Best Kept Garden Center Secret 🌿

Oh, you look so cute together. Hey, guys, welcome back. And welcome to another episode of Garden Center Passport. This place is absolutely incredible. We are at Pine Creek Nursery and Wedding Venue here in Monroe, Washington. Hannah and I connected on social media. Can I call you like their marketing? Yeah, person. OK. Yeah, marketing director. That's her title. This is Paul, one of the owners. Him and his wife, Gwen, own this place. OK, Michael, I'm like, I'm like overwhelmed. I'm just standing here. Can you tell us a little bit about this nursery before you let us loose? Sure. To go explore. Sure. Sure. Yeah. My wife and I in 2002 bought this property. It was just a raw piece of ground. And I think it took I think it took a year and a half. I think we opened in 2004 just as a retail nursery. And then it kind of just expanded and expanded. And then I think we opened the way and then become part of a wedding. We do weddings as well. So I think our first wedding was in 2013 or 2014. And so it's it's it's definitely a retail nursery. I mean, first, but then the wedding venue is, you know, it's a well, it's a full year round wedding venue. But most wedding venues, you know, like May through October. And then, you know, spring is crazy. You know, March, March, March through June is, you know, when retail nurseries just like, you know, make 80 percent of their money for the year. So then it goes into into wedding mode, basically June through October. So, OK. Yeah. So it's a I don't know if you said this because I'm just again, just so distracted by everything. It's a 20 acre property. We are going to head out to the retail retail side of it because I want to go do some shopping and look at all the beautiful plants. They also have this giant pond we're going to see that Paul dug the wedding venue. There's actually a wedding going on. So we're going to be well, we're going to try to be very respectful because I already saw the bride twice and I'm like, she looked beautiful. Anyways, we are going to walk around, explore more and just learn more about this gorgeous place. I like I still don't get to meet Gwen. Yes. Yeah, I want to meet one. Yes. Yes. I will go back there. I didn't think places like this existed in here. And then when Hannah reached out, she's like, I don't think you know what you're about to see. And I was like, oh, I mean, it's going to be a cool nursery. And then we pull up and I'm like, oh, my gosh, where are we? Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. I mean, it's I think with the retail nursery, yeah, we it's we really like to focus on not just the retail sales, you know, cookie cutter stuff, but we like to have the garden so people can so we can go show. Oh, you use that plant. Well, let me say, you know, here's a 20 year, 25 year old mature this. And it helps people vision what they can. You know, a lot of people just don't realize what it's going to look like in 10 or 15 years. Right. And so we have that concept around here where we can show them that. Right. Yeah. Next to us is a cut flower garden. I want to go there first. Yeah. And then they have display gardens, which I love that a nursery and a nursery has that for us as like the consumer and the home gardener. Like, yeah. Yeah. It's going to look like it looks like in a gallon pot. It's beautiful. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't pay attention to size on my channel. So I know. OK. OK. So let's just jump right in. OK. What is this building, Paul? This is the groom's yard. Where the men get dressed. OK, so this is where the like the bridal party, the men's side parties, the bridal parties up there, the groom are over here. OK, the guys get dressed here. How cool is that? And look at this. There's a live roof. Look, there's a Chief Joseph up there. There's legitimate conifers up there. That is wild. I put conifers up there, obviously, because they're going to grow slow. Right. This is kind of like my alpine kind of roof on this side. And then the other side is all Japanese maples. Oh, my gosh. Let me just show you guys real quick. There's like I said, there's a wedding going on here. So we want to be respectful. But look at this. Japanese maples. Yeah. On the roof. The pond is at its very lowest. It's low. I mean, it's like, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Paul dug the pond. Oh, my gosh. 600 tons of rock. We just took his mic off, so you guys probably can't hear him. But look at this. This is the lifeline of the nursery. We literally, we pump over 100,000 gallons a day out of this. To water the nursery. Yeah. Yeah. That is the lifeline. I mean, I wouldn't know what to do without this. This is insane. I I'm in awe. I my my mind can't take all of this. It's too much. It's all too much. So this is the wedding venue or part of the wedding venue. So it looks like they're going to be having a ceremony right here. How cool is that to get married at a garden center with this incredible venue? And look at the landscaping. Oh, my gosh. There's flowers everywhere. This is so cool. This is the kitchen where the caterers come set up. Look at the rocks. The fact that this was nothing and they built this incredible space and then look here, this is some of the barns. Maple. Oh, my gosh, you guys, I'm losing my mind. So they built this barn. Look at that. Then there's more. So I'm actually taking you guys back. Yes. This is the atrium. So you can see they're setting up. And there's just gardens everywhere. And then this is where you come in. From the entrance of the nursery. Look at that. Hi. Isn't this so cool? And like the wedding party is here, the bride is out there. We're going to be quiet now. OK, so this is part of their secret garden, you guys. Oh, and the water feature. Look at this. Holy cow. How cool is this space? And look at the trees. Oh, there's the bride again. This is so romantic. And the cool thing is the nursery just continues on. So look at the large trees that they have. And it just really does go all the way, like through the back. There's her again, Paul and Hannah. Let's see. Oh, my goodness. You guys, how have we not been here? Sorry, I went on my own. And I'll tell you this. My wife's story here. So she does a lot of the floral for the wedding. She doesn't want to she doesn't want to do them all. But she does about half of them. And that's her kind of like happy place. And but she does. So she grows flowers and she she sells to the warehouse down Seattle. OK, so she goes down Wednesdays early in the morning. Does she really? Yeah, I help her load at four o'clock in the morning, every Wednesday. And and she goes down and then she picks up, you know, like we don't bother with growing some roses and, you know, like green, some greens and stuff. So it works well. She'll sell, you know, flowers to the warehouse, and then she'll pick up what she needs for the wedding to, you know, for her design. And then typically, you know, we usually we have Friday, Saturday, Sunday weddings. After Wednesdays, yeah. Her and Isabella, which is that's her assistant, which is a huge help. She's a great she's I mean, she's awesome. Yeah. Oh, for sure. That's so when, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, they're prepping. Start, you know, doing centerpieces, whatever. And then usually Friday, Saturday or Sunday, whatever ones they have. OK. Stunning zinnias. They look beautiful. And look, not a single sign of powdery mildew. I don't know how she does it. That is that's impressive, especially this time of year. Oh, and she's got her dahlias. This section out here, this is where I grow like nursery stock, just bread and butter stuff, you know. OK. We're you know, you got yous and emerald greens and maples and all that kind of jive. So so you grow in ground and you can just dig these up. Or do you call them burlap? Well, yeah, they will be. They will be. Yeah. We'll start digging on inventory probably beginning. We just start on vines. Well, I mean, we could probably start digging emeralds now, but I still have plenty of emeralds. But vine maple, we actually grow a thousand vine maple for a specific wholesale company every year. So we'll start in about first week of October digging on those. OK. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. Wow. We're at the end of the season, so I can spring. These beds are all loaded with plants from, you know what I mean? So it's like these healing sections are a little rough right now just because the end of the season. But, you know, like we'll spend all winter digging, getting everything prepped for March. You know, when March is the mystery month, it can be nice. It can be so snowing or what, you know what I mean? But once we get into April, it's like go time. You know, this is their personal private house, which is attached behind the nursery. So this is your private residence. And Paul did all of the landscaping out here and they're still adding on. But of course, the nursery takes a lot of their time. But look at how cool this is. Look at those stone paths. I don't know, but oh, those are poppies. Those are poppies. Yeah, poppy heads. Sergei is loving this so much. Isn't this cool? This is such a nice. Wow. Wow. I know this is wild. Is that Gwen? Hi. We're going to go meet Gwen. Hi. Nice to meet you. You guys are going to walk in to Gwen's greenhouse slash shop slash our dream space. Look at this. So, yeah, this is just this is I mean, usually any floral shop, if you saw what it normally looks like, it's just on the ground and the disaster in here. Usually, I mean, after the you know, during the weekend, it's a disaster. And then come Monday to clean it all up. And, you know, can I just say, Paul, this is like every girl's dream. OK, well, I just built the building and then Gwen did all the decorating with all her little things and stuff. OK, for the both. The combo on the silver pot. Oh, you guys, she's like she's one of us. Yeah, she has her boutonnieres. She puts her boutonnieres up there and puts. Yeah. Brings those up. Oh, my gosh. She's one of us, Paul. So and then these are these are cool. So this is oh, here this is her. I built her a walk in cooler, which is great. Wow. It's pretty empty right now because it's that's so end of the weekend. But this is usually packed. OK, so he needs to talk to you about the situation. Yeah, easy. We need one. Yeah, they're super easy. Starting January. This is where we propagate. These tables are all heated. I've got hot water that run through the the tables to, you know, propagate and germinate stuff. We take a lot of cuttings and Isabella and Gwen do a lot of starts. I mean, just flats and flats and flats and flats. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, conifers and cuttings. Yeah. Cuttings. Yeah. We know a start and then we harden things off in this area because it's it's it's covered, but it's open, you know, so you can get air through here. And Isabella's got this is just stuff for fall planting. I don't know what it is, but she's got it labeled. Oh, my gosh. Can you believe we're already fall sowing? Yeah. Yeah. Look at all of her. Her seedlings look so healthy. This is what we call our canned area. We call it the 30s just because that's where it is on this irrigation zones. The 30 zones. So but. Got just a lot of mixed stuff back here. Cool conifers. Just I mean, just a just a hodgepodge, a lot of stuff back here that we kind of grow on here and then it gets shifted over to the retail area. Oh, OK. So. OK, so this is not like this is part of like your back. Yeah, this is like kind of. Yeah, this isn't really the retail area. I mean, it's not that we'll bring some people back here if they're looking for something, but we like to like just keep this area just basically just for our our stock. Right. And then as things go out the door, we bring it back up and restock everything up top. So but this is nice because it's like you always have things on hand. Well, yeah. But I mean, the thing is, like, I mean, you can't any nursery. I mean, you can't grow at all. You got to you just you order so much stuff in, you know what I mean? So but pretty much all this. Yeah, all this stuff is mostly all propagated from cuttings back here and grown on from little stuff to to where it's ready to shift and go up to retail. Wow. That's so cool. Yeah, this is awesome. Thanks. Wow, Paul, you guys are doing a lot of things that other guard centers don't have the ability to do. Yeah, this is really super fast. Sure, sure. I mean, yeah, we have the capability of growing a lot of the stuff ourselves. So that's again, you can't grow at all, though. I mean, you just can't. So I feel like you're trying to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But I mean, reality is, is you just can't. So you have to order a lot of stuff in. That's right. That's right. Yeah. We're on the other side of the pond now, you guys. So we were just standing right back there. But this is the other side. And you can see, look at this gorgeous landscaping around this wall. Did you build this wall? Yeah. Paul built the wall. That's amazing. So I take notes. So you take notes, because if you're going to be starting something like this, it's going to take you 20 years. And you guys landscaped all of this. It was. Yeah, yeah. Just farm ground when we bought it. Oh, not even farm ground, not even farm ground. It was rough. Wow. Gwynn is like, he's insane. This guy is incredible. Yes, he is. Both of you. He almost didn't graduate from school. I got his final paper for him. She did. Oh, I love that. So look at you now. And no one would ever think Paul Sayers would do this. This is wild. I mean, stay in school, but also if you're determined like Paul. If your brain thinks a little different. Yeah, I understand. Exactly. School hard knocks. Yeah. So and I'll show you one more thing here. This is funny. This this last summer, this bride asked us because this this isn't completed over here, but you'll you'll get it when we walk around the corner. I want to maybe do concerts here. Oh, OK. And this is going to be the stage over here. But she asked if we could do a wildflower thing. And she got married here in June. And it was beautiful July. She wanted to get married up in the cutting garden, but that just wouldn't work with chairs and seating and all that. But she saw this with some old poppies growing on it. And the Amidara that just grows like crazy. Yeah. She said, what about here? We're like, oh, here comes the train. Yeah, there is. So anyways, so this is my amphitheater kind of vision of doing concerts here. But I just it's not huge on the priority list, but I think it'd be really cool. That would be insanely cool. Look at how big this place is. And look at their wildflower meadow. I guess. Obviously, you know, it's on the I mean, in June, it was really cool. Right. But even now, it's really cool. Yeah. But I mean, in June, it was I mean, the poppies were gorgeous. It was really. Yeah, it was really cool. Are you inviting us back then? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, this is so cool. And I just love all of the formal hedges on the background. It looks like you're somewhere in Europe. I mean, the view up here is I mean, it's kind of cool. So this is so incredible. And then that's why I did that Leland hedge is because I knew I knew I was going to do my processing stuff over here. And I just wanted to block that all off. Got it. Oh, I understand. So on top of everything else, they process and make their own compost, compost, topsoil, mulch, all that stuff. And I guess it's supposed to be like legendary. We sell out of our compost every spring. Okay, why am I need to get some next year? Because I would love to try it out. But the whole backside of the property is where they process everything. But you would never be able to tell because it's so pretty. This is really something Paul. Thank you. Really something. All right, guys, they are letting us loose. I am going to walk around with you right now around the actual garden center so we can see all of the beautiful plants that they have and like the displays in here already are like blowing my mind. You're going to love this. So quick lay of the land. This is like their little office. I think this is where you probably make your purchases. Just look at how everything is set up so pretty. It's like so charming. Everywhere you look, there's inspiration. We are at the front of the wedding venue. So again, this is where we walk through a little bit earlier. And now we are going to just walk through here. Actually, let's just go see this really quick. Look at this. How cool is this? It's like a little display shed. Oh my gosh. That is so pretty. Look at their displays, you guys. And look at this. Oh, I love this. It's like a little shed. Oh, what the basket and look, you can have all of your garden stuff inside. Holy cow. That's cool. Oh, I love that. And then right over here is where they have the greenhouses. So let's walk inside. Actually, let's try it out over here. Let's go to that greenhouse. Look at how they make this feel like you're in an actual garden and not just a garden center. So I can see, oh yeah, the perennials. Wow. This is cool. The GMs. Okay, so I'm going to actually pay attention to their prices because they're saying their prices are good. So I'm going to test that. $9.99 for a one-gallon jam. That is a really good deal. That is a really good deal, actually. I can see a lot of their one gallons are $9.99. Oh goodness. We do need more plant material. So I am going to just keep my eyes out. Oh, chopai weed. Pretty. So out here, it looks like this is where they have some more of their shrubs. Lots of hydrangeas. Ooh, and conifers. I do want to see their conifers back here. Oh gosh, look at that. Who is this? Vanilla. Strawberry. Look at how beautiful that panicle is. So what I thought was really cool is how they grow like vine maples. They have a bunch of them that they're growing out. There's just so much beauty all around us. I can't believe I haven't been here. And I'm curious to know if any of you have been here. Because this is so unlike any other garden center that we've seen. Look at this little garden display back here. Look at that bench. How cool is this? That is so charming for our garden space. I feel like that would fit into our cottage garden. Don't you think? Hmm. I have to think about that. So cute. This is their second greenhouse. So it looks like they have some grasses. Giant baskets. It's at the end of the season, but I still appreciate how much color these have. So pretty. Oh, I love that. Who's this over here? Is it petunia? Yes. Who are you? Assorted bedding petunias. Look at the size of this monster. Look at that. That is insane. Wow. Oh, I love this. You know what? You know why I appreciate things like this? Is because instead of just having like rows and rows of like black mondo or coleus or whatever, you come here and you see this and you think, oh, okay. I can plant a black mondo with maybe like a coreopsis, you know, whatever other plants that they have going on here or in some of the other areas of the garden and it kind of gives you like an idea. Look at the color palette just in this display. I don't know if this is intentional, but if it is, that is so smart because it helps us visualize what we can put together in our own garden. Love the plant stand. That's really cool. That's really neat. Oh my goodness. And look at this, you guys. How pretty is this? Oh, this is so good. Oh my goodness. Everywhere you look, there's like a little bit of magic. This is insane. Look at these little terracottas and I love the shape of them. Love that. Put it in the cart. Okay. I definitely want to get these three. And let me see that one again. I like. Okay. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am on a terracotta cake and for $3.50, I feel like that's a good deal, right? Like I've seen terracottas at other places. I do like to buy them at Hobby Lobby. You guys remember we went, but you can't find aged ones like that. So, well, actually that one is a little bit newer. So maybe I'll just get all new ones. So they age together. Maybe I'll just get these three. She brings a cart, not trying to insinuate anything. Yeah. Very, very subtle. That's too funny. Okay. Okay, I definitely want to get these. Okay. Part of the charm. This is so cute. Oh, I love this. This is a good size, I feel. For polygoniums. Hmm. These are really nice too. Okay, I'm going to get these three as well, because $4.99, I feel like that's a fair price. It's like the same price as a Starbucks, right? But this will just last you a whole lot longer. Okay. That's there. Oh, look at this. Okay. This is the greenhouse. I think I'm so excited to see. Let's actually enter it from the front. Again, make a mental note of this whole situation. The nine bark, the grasses, the hydrangeas, even like the zinnia, some conifers, the carrots. Stunning. All right, let's go into this one right here. This is called the Inspiration Garden Greenhouse. Yes. Oh, yes. Oh my gosh. Okay. I am going to lose myself here. I am not leaving. Like I'm telling them right now, like I'm not leaving. I am staying here forever. This is so me. This is so my jam. Hear me out about this. This almost to me, it looks like a bed frame. It looks like this is a gate. So look, we can use it as a gate or what if we found something like this or this one and put it in the garden and grew like a short vine on it. Wouldn't that be so charming? I think that would look lovely. I'm thinking, you know, from time to time, like when we're going to like an antique store, we see these old metal bed frames to like the headboard or the footboard that usually look very ornate like this that are very old. Why not use that in the garden? I think that would be so cool. You guys, I'm just speechless, which is something that doesn't happen very often. Look at this. It's like she's blending antiques and she's blending beautiful plants and containers. I am just so dang impressed. This feels like somewhere where you come not only to buy plants, but just to get inspiration and see beauty and just appreciate artistry because really that's what this is. I mean, from all of the boxes, the crate boxes down below, this whole situation, like everything that they've done and I can tell everybody has their hand in this garden center. It's a total like family theme. The people that have worked with them have been here for 20 plus years. So that says something about, you know, the owners, Gwen and Paul. I mean, that really does speak volumes. And also the crew. I mean, what an incredible crew they have. And Hannah is just the actual best human ever. I am obsessed with her. She is so cool. I'm so happy she reached out. Here's something else too. Love that. Like a little plant display. It's cool. Again, really nice plant material. Love all the little pumpkins. Oh, and a Dahlia. I think this is Mrs. Miley. You still have time to enjoy Dahlias. It's not the end of the season here for us in the Pacific Northwest. I kind of want to get some of these anemones. These are so pretty. I'm looking for the white ones though. Like I do like this pale pink, but the space that I am looking to plant them is going to be right by our shed because that area is really dark. I know that anemones can spread really fast. So that's like my only hesitation to plant them because I know once you have them, you're always going to have them. I don't know if they're invasive for you guys, but I don't want to say that they're invasive for us, but they definitely spread easily. In fact, one of my neighbors, she has them and she's always like, do you want some? They're not the color that I want, but she's always like, do you want some? But anyway, so let me know what your experience is and what you do to maintain it. Like do you, are you constantly having to dig some up from like different areas of your garden? Again, I think I'm going to do it just because I think it would be such a great plant to have over there, especially this time of year when everything else isn't blooming. Like we're going to have some more flowers to enjoy coming into fall time. So that's my idea of having them in that space. So see like these, I don't know what variety this is, but there's a specific white variety that I'm after, but it looks similar to this except I think the one I saw is a double. So it just looks a little bit different than this one. But gosh, these plants look super healthy. Yeah, they look really, really healthy. Maybe if I can find a few more, we will get those. Let's see what else they have out here. Ooh, okay, more ironwork. Oh, wow. Okay, a lot of ironwork. Very cool. This is getting better and better and better. Holy cow. Oh, sunflowers. Well, that's nice to have one-gallon perennials on sale right here at this table. Ooh, violet. What is this? Violet sage salvia, maynight. That's pretty. Good time to stock up. That's the other great thing about buying plants this time of year. At nurseries, a lot of things are on sale because they want to move product because they don't want to overwinter a lot of things. So you're going to find a lot of really great sales, like $5 for one gallon. That's a steal. That's like wholesale price. That's actually better than some wholesale price, just FYI. These are really cool. I feel like hanging one of these in front of the shed would be so fun, would fit the vibe, I think. Like a hanging basket. I wonder how much these are. Hmm. I need to find out because I really like that and I even like that color. I like native echinacea. They always outperform any of the other ones. They're so reliable. They're so hardy and they just do so well for us here in the Pacific Northwest. This one is called Magnus coneflower. Very pretty. I came back to the secret garden because I want to show you this. Back here, they have more of the bigger trees that we didn't get to really explore from the other side. So look at this. Big Japanese maples. Holy cow. These are nice. And it goes all the way around. So again, part of their wedding venue and display garden. You see, it just goes all the way around that space. And then we enter the cut flower garden again. This place is pretty massive. So cool. Paul is just showing us some of his bigger maples. This is a shishigashira lion's head maple. You guys know it's one of my favorites. And the price, you said $2.50? $2.59 for this behemoth. If I had the space, I would be all over this. This is so beautiful. Look at all of their maples. I just wanted to highlight the big trees again. And they actually have a stuartia, a big one. And if ours dies, I'm coming back for it. FYI. Twice the size for the same price. I don't even want to show you because I don't want you guys to come get it before I do. All right guys, I'm going to put you down and I'm going to continue shopping and see what else I can find. I am truly so inspired by this place. I am so happy that Hannah found us on social media and she reached out to us. I am 1 million percent going to be back at this garden center several times. It's definitely one that gets the stamp in our garden center passport. This is a must visit if you want to be inspired. I bet this whole area is going to be dreamy just in the next couple of weeks too because of all of the fall products and the colors you get to walk around their display garden. Like if you are struggling with ideas, come out here. I promise you're going to leave inspired and full of inspiration for your own garden. I am just so obsessed with Gwen and Paul and Hannah. Like what incredible people. I don't know what else to say about this place like no notes, just absolute perfection. I'm just in awe of everything that they've done in this place. I mean from being nothing to creating this I will make sure to link all of their details down in the description box. You can also follow them on Instagram. They post some really cool things on Instagram and you can actually see their garden center at different seasons. So you can kind of get an idea of what this place looks like in springtime earlier in the summertime. I know I'm going to be back probably probably like in the next few weeks just because I want to come back and enjoy it again. And I'm just one of those people that likes to visit garden centers and we actually have some other garden centers. We're going to be visiting and taking you guys. So keep those recommendations coming because I am just wanting to visit everybody but put this one on your list. This is definitely top five dreamy places here in the Pacific Northwest and one that I think everybody deserves to come out and see and experience. Anyways, thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today in this garden center. I will see you guys in our next video. Bye bye. Real quick. I just want to show you what I'm getting. I found these baskets which I showed you earlier. Look at this and they're only $40. I have not found one for cheaper than like $150 at the antique stores. And then of course the little terracottas and they do have more of these. So if you're interested and you want to come up they have white ones and then these patinaed green ones and then a little cute magoo, blue magoo. Look at how sweet. I'm probably going to keep it in a container. We ended up going with the smaller one because we don't have our truck. But look at this cute baby coming home with us. Christmas display. Oh, you're going to hold it, Sergei? Oh, you look so cute together.