Orchid nursery in Seattle?
 

Anyone knows about good orchid nurseries in Seattle? My husband and I are going to Bainbridge Island near Seattle for his sister's wedding in early September. We may be in that area for one week. It will be our first time to be in Seattle! One of our favorite activists to do in a new place is to visit gardens and orchid nurseries. Is there any good garden or nursery that we can get to by public transportation? Well, if we can get ride from family members, it’s ok to be a little bit far. :roll:

Seattle Orchids and Olympic Orchids are both in that area.

I've been chatting with Ellen from Olympic Orchids. She is extremely nice. I would try to visit her.

Oh a new one, Olympic Orchids. I have talked with Brian from Seattle Orchids and have ordered from them a couple of times. He's also very nice.

Olympic Orchids usually ships VERY SMALL seedlings and mericlones. You need to be prepared for this. They are so small, and the sphagnum they come in is in such good shape, I would recommend not repotting them on arrival.

Good point. However, Hausermann's ships tiny plants also and I like watching them grow up!

I noticed that when I checked their website! It's quite cheap because of the size. I have never tried with seedling yet.

Just like with a human baby, you need to be more mindful of their needs. I find it rewarding to watch their progress.

I have yet to find any information about Olympic Orchids having retail space that you can visit. Their mailing address however is just far enough away from Seattle that it is not very convenient to get to on public transit.

Seattle Orchids has a very small greenhouse devoted to only orchids and is just a ferry ride and bus ride (the 40 line, I think) away from Bainbridge. They are in a tiny building but they have the most amazing selection right now and they specialize in species and stuff not at nurseries or grocery stores. The buyer just got back from a buying spree in Hawaii so their website is jam packed right now. Everyone but 1 person I have dealt with there has been AMAZING. Almost all their best specimens seemed to be marked as "SOLD" which was a bummer... But they were for the online buyers who can't examine the plants. I can appreciate them taking care of their customers like that. They have most of their stock on their website, and I know they are really responsive to emails/questions.

Swanson Nursery and Sky Nursery are both very large, general nurseries in the area, and they carry the more typical orchid varieties. They are both just far enough off the beaten track to be inconvenient to ride the bus to. But doable. You can call them ahead of time and ask about their selection. I was told by the buyer at Sky that end of summer is when a lot of orchids aren't at their best and nurseries will mark them down for clearance. But they also aren't ordering very many new ones either...

Hope this helps! I am still trying to scope out all the best orchid sellers in my area.

I've bought a few things from Seattle Orchids, and my satisfaction with them has been up and down. I don't feel like I can trust them to give me good value for my money when I buy plants without seeing them first, so I don't think I'll order from them again, however if you visit in person, and you can see the plants before you buy them, then I'm sure they have some very nice things.