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Celebrate Mother's Day Weekend at Christianson's
Happy Mother's Day!
May 12 & 13
With all the beautiful plants, vintage greenhouses, and lovely gardens, the Nursery is a wonderful place to bring mom on her special day.
If the weather is warm, bring a picnic and enjoy our Schoolhouse Gardens and the amusing antics of our llama and goats. If it's raining or cold, the Conservatory with its blooming orchids and African violets is a great place to wander. The Propagation House filled with geraniums of many types and colors is a wonderful place to visit, as is our Annual House filled with all your favorite plants for summer hanging baskets and containers. Primrose, our gift and antique shop, is sure to delight Mom with antiques that stir nostalgic memories and a beautiful selection of fancy new goods.
The beauty, color and fragrance of a Nursery not only rekindle fond recollections for Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts, and Great Aunts but create new memories for children and grandchildren alike.
As always, we will be serving coffee and Toni's homemade chocolate chip cookies. complimentary
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Christianson's Hanging Basket
Designed and planted in our Potting Shed, Christianson's sun (6 hours or more) and shade (6 hours or less) baskets and containers are in the Greenhouses now and are gaining beauty and fullness every day! Please choose the proper placement for optimal health and growth.
Our hanging baskets and potted containers are easy to maintain because we use light weight, moisture retentive potting soil and add a generous amount of slow release fertilizer so your plants
will thrive through the fall season.
Also remember,
-Water well if soil surface is dry to the touch. In hot weather water every day.
-Use a liquid fertilizer in August and September because the container is becoming root bound and is in need of more nutrition.
-Remove spent flowers regularly to encourage new buds. The purpose of the flower is to attract pollinators and produce seeds for future generations of the plant. Once the flower has changed from blossom to seed the plant's job is done and there is no need to keep producing flowers. Baskets also look much better when groomed on a weekly basis.
-If any plants become leggy, prune back by one-half to keep your basket in good form.
* If basket becomes totally dry, immerse to over the brim in sink or other large container for 20 minutes.
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Sparrow
Nothing is less rare
than one dust-colored sparrow
in a driveway minding her own manners
pottering carelessly,
finding seeds in the tire-flattened weeds
because she can dare
to let us watch her there,
when all the stately robins
have fled scolding into the air
she is good a bird as anyone needs
-Annonymous
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Springtime in Primrose
If you haven't been to Primrose recently you are in for a treat! This past winter our gift buyer 'went to town' (literally and figuratively) and found some wonderful new product lines for the coming year.
We are excited to be introducing more than twenty new product lines into our tiny shop for Spring! We have new sun hats and tote bags, soaps and lotions, candles, greeting cards and stationary, cookbooks and garden-themed books,
and beautiful new linens, housewares and home furnishings for springtime decorating and entertaining.
What are our favorite items, you ask? It's hard to highlight just a few but here are some 'Top Picks' from our Primrose staff:
Angie loves all the new
sun hats from Sun 'N' Sand, the beautiful
linens and home decor from Sweet P and Indaba, the great new
cookbooks for Spring, and the whimsical
greeting cards from Cartolina.
Kassydee is a big fan of the
natural olive oil soaps from Circle Creek Home, as well as the new
stationery items and vintage-looking postcards from Cavallini.
Eve is addicted to the
Gardener's Hand Treatment from Caren and the
natural bristle body brushes from Andree Jardin. She also loves all the
soy candles from Magnolia Home and the beautifully wrapped, handcrafted
shea butter soaps from Formulary 55.
Toni and Brenda have their favorites as well but it's our
antiques and vintage wedding accessories that are nearest and dearest to their hearts.
For those of you with a wedding in your future, Primrose has a unique collection of antique, vintage and handcrafted millinery flowers, wedding headdresses, tiaras, bouquets, corsages, and floral arrangements. Each piece was meticulously and artfully created - either years ago or recently by Toni - using a variety of materials, including antique or vintage combinations of tissue silk, linen, organza, cotton, wax, and fine ribbons. These everlasting floral arrangements and wedding accessories have a timeless, nostalgic beauty and make an elegant wedding keepsake.
We also have a small but beautiful collection of vintage wedding dresses, garters, hankies, nightgowns and slips, Mother of the Bride dresses, and satin bridal shoes and boots, as well as vintage gloves, floral garden hats and hat boxes.
Primrose is always a welcoming, enchanting place to visit, and this is especially true when she's dressed up for springtime. Whether you're seeking a bit of inspiration for spring decorating, or looking for something special for Mother's Day, or you simply need a little gift for a friend, we are always happy to help and invite you to visit soon and often!
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Casablanca Floral Cut Flower Workshop
Maura Whalen, photo by
Alessandra Brescia
Saturday, June 2
10:00 a.m. - noon
pre-payment required
class fee: $75
We are thrilled to partner with owner and floral designer,
Maura Whalen from
Casablanca Floral in Seattle, in this two hour hands-on, fresh cut flower workshop. Learn the essential skills of basic floral design including techniques on how to choose, anchor, and place garden roses, peonies and other fresh cut flowers - all from small farms in Skagit Valley - into a unique vessel.
By the end of the workshop you'll leave with a stunning compote floral arrangement and invaluable new skills and the confidence to create a flower-filled life.
Limited space. Visit the Nursery or call to register 360-466-3821
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Elegant Garden Weddings
at the Nursery
Christianson's Schoolhouse is a poetic venue for your garden wedding. Intimate and elegant, the artfully restored Meadow Schoolhouse accommodates ceremonies with up to 50 seated guests and is the oldest remaining one room schoolhouse in Northwest Washington.
The English-styled Rose Garden offers a secondary ceremony site and accommodates up to 150 guests outdoors amidst a sweeping grass lawn lined with perennials, boxwood and espaliered apple hedges while surrounded by views of Mount Baker and the panoramic farmland of Skagit Valley.
Celebrate with your bridal party in our quaint, vintage-styled Bridal Cottage equipped with vanity, outlets, mirrors, "Jill" access to the restroom and our (summer of 2018) Groom's Quarters just steps away from the Schoolhouse.
Call the Nursery, or email for a personal tour: 360-466-3821
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"Ask John!"
John loves hearing from his customers and do they love to ask him questions! Each conversation features an actual question submitted by someone like you.
Q: Hi John,
Our poor lilac has not even had a chance to bloom yet and the leaves are being attacked [little brown spots & leaf wrinkling up at tip] .... any advice on what to do?
- Grandy F., Facebook Fan
A: Hi Grandy,
There are more than likely two different problems going on with your lilac bush or tree.
1.) The reason for the plant not to bloom could be it is too young, or it is not in full (6 hours or more) sun, or it needs fertilizer. The first two are self explanatory, but the fertilizer deserves further explanation: Lilacs like soil with a neutral pH level (soil pH is a measure of the acidity and alkalinity in soils) and if it is too acidic the best fertilizing efforts are wasted because the soil can't absorb the nutrients. Soil pH levels range from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral, below 7 acidic and above 7 alkaline. There are soil test kits you can buy or refer to a homemade soil test that can be resourced on line. To neutralize your soil, add lime to lilacs every other year.
2.) Spotting on the leaf is more difficult to determine. The weather can be the culprit of leaf spot disease where the cold nights can cause distress to new leaves. The spotting could possibly be blight, but it usually happens later in the season and would cause stems and buds to blacken and die back. If you don't see those blackening symptoms, be patient and watch the plant for a while. Lilacs love heat! As the weather warms and your plant is in full sun, it may just get more happy on its own accord.
- John Christianson
Have a garden-related question?
Email us:
[email protected]
Listen to "The Garden Show" with John and Mike
Sunday Mornings at 10:30 a.m.
KAPS
AM 660 and FM 102.1
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"Tomato" of Contents...
Our vegetable and herb starts have arrived at the Nursery! With so many new varieties to choose from, where do you begin?
Choose a combination of tomatoes that ripen early, mid and late-season, in different sizes and colors for the most variety and length of season.
We suggest the following varieties to enjoy for picnics and fresh summer meals:
The first ripe, juicy tomato of summer is a delicious milestone of the season for gardeners.
'Oregon Spring' will produce incredibly early yields of oval tomatoes, delicious for Caprese salads. (65-70 days)
Choose 'Pink Lady' to achieve the status of masterpiece on a sandwich, burger or in a salad, this flavor-packed tomato is a must. However you slice it, this medium-sized tomato, with rosy smooth skin, stands out on the plate. (70 days to mature)
A
n heirloom cultivar of the species, 'Brandywine', which bears large pink beefsteak-shaped fruit, is considered among the best tasting available. (80 days)
All of the varieties described above and more than 50 other varieties are located in House 5.
6" pot, $5.98, 4" pot, $2.98
Thanks for Gardening with Us!
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~May Specials~
Basket Stuffers
premium annuals growing in 2 inch pots,
for baskets or gardens
(regularly $2.98 each)
20% off
May 7-13
Geraniums
zonal, ivy and fancy leaf
growing in 4 inch pots
20% off
May 12-13
Mother's Day Weekend Special
Eastern and Asiatic dogwood trees
in bloom (approximately 6 to 8 feet tall)
20% off
May 14-20
Shady Days
shade-loving tuberous begonias,
fancy double and New Guinea
impatiens
20% off
May 21-31
Fuchsias
hardy, upright and trailing fuchsias in
hanging baskets
and 2, 4 and 6 inch pots
20% off
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Christianson's Nursery
15806 Best Road Mount Vernon, WA 98273
(360) 466-3821 or 1-800-585-8200
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