Don your flower crowns and slip a blossom into your buttonhole. Come enjoy a summer Saturday in the lovely Freeway Park with me next Saturday. There will be flowers and another chance to sign up for a summer bouquet subscription — plus bluegrass, community design, tours, gardening tips, and face painting. Bring a picnic along or grab a hot dog there.
Saturday, June 3, 2017 11am-2pm.
700 Seneca St, Seattle, Washington 98101
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A flower subscription works similarly to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model. As members you become investors in our mini-micro urban flower growing venture. The shares/subscriptions you purchase now help purchase seeds, starts, compost and supplies before summer sales start. And in exchange, you will enjoy bouquets or arrangements made with our sustainably grown, ultra-local flowers from June through October. All flowers and foliage will be grown in our Greenwood garden or responsibly foraged from landscape clippings, and may be supplemented with organically grown blooms from other Seattle area flower growers as needed.
To sign up for your flower share, please call 206.351.9407 or email hazeldesignscapes@gmail.com.
bouquet shares : Receive a generous hand tied bouquet in a quart jar that can be exchanged at the following pick up. Grower’s choice!
BOUQUET SHARE PRICING
arrangement shares : Enjoy more complex, designed arrangements throughout the season, in your home, office or event space. Each medium-to-large sized arrangement is unique and composed in a glass vase that can be exchanged at the following pick up. These can also be made to order (please specify shape, color, etc. at least one week prior to each pick-up date).
ARRANGEMENT SHARE PRICING
Inspiration is gained in the gardens and woods around us, in the season’s growth as well as in its light, flavors and celebrations. Expect each bouquet to be an ode to the Here And Now with a certain level of nerdy botanical play, color expression from subtle to brilliant, and lots of movement and texture. We are devoted to using ultra-local and seasonal materials, and keep the health of our children, our neighborhood, our watershed and the planet in mind as we plant, tend, snip and design.
All bouquets will be “grower’s choice” but we welcome special requests. Please notify us at least 4 days in advance of the scheduled pick-up/delivery if you would like any specific flowers, colors, shape, etc.
If you have other flower needs, please place an order with us at least one week in advance (two weeks if it’s a large order). We offer bouquets and arrangements of all sizes, garlands and flower crowns. Planted containers and potted plants are also available to order.
NOTE: Bouquets are intended to be family-friendly, and many of them will include edible flowers and herbs that you can add to your salads or brew into a tea when you are done enjoying the arrangement. We will not send anything toxic or poisonous home with you – still, you are responsible for knowing what flowers are OK to eat and we will not be held liable for any side effects of ingestion. All of the flowers, herbs and foliage that we grow here in our micro homestead flower farm are raised organically and with responsible watering practices, and any supplemental materials that we buy in are guaranteed to be local and un-sprayed.
February 14th. Valentine’s Day. The days are getting brighter and longer but we’re still in the middle of winter, so it’s a perfect time to spread joy and love in the form of flowers. >>Order form below, or contact me at 206.351.9407.
Arrangements are made to order, with fresh, PNW blooms and mostly-foraged foliage. Tell me if you have a message or sentiment to convey, and I’ll let the flowers do the talking.
Expect rich textures, colors and patterns that highlight unique botanical qualities and the essence of the season. As an artist and a landscape & planting designer, I play with color, texture, light and movement. I’m excited to showcase these elements in these smaller and more ephemeral packages. I am dedicated to using locally sourced plant material, from local flower farmers as well as from my own cutting garden and foraging forays.
Valentine’s Days orders can be placed up until the 13th. Free delivery available in north Seattle on Feb 13 & 14 (ask about other locations in the Seattle area). Studio pick-up in Greenwood Feb 12 – 14. Payment accepted via PayPal, check & cash.
Welcome back to gardening season. The days are tangibly longer and those extra minutes of light are beckoning us gardeners back into our winterized beds. (Take a peek at the new growth around the crowns of your peonies, track the height of your daffodil spears, but leave that mulch down to keep them cozy!) Now is the time to prune up your shrubs and fruit trees, get on top of the winter weeding & mulching, and start seriously planning for spring veggie crops.
This year I’m excited to focus on attracting and sustaining pollinators and birds in the garden. We installed a couple beautiful water-wise parking strip gardens last year and I intend to make that a central part of our work this year as well. Join us in ripping up that high-maintenance, low-return grass strip and replace it with a beautiful ribbon of perennial grasses, flowers & native ground covers that will help sustain beneficial insects and critters. These vibrant, diverse gardens can be low-maintenance and drought-tolerant once their roots establish in place.
Looking for inspiration on this front? I find mine in Piet Oudolf‘s work and Seattle’s own Sarah Bergmann’s Pollinator Pathway project. If you think you might have interested neighbors or you live near a larger green space, your garden may be eligible for Pollinator Pathway certification.
Water-wise Planting Strip, year 1 [design & photo by Hazel Landscapes]
[photo credit: crown bees.com]
Happy Spring, everyone —
We still haven’t passed the Valentine’s Day marker, but unseasonable warmth has spurred on plant growth faster than usual. Daffodils, witch hazel, Daphne, snow drops, plum trees, Indian plum, red maples, sweet box, and Crocus are all blooming and creating clouds of fragrance that waft around the neighborhoods. Ahh.
And to sweeten an already sweet season, we have a spring chicken in our family, a baby girl, who is just beginning to look around and enjoy the outside world. Such fun.
With Spring comes clean-up and planning time in the garden. Contact us with any design or site planning questions, or to get set up with a design consultation package. Look under our Services and Our Work tabs to see some of our past projects.
Remember, plant your peas on President’s Day! Potatoes go in on St. Patrick’s Day.
Happy gardening,
Annika & the crew at HAZEL
Here is a new kind of tree in bloom that we found in Carkeek Park: a Wishing Tree! Full of red ribbons with people’s wishes written and tied on.
I’ve been doing more research into edible gardens and soil contamination lately, and I thought I would share my findings here. As my family prepares to move onto a new city lot with old homes and unknown previous uses (e.g. there was rumor of the property having been rented to a fellow with a roofing company once), we’ve been thinking more carefully about where to place raised planter beds, play areas and fruit trees.
It seems that most plants don’t take up contaminants, but the greatest risk is direct contact with the soil. To find out what’s in your soil, do a soil test with the U. Mass Soil Testing Laboratory (www.soiltest.umass.edu) which offers a standard soil test for home gardeners including pH, nutrients, and extractable metals for only $10. They will send your results with recommended actions for various crops.
If needed, import new soil to your garden (from a reputable source like Cedar Grove) and cover pathways with wood chips, new soil/gravel or pavers. Then grow your garden and simply wash your hands and homegrown produce before eating.
Here are some more basic guidelines adapted from the US EPA (2011):
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR URBAN GARDENS
-Build your garden away from existing roads and railways, or build a hedge or fence to reduce windblown contamination from mobile sources and busy streets.
-Cover existing soil and walkways with mulch, landscape fabric, stones, or bricks.
-Use mulch in your garden beds to reduce dust and soil splash, reduce weed establishment, regulate soil temperature and moisture, and add organic matter.
-Use soil amendments to maintain neutral pH, add organic matter, and improve soil structure.
-Add topsoil or clean fill from certified soil sources. **Cedar Grove is certified organic, and tests regularly for heavy metals.
-Build raised beds or container gardens. Raised beds can be made by simply mounding soil into windrows or by building containers. Sided beds can be made from hemlock/fir wood, synthetic wood, stone, concrete block, brick, or naturally rot-resistant woods such as cedar and juniper.
-Your state or local city agency may recommend using a water-permeable fabric cover or geotextile as the bottom layer of your raised beds to further reduce exposure to soils of concern.
-Practice good habits:
Wear gloves, and wash hands after gardening and before eating.
Take care not to track dirt from the garden into the house.
Wash produce before storing or eating, and teach kids to do so, too.
Peel root crops, and remove outer leaves of leafy vegetables.
Wondering where to start on this year’s big garden project? Take the first step by scheduling a HAZEL Design consultation session. This ‘package deal’ gets the ball rolling with fresh ideas for layout options, materials and planting schemes.
Starting with an on-site walk-through and a sit-down with source images, we will listen to your vision and build on your ideas to help generate a range of design options. If you are interested in some DIY, we can discuss feasibility and help organize your options into bite-size phases. Either way, a design consultation leaves you with options to consider and clear next steps to take. 
Contact us for an introductory design consultation package:
(206) 351.9407 / hazeledibles@gmail.com
($250 for basic consultations, Contact us for more customized design packages.)
