A well-deserved pose of the top-tiered winners with John Christianson (and the winning pumpkin) at the 2017 Skagit Valley Giant Pumpkin Festival.

The largest pu mpkin, weighing in at 1,702 pounds (grown by Jim Sherwood, third from the right) and setting a new Nursery record, will soon be on display at Coastal Farm and Ranch.  The second largest pumpkin, weighing in at 1,526 pounds (grown by Cindy Tobeck, farthest right) is on display at Skagit Valley Co-op.  Both will be displayed through October.   

 

If you didn't get a chance to visit the Festival, patron the following Sponsor locations to view the winning giants:  

Coastal Farm and Ranch, Mount Vernon, WA

Skagit Valley Food Co-op, Mount Vernon, WA

A giant thanks to Lee Roof and the members of the Pacific Northwest Giant Pumpkin Growers for making the weigh-off accurate, safe and entertaining!

 

Christianson's Holiday Open House  

and   

Art's Alive Celebration! 

 

 

Holiday Open House with local artists

Primrose Reveal   

Wine and French Crepes

Friday Evening, November 3 

5:00 p.m. - 8 :00 p.m.

 

This November weekend has become a popular highlight of Skagit Valley's holiday season. To celebrate, the Nursery will be open until 8 p.m. on Friday night, November 3rd.   

 

 As always, Primrose, our gift and antique shop, will be adorned from floor to ceiling; sparkling with holiday cheer. For all of us - our guests and our staff alike - opening the doors of Primrose for her holiday unveiling is truly a joyous experience and we hope you can join us for this memorable evening!  

 

Friday will also be an evening of art exploration as we host a diversified array of visual and culinary artists to compliment La Conner's Art's Alive! celebration. We are delighted to announce that this year our Friday evening event will be catered by The Crepes Guy who will be serving French crepes sourced with local ingredients from Skagit Valley.  

 

Shopping & Savoring 

Saturday and Sunday, November 4 - 5

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

 

The Holiday Open House and Art's Alive! celebration continues throughout the weekend.  Our Conservatory will be filled with garden antiques, gifts for gardeners, pottery, and holiday trees decorated with rustic and whimsical ornaments. As always, Primrose will be a wonderland of ideas for holiday decorating, gift giving and entertaining. With a theme of peace and wisdom, we hope to create an experience that leaves our guests feeling inspired and uplifted.  

 

 Many of our visual and culinary artists will be doing live demonstrations and selling their creations. The Nursery's greenhouses and beautiful grounds provide a unique venue for our featured artists. Every artist location will be intimate enough that you can have artful discussions with each artist about their backstory and artistic process. With arts and crafts ranging from painting to jewelry, sculpture to prints, and textiles to chocolates and crepes, this special event provides more artists an opportunity to exhibit their work.  

 

Gather your friends and family and please join us for this festive weekend filled with twinkle lights, holiday inspiration, local artists, and abundant good cheer!  

 

Featured Artists:

 

Beach Castle Sweets

Bob Bowling Rustics

Connie Funk Mosaics

Crepes Guy 

Fat Dragonfly (Fine Art)  

Isola Handmade Originals

Jeanne Reis (Fine Art) 

Julie Schei (Jewelry)

Klt:works (t-shirt, courtesy photo)  

  Laura Campbell, Wreath Weaver   

Suzi's Glass Studio 

Tracy Shchaffer (Fine Art)  

Verso Jewelry

 

Read more about our events here! 

Fall is the best time to choose plants for their brilliant autumn foliage-as well as to plant trees, shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses. Sun-loving Japanese Maples steal the show in fall as their changing of colors range from apple green to dark crimson. There are many varieties to choose from and now is an excellent time to view them to see which you like best. As in some landscaping, their beauty stands alone, but we feel there are several noteworthy companions to add a range of depth to your garden.

A distinctive and rare dwarf evergreen conifer, Pinus contorta var. latifolia 'Chief Joseph', is prized for its stunning winter color. 'Chief Joseph' is an accent in Fall's landscape, as its showy deep green spring and summer needles mature to yellow-green in late summer, and by early winter the foliage turns brilliant gold.

Include layers of foliage in your fall landscape with flowers and berries to create a stunning under drop, starting with Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerester' feather reed grass. Versatile and reliable, they grow in a narrow, upright form and turn a golden tan color that lasts through the fall. At only 18 inches wide and up to 5 feet tall, a grouping creates a dramatic vertical element in gardens.   One of our favorite low-growing evergreen shrubs is Leucothoe, with its spreading, arching branches drooping from the weight of the pendulous fragrant clusters of creamy white flowers. The leaves are leathery and dark green, varying in length from three to six inches long. They often take on a bronze to purplish color in fall and winter.  Hypericum (featured below), also known a St. John's Wort, is a perennial shrub. It produces cheerful yellow flowers (often used in floral arrangements), and then an abundance of berries in fall, which turn from cherry red to black. Deer and bunny resistant, too!

 

By Heidi Klepper, Assistant Nursery Buyer

Saturday, October 28
11 a.m. - noon  

 

See our entire class schedule here...

 

Have a garden-related question?  Email us: [email protected]

Listen to "The Garden Show", Sunday Mornings with John and Mike               

AM 660 KAPS * FM 102.1 KAPS* 10:30 am.

 

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