Swansons Nursery celebrates 100th anniversary

The local garden shop Swansons Nursery (9701 15th Ave NW) has just finished up its 100th year in the neighborhood.

The garden shop actually has an even longer history, tracing its roots all the way back to 1888.

August Swanson founded Swansons after moving to the U.S. from Sweden. He opened Swanson’s Land of Flowers in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1888, where met his wife Selma, who had a local flower shop. They combined their businesses, and stayed until 1920 when they moved to California. They purchased farmland in Altadena, but their first season was a bust when a cold snap wiped out the entire crop.

In 1922, they moved to Seattle, and met a widow who had 10 acres and a small cottage on what was then a gravel road but is now 15th Ave NW. By 1924, they’d reestablished Swanson’s Land of Flowers, and grew begonias, lilies, irises, and dahlias. They also planted two sequoia saplings (which are now 150-feet tall, just next to Swansons’ entrance).

August and Selma’s son Ted inherited the business in 1940, and turned it into a retail business selling potted and bedding plants, indoor varieties, and rare plants. Ted then sold it to Wally Kerwin in 1976, who was reportedly a banker who had a love for plants. Kerwin added the cafe and gift shop in the 1990s, and new glass greenhouses in the 2000s.

Three longtime Swansons employees—Brian Damron, Leslie Bruckner, and Gabriel Maki—bought the business and continue to run it to this day.

“We are proud to have been a part of the history of Seattle, growing as the city grew around us,” the website reads. “We would like to thank you, our customers, for your many years of loyal patronage. Here’s to another century (at least!) of growing together.”

Swansons is now hosting a series of holiday events, from live music in their pavilion to tours of Santa’s yurt to its holiday model train.

Photos: Swansons Nursery