OPEN 10-4 Saturdays

Here you will find a different atmosphere than most nurseries.
Step into a more relaxed environment. Listen to the birds and take note of the diversity of important pollinator plants growing here. What you might think is a weed, is most likely an edible plant or serves some benefit here (though I do have some pesky plants that get ahead of me, FOR CERTAIN!)
We are trained to think things we don't "plant" are weeds. Wrong. Some of them are extremely important for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and more.
Ask me...I'll do my best to describe my years of observations.
Permaculture is a broad term. I've practiced it here in my own way for 14 years now and I am quite pleased with what has evolved here. I live here, so expect to see my projects and works in progress. Check calendar for hours.
I welcome volunteers. I can take volunteers on most Saturdays 10-4, (and Sunday's in April/May/June)  I'll do my best to share information with you in trade for help either cleaning up an area, harvesting a wild salad or potting up plants. I might even send you home with a plant or two.
I've used tons and tons woodchips to remediate the soils, because the woodchips sprout fungi and pull out the toxins, restoring the soil fertility and the underground food web network. I let plants decay on the ground as it enriches and benefits the soils mycology. No one cleans up the forests, and they are thriving when man is not harvesting aggressively.

I grow many plants here, from divisions or cuttings and I only buy from responsible conscious growers, locally.
I look forward to your visit.
Call ahead for EGGS, honey, Wild harvest salad mix or consulting.  Consulting with you about your gardens during my open business hours will have a $35 hr fee. Coming to your site will incur a different rate and I can give you that rate sheet via email.
Check calendar to be certain we are open or call/text 206-819-8544 to schedule a visit.

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.

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

Vera Johnson BIO

My bio and community involvements...this is hard to do! 

About me...

 I'm a plant nerd. Really. 

I have a long story about how I came to Village Green, but will leave that for a blog post.

 I'm a spring born baby, an Earth sign, Taurus if you must know...  Growing plants keeps me grounded.  My mom had the GREENEST Thumb ever... and we consistently had roughly a million plants indoors and out- so I have been gardening all my life in one way or another. 

 I don't claim to know everything about plants or know all the Latin names, but I'm pretty good/intuitive with almost all things green and growing. 

   My way of learning has always been by way of doing. I've killed many a plant to get where I am. Some plants are just harder than others. Period. 

 What I hope to achieve here is teach others how to grow plants and have success AND FUN doing it. I want to encourage early/new gardeners to experiment, but also answer questions and trouble shoot about what, how and why things do and do not work. 

  So, I am here. 

 I want to be involved in my community. I want to educate and provide a place for students - therefore we host classes and workshops-taught by the many qualified educators we have around the Puget Sound.

We host

• Rose experts (antique roses as well as modern)
• Rain garden experts, Permaculture experts, Sustainable living experts, 
• Urban Farmers, 
• Organic gardening experts, 
• Perennial experts, 
• NW Natives experts,
• Wildlife Restoration experts,
• Beekeepers,
• Foodies, 
• Chefs...the list is endless- so we invite them to come and share their knowledge...and they do. 

 I love music, Art, wine, food and all things that are experienced and created through the use of our senses. 

 These things must be felt. 

I love my life.  I want to share these joys and pleasures.  We host live music in the garden throughout the summer and feature local artists to show their hand crafted items. 

  I am a resident and HUGE supporter of White Center. As a member of a community, I believe it is important to know my neighbors and fellow business owners.    I  want to participate in helping my neighborhood be even better than it already is, not just wait for it to happen. I have been a resident in West Seattle (multiple areas) for over 15 years and WC (DubSea) is my favorite neighborhood- hands down. 

 I work with the White Center Community Development Association every year to help with the WC spring clean up, leading groups of volunteers as well as making plant donations. I am involved with NHUAC, I am a member of the WC Chamber of Commerce, the Business owners association. I maintain a close connection to the White Center Sheriff deputy. I am my neighborhood Block watch captain and I occasionally write for the White Center Blog. 

   

  I work with many area schools to provide plants for Garden installations to attract wildlife, as well as many Donations for fundraisers including Community School of West Seattle, West Seattle Montessori, Alki Elementary, Schmidtz Park (funds raised for 2 of my custom sculptures was $4700)   I'm also a founding member of the Family learning center program at SWCC. 

 I am a homeschooling parent-over 8 years now, and as a homeschooling parent I want to teach my kids the impact we can have on our lives and the lives of others by simply showing up to do our part, but also by the choices we make and the huge impact they have on the lives of others as well. I am a very strong believer of sustainable living and supporting local businesses. That is why I make the choices I make about the plants I carry and grow. I make very effort to buy only from local independent growers. Smaller operations. Keeping the money local. Chain stores can drive little busineeses out very quickly if we aren't thoughful and intentional. 

 Organic is very, very important to me. I have very strong convictions/opinions about the use of pesticides and chemicals.

 I'll save that for another Blog post-but feel free to ask me sometime.

  I know the positive impact gardens can have on our environment, our health and well being and our food systems.

 I know the impact our choices make.

 I want to 'be part of the change I want to see...'

White Center Garden tour 2012

   I have never organized a community wide event before....and now I can say that I have.

I was asked to do so this year- 4 weeks ago, with no prior knowledge of how it works-literally no formula whatsoever...nothing indicating how this event takes place- I was asked to 'wing-it'
   I had an idea or two of my own...however I was so very grateful when the original coordinator and founder of the White Center Garden tour -Peggy Weiss- answered my email and request for assistance. I asked her to please share her ideas with me as to how she organized the event fot the first 14 years.  She was so excited to see it in my hands and was more than pleased to offer her suggestions-take it or leave it, and just share her knowledge with me. WHEW! Thank you Peggy!
  Who will participate, who wants to know about it, how do we get the advetising together...pay for posters, postcards, media press release and so on-how do these things work?
 I asked a team of extremely resourceful people to help me-and we pulled together a very fun event-according to all the wonderful feedback from the gardeners, tourees and the community.
That is what makes it all worth it.
White Center Garden tour photos by Ellen Cedergreen

  This years garden's-with the exception of one, were given 2 days to decide they would be on the tour, and 2 weeks to prepare. In typical garden tours-folks have about 3-6 months to prepare and aticipate the excitement...
 I feel extremely grateful to have a connection to so many gardeners and the pool of vast knowledge about so many different kinds of gardening techiniques-so we were able to offer the garden tour as an educational tool to tour goers as well as inspiration.  My goal with the garden tour is to offer people the opportunity to see the many styles and different systems that there are-none being better than the other.
 I like to gently remind folks that gardens are for all levels and all styles. Kids gardens all the way to manicured. Gardening is an experience to appeal to all the senses and every style should be recognized for it's own personal adaptations.
 I live in the most culturally diverse community...why not show off as many garden styles?
I hope you enjoyed the tour, and I hope it has inspired you to read about some new techniques and implement some in your own yards and gardens.
My hope here in White Center is to see more yards and lawns converted to gardens-so we can all enjoy the benefits and community aspect that happens naturally when you spend time out-of-doors connecting with the neighbors and friends made by sharing information and working together.
   That is what makes a community a neighborhood, or a neighborhood a community.

thank you for coming out to the Garden tour-and if you missed it this year-there's always next year.
Cheers
Vera

Fall is, fall back, falling

Fall

 lovely colors with the turning of the leaves as they make the decent towards the ground, only to be remade into useful soil, food for the soil to be fed to the plants.

 Beautiful sunsets over the mountains, truly breathtaking at times...  to remind us of just one of the many reasons we choose to live here.

Cooler temperatures. 

 we are lucky to have long growing seasons here in the Northwest...we can plant food to eat here year round

Harvest time for many fruits and root vegetables

Fall is actually the best time to get out in the garden and make it what you really want.

The trees are changing color as are some perennials, which creates an entirely new opportunity to "paint your picture"

Dig and divide spring blooming perennials

plant shrubs, trees and perennials

I am not a tidy gardener, so leaves do not get raked up in my yard, instead they get raked into the beds of my garden to be eaten by the creatures who live in and feed my soil, the soil food web...worms, mycorhizzae, beneficial organisms that enrich my soil, think of the woods and all the loose, loamy soil that exists there....no one rakes it up, it breaks down and refeeds itself. 

I love the way the garden looks and feels at this time of year. I like to walk through and notice the many ways my garden is changing, in color and in form, with spring plants that have gone dormant to make way for the thugs of summer, the toughies who can take the little water I will allow them, but please me with all the beauty and color they are meant to display, as if to say...it's my job, I must do this, Enjoy!

The bird activity  is at a level of excitement that can only be explained by the amount of food and berries available. The sunny days we are blessed with bring generous amounts of song birds out to serenade even the surliest of gardeners.

I am stopped in my tracks of hurry and flurry in the garden to get to the tasks at hand....'what is that song bird, who sings of such joy and relaxed delight?' The flittering little one whom I still have yet to see, hides and sings, to bring me to my own place of peace and joy in the garden of my own life.

So, what to be doing in the garden?

Prune out dead wood on old fashioned roses...these are different than modern roses, old Rose does not mean it's been in the ground a long time...it means it's OLD, as in from 1864 or prior. These old roses are the ones that blooms in abandoned lots, take no real care whatsoever, aside from proper planting, and summer water, if you please???...then you can essentially leave them be. 

Prune out dead wood on shrubs and trees

Divide spring flowering herbacious perennials, replant or pot up

Dig out unwanted thugs in the garden, and weed

Move bigger shrubs if desired, by root pruning and lifting to deposit in the prepared new location.

Create new gardens for next year

Mulch exposed soils with homemade compost, wood chips, manures, leaves, straw or in vegetable gardens, sow cover crops.   Having read Ruth Stout, I am addicted to mulch, period.

Rake leaves from deciduous trees into a pile to make leaf compost or into gardens to break down...maple, alder and birch are the best for this type of practice....

Look for edible mushrooms in the gardens...shaggy manes, Boletus and more (know what you are looking for!! Do not eat if you are not sure.)

More garden talk to come next week...

to be continued....

Fruit trees/berries

Columnar apple
Asian pear
Fig trees (dwarf- can be grown in a container)
Blueberries
Aronia Berry
Elderberries
Huckleberries- red
Evergreen hucks- blue
Gooseberries


Herbs...
Sage
Lovage
Valerian
Pineapple
Thyme
Oregano
Hyssop
Angelica

Fall vegetables plant now for fall/winter harvest....
kale
lettuce
onions
leeks
cabbage

Garden install before and after photos

        

                 

Village Green Perennial Nursery patio and bermed gardens for a happy West Seattle client.

Northwest Native plants on Sale

This weekend only!  June 3-6th

All Northwest Native plants 25% off

We have a huge selection to choose from...too many to list them all...
Dogwoods,
camas,
salal,
mahonia-oregon grape,
pacific waterleaf,
vancouveria hexandra,
fringeflowe,r
gooseberry,

mention this ad!

Fall + Permaculture = Bounty!

Why is Fall the perfect time to use Permaculture in your home garden?
Come and find out!
Join Laura Sweany from Terra Flora Farm (http://www.terraflorafarm.com/) as she discusses aspects of Permaculture that are uniquely suited to fall implementation. What are the benefits of our climate in Fall? Can you start a garden in Fall? All this and more from 1 - 3PM for only $35.00
We have great stock to choose from, for those wanting to purchase plants and dive right in.

When:September 25 · 1:00pm - 3:00pm


Evergreen huckleberries
Black Elderberry
Blueberries
plus many other edibles and medicinals
Not to mention plants to attract wildlife!

Call 206-767-7735
to register