For those of us who love to garden, time spent working the soil isn’t a chore, but a joy. Even so, finding time to garden can be a challenge in today’s busy world. With a little effort in choosing the right plants, though, your garden can flourish with color and abundance with minimal time spent tending. Here are six of my favorite plants that bring all the rewards with none [...]
Although not explicitly a Christmas song, “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music has long been associated with Christmas, regularly playing on radio during the holiday season. Truth be told, for us gardeners, the spring season holds more than a few of our favorite things never mentioned in the classic song. As we enjoy a gloriously sunny break from the wet weather that dominated March, here are a few [...]
At Vander Giessen's, we're proud to grow a wide selection of Proven Winners annuals, our preferred brand for unique colors, plant vigor, and overall performance where it matters--in your garden! Our selection for 2026 includes more than 80 varieties, including the items listed below. Please note that this list does not reflect current stock on hand but does encompass the entire selection of varieties we will be growing throughout [...]
As with the selection of Proven Winners annuals we carry each year at Vander Giessen's, we're proud to grow and sell a wide selection of Proven Winners perennials, our preferred brand for unique selections, resistance to insects and disease, and overall performance in your garden year after year. Our selection we're growing for 2026 encompasses more than 40 varieties, including the items listed below. In addition to those varieties [...]
With school buses making their final rounds for the school year and last weekend’s short heat wave, my mindset is shifting to enjoying summer in the Pacific Northwest. Our region boasts some of the most gorgeous scenery and comfortable climate you’ll find anywhere in the summer, but one thing it’s not: the tropics. Whether you’re staying home this summer and want to make the most of your backyard spaces or [...]
My Grandma Vos—long-time owner of Vander Giessen's and gardener par excellence—often advised her customers that “God’s colors don’t clash” when picking out flowers. Her point in offering such advice was to encourage customers to plant what looked good to them; after all, gardening is meant to be fun, so why stress over what plants “work”? Whether you like bold, saturated colors in your containers or prefer the muted elegance [...]
When our son was three, he used to get excited when he would hear a “fever bird”—chickadee, to the rest of us—singing its spring melody. With a call that to the anticipating ear does sound like a sweetly-spoken “fee-ver,” the chickadee’s song reminds me now each spring of the excitement I feel as the new season arrives. As spring begins, let’s consider a few of the tasks to get started [...]
In an old comic strip I read recently, the characters lamented the fact that even though the days of July and August are some of the longest of the year, the months seem the shortest. Indeed, summer’s balmy weather and long days are fading quickly, and as September ushers in the shortening of daylight hours and the beginning of a new season, it’s time to make the transition to early [...]
This week’s forecast: nothing but sunshine. While the webbed-feet crowd can bemoan that spring’s rain has transitioned solidly to dry summer weather, we can all appreciate the fact that summer brings with it the abundance of a garden harvest, days spent at the lake or the bay, and relaxing in the cool of the day outside on the deck. As you work in the garden this month, here are a [...]
We gardeners are always on the lookout for plants that have that special characteristic: unique foliage, multi-colored flowers, unusual growth habit, or some other eye-catching trait. In today’s world of dozens of options on the shelf even for toothpaste, it takes a lot to stand out from the crowd, which is why so many of the new plant introductions are released specifically for their “wow” factor. As you plan and [...]
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