Hardy perennials, organically grown.

Welcome to the world of the plant enthusiast.
I'm a plant wisperer for certain...I have honed in on some of my favorites to offer up for sale...


We carry a large selection of Hosta's, shade plants and many hard to find plants like

 carnivorous plants, Beesia,
 Impatiens omeana, hardy begonias, petasites japonicus, Rosa complicata, Rosa apothecary, York and Lancaster, Sissinghurst castle and more.
Also Japanese Maples, Dogwood shrubs with gold leaves and green and white variegated.
Northwest Natives include groundcover strawberry, Salal, sword ferns,
Trillium ovatum, fringecup, Crabapple, coltsfoot, monkeyflower and more.
I make my own soils, compost onsite, use only organic fertilizers and zero pesticides. All plants are openly grown outdoors year round. No forcing of growth or flowers.

These are very hardy reliable plants. You can be certain.
I'm a beekeeper, so I'm a very strict organic natural grower.
Visit our permaculture farm and see the many ornamental and native plants growing here in the
A piece of history.
June is Rose month. Our antique roses are fragrant, culinary and delightful. the Fragrance is heavenly here right now.
We also carry the largest collection of daylilies in the area.

gardens. We are a local business that's been here for 40 years.
Come check us out. See what is happening here in our back yard.

Wildlife Friendly Gardening for Natural Pest Control

Saturday, April 11^th from 11 am to 1 pm 
Village Green Perennial Nursery
10223 26^th Ave. SW
Seattle, WA 98146
 Join the Garden Hotline and Village Green Perennial Nursery for a workshop on Wildlife Friendly Gardening for Natural Pest Control!  $20 person
The beauty of songbirds, butterflies, and beneficial insects is ample reason to create a wildlife-friendly garden, but there’s so much more to the picture!  When you provide good habitat for birds and beneficial insects, they will in turn provide you with natural pest and weed control, increasing your garden’s health while decreasing your maintenance time. This workshop will teach you about the plants and design techniques that attract these delightful creatures to visit and live in your garden. We will also cover problematic wildlife and how to manage them in the garden. A Village Green Perennial Nursery garden tour and a chance to pick up some great wildlife friendly plants to take home for your own garden is included. Informational brochures will be available.

The Garden Hotline is managed by Seattle Tilth and sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities, the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, the Saving Water Partnership and Cascade Water Alliance and the RainWise program of Seattle and King County.

Beekeeping supplies West Seattle

Village Green now carries beekeeping supplies!
Making your garden or yard home to a colony of pollinators supports your community’s ecosystem, strengthens your connection to this incredibly important species, and—perhaps best of all—means that fresh, raw honey is never far from your pantry.

Queen bee bee'ing cared for by her girls. She's actually laying eggs here.

Complete boxes, priced as fully-built or materials only.
10 frame hive   $198.00 unbuilt
10 frame  built $243
10 frame $318 built (with colony, limited)

8 frame
8 frame $154.60 unbuilt
8 frame $ 199.60 built/complete
8 frame $274.60 built (with colony, limited)
Click the link below for single component pricing:
Bee Hive Pricing List Village Green

Plant Sale West Seattle, huge clearance

 We are overstocked, we need space, less to re-pot, more room to breathe...
We want to pass savings on to you, and get you excited about finishing that garden project that you've been thinking about.

Native shrubs (possibly more)
-Red Elderberry
-Dogwoods
Native perennials
-salal
-bunchberry
-vancouveria
-maidenhair ferns
-boykinia
-indian rhubarb
-patasites
Native delphinium

Native trees
-ponderosa pines
native roses
-nootka rose

Shrubs
-olearia
-podocarpus
-azaleas
-spirea
-barberry, red leaf and evergreen
-hydrangeas (excludes oakleaf and limelight)
-willows

Perennials
-baby's breath
-filipendula
-astilbes
-brunnera
-ligularia
-doronicum
-mountain mint
-irises
Centuarea-pink only
Veronica
Heather
Foxglove
silene
Delphiniums
Select hardy geraniums
Physostegia
poppies
ligularia
lamium
select geums

Trees
-bloodgood maples 
-smoke trees
-fruit trees





Vines
-clematis
-kiwi

Grasses
-carex
-miscanthus
-pennisetum

Fall is THE best time to fertilize with organics

I get so many questions about   this topic, so here are some answers    Fall is THE best time to fertilize with organics. First of all, since they are slow release, they are slow to break down and so fall - with its attendant rains -starts the breakdown process.  BUT, due to cooler soil temps and lower N values, the plants don't needlessly convert the nutrients into excessive vegetative growth.  Instead, they plants start building up the storage pantry -- which is what will be needed for the spring flush, when reserves would otherwise be depleted. Also, building up a robust root structure is what will help your plants prevent frost damage.  Our winters have been a bit whacky, but what has been a pattern is a few weeks of super cold weather. You need to freeze proof your plants.  A good fall fertilizing with Hendrikus Organics, which offers an ample supply of beneficial soil microbes will help in this process. Similarly, with all the rains the winter months will bring, a robust root structure will utilize the water better.                            Fall is also the time of year to amend soils and build the best soil structure.  Increase organic matter through compost -- and humate (HuMagic), and food sources that will feed both the plants and the microbes.  HO ferts contain at least 22 different species of beneficial microbes.  The microbes do much of the work in making nutrients available, but they also are the carpenters improving soils "architecture."  Increased pore space and aggregates of soil particles are necessary to drain te heavy rains. Otherwise, you will have soggy soil which can not breathe. The anaerobic conditions lead to death of beneficial microbes -- and root rot!  )= sick plants)    Lastly, fruit bearing plants such as blueberries are setting their fruitbuds now for next year. Fertilize now to get the best yield next year.  Similarly, the berries come out of the winter "starved."  A good fall fertilization will give them the nutrients they need to get producing more effectively during the growing season.  Liquid HuMagic:  Stressed trees & shrubs.  Treat with soil drench all around the drip line.  Do a foliar leaf spray for Non-Conifers. (conifers breathe through their needles so we don't recommend spraying needles). The Humagic contains a mixture of benefical organic acids: Humic, Ulmic, and  Fulvic Acid.  The fulvic acid in particular, has a very low molecular weight -- which enables it to pass immediately through the cell wall where it immediately works to chelate minerals in forms useful to plants. The synergistic effect of the organic acids serves to improve metabolism, nutrient efficiency, and disease resistance.  Japanese & Vine Maples have been particularly stressed by the long drought period.  While they are attractive now, in terms of their characteristic fall color, most maples are still a bit flacid and lack the vigor and pop they usually display. Perk them up and help them build up for winter stresses with applications of Liquid HuMagic:  They will respond quite happily to soil & foliar drenches.  Mix at rate of 2oz/gallon, apply every two weeks -- or for more immediate perk up and improved appearance, root enhancement and disease resistance.   The difference will be noted in leaf branch stem, vigor, and leaf thickness. Sometimes more intense color.   Community supported, Supporting community Sincerely, Vera Johnson Village Green Perennial Nursery

Organic fertilizers and soil mycorrhizae

Organic Fertilizers
Ciscoe LOVES it!
Why use anything less than the best for your garden?

I have been gardening for years. For many years I mixed all my own fertilizers...I'd buy 50lb bags of fertilizer ingredients, lug them around and custom blend them-a tiring and dirty dusty job!

I was also mail ordering mycorrhizae to add to my soil blends to stimulate healthy root-soil development.
I was blending and bagging the fertilizer to sell to my customers...
TIME consuming!
BUT, this was the most important component to healthy plants...HEALTHY SOIL

Seriously, there must be a better way!

I started exploring the fertilizer options and came across Hendrikus organics
StartRight is a balanced combination of endo-ecto mycorrhizae in a bio-stimulant nutrient base to assist new plants and transplants in their development of root systems and new hair roots. The name "Mycorrhizae" is Greek for fungus roots and it describes the mutually beneficial symbioses between these soil fungi and plant roots. A teaspoon of healthy soil can contain several miles of mycorrhizal filaments that play a fundamental role in establishing and extending root systems, improving plant nutrient and water uptake, disease resistance and plant growth, while reducing transplant shock and drought stress. StartRight re-establishes these essential soil fungi for healthy plant development.
(Reprinted from Hendrikus website) 

I now USE and sell EXCLUSIVELY the Hendrikus line.

For me-there has never been a better product, complete with clear instructions and nice packaging.

What to do with old cotton or wool rugs? Recycle it in your garden!

I love old wool and cotton rugs.
  you know the ones... beautifully patterned and threadbare? No way any thrift store will take them and no way to display them in your home anymore...they are just too far gone.
And too heavy to pay to take to the landfill, let alone add another 'thing' in the deep caverns of our precious mother that could be useful...but how?

Well, one way is to use them for mulch. Yep, that's right, mulch.
Stay with me here...

Need a pathway, but don't want to dig up the sod, or pay for gravel/sand?
Ok, cut up the rug, literally.
 I have to be clear here, it MUST be natural fibers.
Wool or cotton only.
  I also must add...old wool or cotton clothing can work just the same, be sure to overlap. Think about it....covering the ground with your fasvorite old sweater, the one that needs to be buried!!!! Give it a nice place to carry on in another useful way.
   I have quite a few work sweaters that I really need to repurpose, maybe you've seen me wear them, and were too polite to tell me. Thank you for giving me the time to work it out.  Winks.

Yes, cut it up, lay it out in the pathway formation you like. Over time (a long time-years) the rug will break down and add back to the soil...and will not add to landfills.
Here we go back to arborist wood chips...if you have any, or can get some, lay 4-6 inches over the path/rug and it will stay weed free for years!
This is no different than burlap coffee bags. 

I know, it sounds crazy, but I've done it so many times and it's amazing, listen, I have lots and lots of land to cover, so I need to reach outside the box and I am always trying to use what I have, rather than buy more!
I've also used old canvas tarps. They work great. The only thing that has ever been able to push up through after a few years, were the woodland hyacinth...oh my goodness, don't get me started on those!!!! Wretched little beasts!

Now, we are not talking about using this in Edible gardens, however, this could be used in any area that you want to eliminate lawn, the downside is that the rugs are too thick to dig a shovel in to plant anything, unless of course you pile soil over it and are creating a 'berm' effect, of at least 12 inches deep or more.   Keep this in mind as you decide where to try this.

Don't be afraid to experiment.   Maybe I'm not the first one to have ever tried this, but I've never heard or read about this anywhere else...I learned by trying, and have used this technique for nearly 15 years, never to be disappionted.

See ya in the garden!

Ciscoe Morris visits Village Green Perennial Nursery

April 15th 1-2pm
Village Green Perennial Nursery
10223 26th Ave SW Seattle 98146

Oooh la la!
Join us for some springtime garden talk and plenty of laughter!

Spring flowering perennials...such as 
Trillium
Hellebores
Anemone blanda
bleeding hearts
groundcover dogwood
hardy geraniums
and so much more!
plus soil amendments and fertilizers
Hendrickus organics
Yelm worm castings

Put this on your Calender now!
Street parking ONLY. This will be a full house!

Hellebores, winter's lovely gift

I love Hellebores. I just love them!
I love the dark thick foliage that reminds me of a giant hand spread out, ready to point you in the direction of the hosta's and Trillium that are sleeping alongside somewhere, under the leaf littered loamy soil.











The flowers that emerge in January are tightly curled and look like small roses, with a giant star setting off the flower bud.
The colors range from cool lime greens to, dark, moody aubergines that fade to dusky antique shades, and everything in between.

Sheet mulching/deep mulch

New Garden beds over existing lawn. Skill level...Easy.

Have you been wanting to start a garden in an area of your yard, but it feels too overwhelming and have no idea where to begin? Do you have too much lawn to mow? Want to get rid of some of it? Do you want to grow food and flowers? Growing perennial flowers is essential to healthy vegetable gardening, as the bees rely on the food source and the wasps that are attracted to the plants are a predator to many of the bugs that attack vegetable starts....more on that later! It's really quite easy, but it does take some effort. Are you in? Willing? Then let's go!! 

                                                                                   Gather materials...this can take time, and that's ok.

•  Look around and see what you have to work with...rocks, concrete chunks from an old sidewalk or patio, wood rounds (preferably small diameter)
• Cardboard with tape and staples removed
• newspaper...no shiny pages, the chemicals in the inks are not what we want for the gardens.
• Fallen leaves-there should be plenty in the neighborhood, ask your neighbors-leaves (not all leaves are equal-see below) are a treasure trove of nutrients. You can also get free 
• Wood chips from a tree service, call ahead and have a place ready where they can dump and you will get all the free mulch you can handle.
• *fertilizers (organic) with high nitrogen, blood meal is great, bat guano, or fresh 
• chicken manure if you have chickens-we're not planting right away, so there's no risk of burning the plant roots.
• I also LOVE to use KELP in this procedure, the soil benefits are spectacular.

1. Choose your location (think big, don't limit yourself!) I like to use a garden hose to determine the border and have a visual aid for what the garden will look like.

2. Mow or weed whack the area you've chosen (very, very short...leave the clippings for extra nitrogen)

3. lay a heavy dose of nitrogen (fertilizer and or manures) over the entire area you are planning to use as a garden, this will heat up under the layers we are about to put on the new garden and be ready in spring...patience.

4. On the chosen area for the new gardens, lay out cardboard so that it overlaps, or newspaper in thick layers, also overlapping, to prevent weeds from pushing up through. You are laying the paper or cardboard over the existing mowed lawn, and over the fertilizers.

5. Water the paper or cardboard to keep it from flying away. This is the stage where you can start heaping on the raked leaves. Birch, maple, oak, alder are the best leaves for this project.
You can also pile on any small branches and wood chips,( not bark a mulch....which is not a useful garden product, as it repels water....don't get me started) You want the top layer to be at least 6 inches deep, more if possible. This will get the underground soil food web something to work on over the winter.
Come spring, you will be amazed at how loose and workable the ground is. You can expect to be able to stick the shovel in, right into the paper/cardboard dig a hole, add fertilizer, soil amendment and plant whatever you were planning to put in the garden.

Japanese Maples

Fall is the best time to plant trees and shrubs...
We have a diverse collection of Japanes maple trees to choose from
The vibrant fall color helps in choosong the  Japanes Maple that would make a nice complement to you yard and garden.

Shop early for best selection
Dwarf varieties and named cultivars available

Hours 

Weds-Friday 11-6

Sat/Sunday 10-4:30

FACEBOOK

Village Green Perennial Nursery

10223 26th Ave SW Seattle Wa. 98146

 206-767-7735

Garden clubs Welcome!

We are happy to welcome Garden clubs and Tour groups.
Walk through 2 acres of gardens, with many collectors plants, ancient Rodedenrons, mature Paper Birch trees, old roses and much more.
We are happy to work with your group.

Please call for an appointement.
206-767-7735
ask for Vera

Summer Sale! 25-50% off

• Midwinter fire dogwood shrubs 25% off
• Nw Native dogwoods 25% off
• Euphorbia 25% off
• Birch trees 50% off
• Select roses $5.00
• Many herbs and veggies 4/$5.00

What is that sweet scent? What is that pretty flower?

The journey begins with the nose...
with so many blooming shrubs and  flowers, most potted in containers, some planted in the ground- heck- they are everywhere-howvere...finding the one whose bewitching fragrance is luring you further in- that is more like a treasure hunt, and you may find yourself completely forgetting what you're even looking for!
 I know I do!

*Rhodedendron occidental- FRAGRANT! NW native variety
*Abelia mosanensis- FRAGRANT!
*Lilac- dark purple- sweet yummy old fashioned fragrance
*sweet woodruff-fragrant
*Rosa-Old Blush-fragrant
*Scented geraniums-mmm, sweet-makes a nice addition to cold drinks, smoothies, jams and jellies, syrups
*Wall flowers- FRAGRANT!

Pretty flowering shrubs and perennials that attract hummingbrids, songbirds and wildlife-as well as some very important predatory bugs- balance.

*Red flowering currant- hummingbirds!
*Twinberry-NW native-very pretty yellow twin blooms, then twin berries-think hummingbirds and songbirds!
*Dogwoods
*Evergreen huckleberry- delicious, hardy, adaptable fruiting shrub. NW native
*Kerria Japonica- japanese rose- a suckering shrub with yellow pom pom flowers-cute-combine it with 
  lilacs for a colorful display!

Cut flowers
Columbines- Black, pink, white, red, purple...
Geum rivale- a very sweet old fashioned flower- great cut flower. NW native
Geum- reds, oranges
Fringecups- cute cute cute! hummingbirds!!
Heucheras- all leaf colors, ground covers
Geraniums- hardy, woodland and full sun varieties -so many to choose from-nice cut flowers!
Veronica gentianoides- an old fashioned grouncover, light blue flowers-rare in the trade.

Done blooming (pollinated by our mason bees and honeybees) and setting fruit...
Honeyberry
Blueberry
Indian plum
saskatoon

Unusual NW natives-just because we can...
Devil's club
currant- a few varieties
piggy back plant
Camas
blue eyed grass
penstemon serraulatis
petasites

Baby chicks

Americauna 

 We've had chickens for 7 years, and raised them form 2 days old...
so I'm no beginner,
HOWEVER... the current collection of baby chicks we are raising are so cute they make me squeel!
 Our chicken population has declined over the years...
old age, natural causes, very few predator problems...so we needed a new clutch to up the egg production. Have you ever tasted FRESH EGGS?
Seriously- there is no way to know until you KNOW the difference.
 We plan to keep 14 of the chicks. A mix, including Americaunas, Gold laced Wyandotte, Silver laced Wyandotte, Australorp, Barred Rock, Rhode Island red and Buff Orpington.

           For me, keeping chickens has been a natural addition to the garden. Whenever we weed the garden or nursery, practically all the weeds go to the chickens. They get so excited to see us walking towards the run. They know we have some exciting new treat for them to peck and scratch at- they are a busy bunch- they need fresh material.
    During the spring growing season I do not let them roam free-No No No! they will scratch up all my plants, eat the seedlings, and make a mess of things. I allow them to free range during the fall and winter and forage to their hearts content, but come spring...sorry gals, weeds and scraps for you till things are growing and well established...UNLESS I plan to watch them close, and then I let them out only for the last hour of sunlight. They will naturally go back to the coop to roost.
 Chickens are so amusing to watch. They have the funniest personalities, and can truly become a family pet. They will follow you if you around like a dog -we start them young, calling out to them when we approach them in the coop (I use the same sing song voice and repeat a phrase- like 'Hi Girls'), feeding them favorite treats, and sitting with them in the yard, resting.
 Isabella was one of those chickens- she was like a puppy. She follwed me everywhere-especially if i had food, or was digging in the soil-WORMS!

Isabella- family pet

We have 16 chicks to sell as pullets (3-6 month old chicks). Mixed breeds, as well as small moveable Coops and runs that house 5 hens, including laying boxes.

Stop in an ask us about chicken care- we are happy to share the knowledge.

1st Annual Mothers Day Homemade Pie Social

Vera Johnson and Kate McDermott present 

The 1st Annual Mother's Day Homemade Pie Social 

Bring a freshly baked Homemade Pie… Eat Pie and Honor Mom! 

"Pie is a symbol of something bigger than Mom and her way with desserts."  -- Pasquale Le Draqulec 

When: Sunday May 8, 1-4pm 

Where: Village Green Perennial Nursery, Seattle

Cost: $5 admission per person--will benefit The White Center Food Bank 

Who's Invited: All moms and all who have had a mother in their life. 

(That about covers us all!)

RSVP: By May 6 please.

PLEASE! Homemade Pies ONLY!

We will provide plates, napkins, forks, coffee and tea. Please bring a small card to place with your pie, showing the name of the pie, ingredients (needed for those who have allergies) and the name of the piemaker.

All who bring a pie will receive a blue ribbon. 

Village Green Perennial Nursery is a family-owned nursery in White Center-Seattle growing herbaceous perennials and Old Roses using organic and natural gardening practices. Kate McDermott is an award winning pie-maker, teacher, writer and practitioner of kindness.

Biochar farm stove workshop

Biochar farm stove workshop

Join SeaChar and the staff at West Seattle's Village Green Perennial Nursery for a very special  event.  Sat. May 21st,  10am -6pm,  at the Village Green Perennial Nursery
10223 26th Ave SW
Seattle Wa. 98146 
Biochar is charcoal created from dry organic waste materials. Amended to our soils it gives all of us a way to combat climate change by storing long lasting fixed carbon in our gardens or yards. Learn how to make your garden carbon negative and climate friendly, while building healthy soil.
  
* For a $45 donation build and take home a five gallon "GARDEN MASTER Stove". This gardener's version of our "ESTUFA FINCA"  Central America cook-stove, makes clean heat and soil building biochar from your garden and yard wastes. All  tools and materials for building this stove will be provided.

* Along with building stoves, we will be learning about how biochar works and how to use biochar in the garden.

* This will also be fund raiser for the "Farm Stove Project" . Learn how  this clean burning, biochar-making technology can build opportunities for woman, fight climate change and save lives and trees in the developing world.

* Bring a lunch, a pair of gloves and if possible a pair of safety glasses

* This will be a full day workshop. Everyone will have fun and everyone will be going home with a tested stove and an expanded understanding of biochar.  We will end the day by testing our new creations.We are requesting a $25 materials deposit from those who wish to build a 5-gallon "GARDEN MASTER Stove" You can use our the PayPal button at our SeaChar.Org website: http://seachar.org/wordpress/?page_id=96

or mail checks to SeaChar.Org @ 603 Stewart Street, Suite 906 Seattle, Wa. 98101
Please RSVP! To: info@seachar.org or contact art.donnelly@seachar.org for more information and directions.

Come reinvent fire with us,

Art Donnelly206-612-3018
President SeaChar.Org
US Project Director, The Farm Stove Project

"SeaChar.Org...positive tools for carbon negative living"

Best of Western Washington

Help us win!
Fee mums for voters!

http://ctvr.us/villagegreen1

Best of White Center

Organic plants
Seattle Metropolitan magazine article...

Best of White Center

Organic Plants

Serious gardeners flock to the Village Green Perennial Nursery—nearly two acres of eye-popping perennials planted behind owner Vera Johnson’s lime-green home—to find collector’s roses or native ground covers, while small-scale growers snatch up pansies and pretty plant pots. Village Green Perennial Nursery, 10223 26th Ave SW, White Center, 206-767-7735;www.villagegreenperennialnursery.com