hard to bring all the beautiful flowers and foliage that I am so lucky to design with. Tho I have definitely had my share of product shortages and shipping issues this year, it is the local growers who have had my back with other luscious choices to get me through. Big thanks to all of you, esp those who sell through @seattlewholesalegrowersmarket . Even if I didn't tag you, I appreciate you and your labors!
We believe every couple deserves a beautiful and relaxing wedding day. We provide wedding planning & wedding flowers for weddings on Whidbey Island & the greater Seattle area. We also provide event design, event planning and floral design for corporate events, parties and any sort of special occasion. We are wedding specialists. We used to be called Vases Wild.
Our floral designs feature locally grown flowers grown and arranged in an eco-friendly way. Our wedding planning services are fully customizable and include day-of coordination all the way through to full planning. We are here to help you in whatever way you need!
