11:50 AM: It’s a mellow open house happening at West Seattle Nursery (5275 California SW; WSB sponsor) right now, as proprietor Marcia Bruno describes it, but full of highlights. Want to learn about bees? Washington Bee Atlas volunteers are there:

WBA is working to identify and map our state’s wild bees, and the plants that they favor.

You can find out how to volunteer! Also at the open house, West Seattle author Lori Kothe and her picture book “Birds Near My Home in the City by the Sea“:

(If you can’t get there today, WSN is selling Lori’s book and should have some signed copies too.) After noon, a special highlight – WSN’s own Chelsea Ginnis launching Nosegay Gardens, and will be there to talk about it and the plants she’ll be selling. The open house is on until 2 pm.

1:59 PM: We went back to catch up with Chelsea, who is a fulltime WS Nursery employee and now a wholesale plant grower/seller. She’s focusing on roses and perennials, telling us that if she grows annuals, they’d mostly be “edibles.” She’s also excited about helping educate gardeners and plans to post about rose care this coming week on her website. (She’s actually been in business as a landscaper under the Nosegay Gardens name since 2022, but now she’s no longer taking new clients in that business and focusing on plants – which you of course can buy at WSN, which is open 9 am-7 pm this time of year.)