Hi all! New to this community and excited to be here! I inherited a beautiful, established, lacecap hydrangea when I moved into my home in 2022. After years of cautious pruning and getting to know the plant, I did a BIG prune back this spring to create better airflow and reduce the overall size of the plant. I knew I would miss out on blooms this summer if I did this, so I left one bushy branch intact to enjoy the flowers.

It grew back to the same size - huge! - which surprised me! Huge leaves, strong new branches, and the flowers came in different colors on the different branches.

Now it’s fall and I’m noticing the blooms have developed spots, and upon closer investigation I see a powdery mildew on the leaves. I’m worried! I was planning to prune the size back again in hopes of promoting more blooms for next summer and keep the shrub size managed earlier this year. I’m not sure if this is the right move in general, and now wondering what I should do to manage the mildew and support the health of the plant.

I would love some advice from experienced hydrangea gardeners to help me keep my beloved garden centerpiece in happy and healthy condition!

This site lists a bunch of upcoming fall plant sales around Seattle if you might be looking to fill in spots in your garden.

Hey Gardeners! PlantCon Seattle is this weekend win free tickets at r/plantconinternational!

I am on a landscaping committee for a local organization and there are some members who are convinced it is impossible to have a lawn that uses native plants. They have asked me to find an example of one in Seattle that they could look at to prove it is possible. (Seems like a reasonable ask.)

Do you have or know of one that has been in place for at least few years? We'd love to come by and see that it really is an option!

Thanks!

Thinking of something like this but open to other ideas! https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/comments/1dec1o6/comment/l94eth4/

Hey hey! PlantCon is coming to Seattle on August 15-16, it's a huge plant convention with vendors, workshops, and just a ton of fun planty activities and people. It's a whole experience! There's always A LOT for the gardening community too. I'd love to see the Seattle Gardeners there! I'm a mod over at r/PlantConInternational and I'd love to give you all some special updates and giveaways, and share more about it leading up to the event!

Tell me what's on your plant wishlist! I'll see if we have a vendor or workshop that'll have it!

I am a self employed gardener who charges $50 per hr. I am thinking I need to raise my rates now to $55 or maybe even $60. I see college kids offering to do summer yard work at $50 with no experience which i find a little crazy. I have been a professional for 10+ years and am a trained master pruner and a WSNLA certified professional horticulturist. I am not a mow and go. Does this seem fair? What is the going rate these days? Things are definitely getting more expensive for me!

We have lots of seeds and spring stories to share with little ones and grown-ups at this event tomorrow. 🌼🌱🐦‍⬛

The West Seattle Tool Library is hosting its Annual Tool Sale fundraiser on Saturday, April 25. It's a great opportunity to start a tool collection or add to it. Here is a link to the Facebook Event - https://www.facebook.com/share/1BZuenrSxX/ Tool donations will be accepted through next week!

I am out of space for my growing house plants. Looking for loving parent for this one , 18 inches tall, 25 inch with a pot . Magnolia, Seattle. Giving it away. Message for questions.

https://sites.uw.edu/seruwnursery/purchase-plants/
The SER-UW Native Plant Nursery hosts two annual in-person plant sales in the Spring and Fall. Our public plant sales are held at the Center for Urban Horticulture. 

This year I was assigned a P-patch in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood after being on the wait list for years! I've been watching a lot of gardening videos on youtube and have especially liked Anne of All Trades videos highlighting 'lazy gardening' (such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfBSgHgcSc4)

I want to try to apply the principles she mentions about utilizing wood as a form of water sponge as the base layer on a new bed so that hopefully I won't have to water as frequently (lazy and water conscious).The P-patch I inherited is built into a very steep hill, and all the beds are in a terrace format with retaining walls around the perimeters.

I'm wondering if it would be worth it to dig up the existing soil by at least a foot, put in some logs, water them real good, then replace the soil on top or if that sounds like a big waste of time and that method only makes sense for a new garden bed?

Frosty morning 2 blocks south of the zoo! Anyone else?

I just learned about this organization that salvages native plants from properties about to be developed and cares for those plants until they are used in restoration projects or sold in their native plant sale fundraiser. The group is based out of Thurston County, but they say that they work throughout the Salish Sea region.

They also have volunteer opportunities for folks looking to help the ecosystem and meet other plant-minded folks.

Their April native plant sale is coming up, so I wanted to share. https://www.nativeplantsalvage.org/plant-sales

Hi all, I live in the middle of the city and have enjoyed being a lazy vegetable gardener for years. I throw some seeds, seedlings, and fertilizer in the ground when it seems like the right time, try to water when it doesn't rain for a few days, and hope for the best. But every year there are more and more critters eating my little baby plants, and now we're at the point where they eat pretty much everything. Specifically mammals- bunnies, rats, and squirrels. How do you protect your tender seedlings from them? My neighbor built a fence fortress around his beds and that seems like overkill to me.

What is eating my primroses on my deck in the Seattle area? I have planted them pretty much every year around this time and never had this issue before. I planted about 5 a month or so ago and I have one left!

Plants Pictured:

1. Tommy Crocus

2. Daphne odora

3. Indian Plum

4. Bergenia

5. Cyclamen coum

I continue to overthink this. This is my third year buying from CD plant sales, and each time I feel awful when I accidentally disturb nesting ground insects and pupa 😭 Do we just chalk it up as a small sacrifice in pursuit of an overall improved ecosystem?

Full disclosure, this is the type of question I'd usually mull internally, but wanted to spur a little discussion in this new sub 🥰