One of my favorite places to frequent in West Seattle is the West Seattle Nursery. I always find the perfect plant or flowers for my yard or a friend's home. At the West Seattle Nursery their staff is knowledgeable without being pushy or overbearing. In the Spring time I enjoy walking the rows of flowers, in the Summer browsing over the endless choices of vegetable starts and in the Fall and Winter I am happy to find any plant which will grow well outside and has great color.

A few years ago my friend forwarded the West Seattle Nursery newsletter to me which talked about the opportunity to make your own wreath. The idea of making my own wreath had never been part of my Christmas preparations before, but the idea intrigued me. Upon reading the newsletter I headed straight over to the West Seattle Nursery where the staff was eager to show me the ropes of wreath making; all while keeping me warm with hot apple cider.

The West Seattle Nursery has four large wooden tables where you can spend as much time or money as you like on your wreath. And if you provide your own greens all you have to pay for is the wreath frame, which means for a couple of dollars you can walk away with a really nice wreath.

For wreath making you can either make a reservation for the table or take your chances on there being an open table and just drop by. In my experience if you go right after Thanksgiving there is usually plenty of open tables. Making wreaths require a large work area and can be messy. By being able to work on your wreath at their nursery it allows you to make the mess at someone else's place and not worry about getting sap on your dining room table.

This year I decided to make my wreath different shades of green. I was happy with the results and ended up winning second place in their Wreath Making competition. Wahoo!

Living in the Pacific Northwest, it is the perfect place to forage cedar and pine boughs after a windstorm. Have you made it an annual tradition to make a wreath or hang up garland in your home?