Open Days

The nursery is now closed until spring.  Our online catalog should be up and running in December.  We will not have a paper catalog.

Join our email list, below, for open days and special announcements. Or go to Contact Us for alternative contact info. Don't worry—you won't get deluged!

Take Note!

Fresh out of gift ideas for that gardening friend?
We offer gift certificates in any amount which can be redeemed for some pretty neat plants here at the nursery or at any of our off-site plant sales where we are own cashier such as the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle or the Fronderosa Frolic in August at Gold Bar.

Volunteer opportunities abound here at the Farm.
Transplanting, potting and what have you. A chance to learn some professional techniques and be exposed to some pretty fun plants. "Will work for plants!" Give us a call if you are interested.

Help sponsor our next collecting trip.
Of course you would get some of the progeny of the seed collections but mainly it is something to feel good about. We take detailed collection notes and distribute suitable material to various Botanic Gardens and firmly believe that we are helping preserve biodiversity as many species are under enormous pressure from habitat degradation.

Email List
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    Welcome to Far Reaches Farm!

    Sue Milliken & Kelly Dodson, proprietors

    Directions:

    It's simple—head into Port Townsend and take a left on Sheridan just past the QFC. You will go 3/4 of a mile and find a stop sign on 19th. Go straight through that until you come to the next stop sign which is Hastings. Turn left and go 1/3 mile and you will see the 1818 polka dot mailbox and turn right into our driveway and park out in the field watching out for Canela and Callie, our nursery overseers, who are brilliant in all things except cars. Please come only on our open days or by appointment. We'll have sandwich board signs out on our open days.

    Excellent news is that this first week of July 2011 sees the addition of our second new ferry on the Coupeville (Whidbey)-Port Townsend run so after years of compromised ferry service, Port Townsend is now back to normal or at least as normal as Port Townsend gets.


    What’s Growing On...

    Happy New Year to everyone on this rainy January 5th.  We actually need the rain following one of the driest Decembers on record so we are trying hard not to complain but to embrace being soaked.  The weather is quite warm in the low 50's and plants are starting to think about spring.  One of Helen Ballard's Yellow Select Hellebores in the garden has some fully open flowers.

    So what about that mail order?  We continue to work on it and it will be up and running shortly.   Building the new website and figuring everything out has been far more involved than we imagined and it wouldn't be possible without the impressive efforts of our IT volunteer Dan.  We're going to have to make him a nursery superhero suit or something equivalent.  We've got a great crew of staff and volunteers who are a joy work with and we consider ourselves lucky indeed.

    We continue to pot on some exciting seedlings from our seed collecting expedition to sw China last fall (Very cool evergreen Clematis blooming with yellow flowers and a climbing Aconitum and Astilbe about to bloom as well) and can hardly wait to see these develop and get some size.  Germination success runs from a single plant in some cases to plenty in others.  In the case of low germination, we plan on increases by division, seed or cuttings if herbaceous and cuttings or seed if woody.  Pretty much the common denominator is it all takes time.  We are already making a limited distribution of seedlings to select botanic gardens as our primary focus is that these collections have scientific value and contribute to the botanical knowledge as well as the preservation of a species.  Secondarily, we try to make available these plants through the nursery.

    A lot of folks ask where we get our manure mulch which we use on our beds. It is from Ben Smith at Maple View Farm in Sequim, 360-460-9499. You can pick it up at the farm or he will deliver 15-18 yds. We don't know how far he will go but he does go to Bainbridge a lot. Ben is a good guy and a careful truck driver.  Tell him we sent you!

    If you are across the water in the Seattle-Tacoma area, we hear that Mike Vukich delivers good manure and can be reached on his cell at 206-271-6490 or 253-939-0627.

    For the latest news, read Kelly's blog...

    We're glad you stopped by to view what's new. Come back soon!
    —Kelly & Sue