Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving! In addition to good friends, family, and food, I hope you get a minute to relax with a good book or get out for a walk in the crisp fall air.
I wanted to send a little note to say how thankful I am for your support in 2021. Starting a small business at the height of the pandemic last year was a gamble, and leaving my full-time job to devote all of my attention to it this year even more so - I couldn't have done it without your encouragement, support, patronage, and word-of-mouth recommendations to your community. Our sweet city garden, little business, and the flower-loving people I get to work with and interact with (you!) brings me an incredible amount of joy that I am so thankful for, and I hope you felt that, whether you're near or far.
Here are a few updates on what's been going on over here at Grow Girl Seattle this fall, and what we've got going on next.
We did monthly vase subscriptions in September and October that were really popular, and I'm planning to bring that back once our flowers start blooming in spring. I'll probably pre-sell a few spring slots in December so that they can be given as holiday gifts!
In September I also held a floral arranging workshop in the UDistrict at StudioLife Seattle that was an absolute blast. Participants each made two full arrangements, with a huge wall of fresh local flowers & foliage to choose from.
Up next I'm doing floral design for some holiday parties, and would love to design for your office party or dinner party! Email me at sarah@growgirlseattle.com to inquire about holiday events.
In 2022 I am also expanding my availability for weddings. If you know any newly engaged Seattle couples who are looking for artful floral design made with local, sustainable flowers, please send them my way. I have a few weekends left for next summer.
First two photographs taken by Catherine Abegg.
On the growing front, I've been busy planting over 3,000 flower bulbs that will bloom next spring and be used in our arrangements! Tulips, daffodils, fritillaria, reticulated iris, hyacinth, crocus, and lilies. Ranunculus and anemone corms are pre-sprouting now, and will be planted out next week. I'm a May baby, so spring flowers have always been some of my favorites. I'm trying no-till tulips in a compost layer on top of my raised beds, to improve soil structure and preserve beneficial microorganisms, add nutrients over the winter, and allow for easy harvesting. I'm testing dahlia overwintering with several dahlias, and finally completed the "big dig" of all my dahlia tubers this weekend. I also built perennial beds in our backyard to grow more bearded iris, echinacea, hellebores, and hydrangea, and added baptisia, Japanese anemones, and Itoh peonies. I've also been working on my annual planting plan and crop rotation for 2022, and will starting sowing seeds for foxglove, Iceland poppies, snapdragons, and sweet peas in just a few weeks.
Speaking of which, my motto for this coming year is "more of less" - grow only what grows best for me and my soil, and works best with my arrangement & design palette. That's going to be a bit of change for me because I am a total seed hoarder and love to try as many varieties as I can. As an effort to hold myself to the simplification plan, I went through hundreds of my seed packets to narrow it down. I have about 80 extra packets, and am doing a "seed draft" style giveaway! 5 winners will be selected this Friday (11/26), and we'll do the seed draft by email on Saturday (11/27). Here's a seed giveaway preview list of the extra seeds I have. Head to this Instagram post for the giveaway details.
I just delivered the second round of our Thanksgiving arrangements, and am about to get into my cozy clothes and start making pie crusts with my husband! I'll leave you with a few photos of this week's arrangements. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
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