I can’t buy the plants at Ravenna Gardens in Seattle — I mean, why torture them by bringing them home to Texas? — but I still love shopping there because of how beautifully they display plants, pots, and garden/home decor. I first visited during the Seattle Fling in 2011. Thirteen years later, while in Seattle before the Puget Sound Fling 2024 kicked off, I made a special trip back to Ravenna Gardens.

Let’s check out the plant displays first. They’re gorgeous in harmonizing colors…

…or in bold contrasts.

I covet these metal-grid arches.

This was my first hint of the hydrangea extravaganza that awaited me at Fling gardens in days to come.

Bright-green forest grasses are set off with cobalt pottery.

Inside, the merchandising is just as appealing, starting with a Zen table of pebbly decor and gray tillandsias.

Lemon-lime plants and pots exude summer freshness.

This display is giving Italian countryside vibes.

Yellows and blues evoke coastal freshness.

Ravenna carries books too. I spotted poet Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb.

And three books I’ve reviewed at Digging: Jennifer Jewell’s Under Western Skies (Jennifer is my first Garden Spark speaker of season 8, and a few tickets remain if you want to attend), Claire Takacs’ Dreamscapes, and Dan Hinkley’s Windcliff.

Also my friend Loree Bohl‘s encouraging Fearless Gardening.

I’m amused to see that baby head pots are still a thing.

More baby heads

I love this green pottery mixed with terracotta.

A ready-made plant gift

I went through the store twice and found several gift items to bring home. By the way, I also visited the garden of Ravenna founder and former owner Gillian Mathews while I was in Seattle for the day. Click for my full tour!

If you missed my coverage of the Puget Sound Fling, which is why I was in Seattle, click the link for all those garden tours.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Digging Deeper

Join me for an evening of gardening community, learning, and inspiration at the next Garden Spark talk. On October 24 at 7 pm, Jennifer Jewell will explore how gardens and gardeners are powerful agents for positive change in the world, helping to address challenges as wide ranging as climate change, habitat loss, cultural polarization, and individual and communal health and well-being. Jewell, host of the national public-radio program and international podcast Cultivating Place, will explore that power through the lens of seeds: how they grow, where they grow, who grows them, who sells and/or controls them, and their care up and down the seed-sheds of our world. A handful of tickets are still available; click here for more info.

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

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