Hello and welcome to the first blog post from our new garden blog and horticulture website!
We are a husband and wife team, both born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. We each learned from an early age that hard work, passion and dedication would take us far in life, but more importantly, we needed to always have fun along the way. So, with our senses of humor intact, and borrowing from Farmer’s insurance, we are excited to present our new website to you!!
We’ve been married almost three years and are still discovering our combined strengths. Working together as a team has definitely been one of our greatest discoveries thus far, also our love of our garden. Furthermore, we realized that we have a huge desire to work for ourselves, pursuing our dreams and challenging each other in new ways which is how this website came to be.
With our shared interests in horticulture, gardening, business, education, traveling, and photography, we desired a place to share these passions with others and thus created SpokenGarden, the podcast, blog, and website (and soon to come, in Mel Brooks’ voice: SpokenGarden the lunchbox, SpokenGarden the coloring book, SpokenGarden THE FLAME THROWER….the kids will love this one. Disclaimer: Sorry, these items will never actually exist, we are random nerds who grew up loving the movie, Spaceballs. Although, a coloring book would be awesome!).
When we are not creating content for the website or working at our current full-time jobs, you can find us outdoors hiking, snowshoeing, or traveling in our RV. We love the outdoors. Exploring the world is definitely one of our most favorite pastimes, especially visiting new beaches and National Parks.
So, we sound pretty awesome, right? But, what about our training and our overall skill-set? What could we possibly know about the garden, business, or teaching others?
Well, Sean, my husband, is a smarty-pants horticulturist who has a masters in the field of horticulture from Washington State University and also possesses several other garden-related certificates. Full-time, he works in a large school district managing privately-funded volunteer projects, mostly involving outdoor design and landscape. In addition, he used to run a small landscaping company before we got married
called, “Horticultural Solutions.” His company serviced local families who needed help with various yard and landscaping projects. Little did he know, this pursuit would spark a passion in him for educating others about horticulture and gardening. Today, with over two decades of experience in the field, he has a lot to share and loves helping people learn and fulfill their gardening dreams.
Sean can be found working on his next podcast, reading, or repairing our old house, all while enjoying life. He is also very patient as he follows me around our yard while I identify and photograph our native birds.
I am Allison, a National Board certified science teacher full of love for all things science-related and in possession of a serious case of middle school humor. I am just as nerdy as my husband, Sean, but I am also passionate about photography as well as researching, writing, and creating content. I strive to become a better photographer through my captures of animals, our garden, and interesting scenes we encounter throughout our travels. In addition, I can often be found following my husband around while he lists off the Latin names of all the flowers and trees in our backyard.
Following both of us around our house and garden is our adorable new puppy, Shelby Lou, who possesses no skills other than looking cute all the time. She is a “Labrashepard” or a “Sheprador” depending on your preference, a mix of Lab, German Shepard, and we think Blue Heeler.
We recently lost our beloved, 15-year old Labweiler, Darby Dower, this past November due to cancer. We are still heartbroken and if you’ve ever lost a pet family member, you understand this tragedy. We were at a loss.
After the heartbreak that followed Darby’s passing, we realized we needed a new project to re-invigorate our souls. My husband had already begun recording episodes for a podcast called Spoken Garden. We decided to expand on his podcast idea even further and created this website as our new business venture. In addition, we’re in the process of creating exciting new goals for the year ahead and beyond which we will blog about soon. For now, we are excited for the journey ahead!
Come follow along as we navigate through this new endeavor! Let us know what garden topics you would like to hear or read about, or how we can help you. We are here for you, the DIY gardener, because that is how we garden too! Please give our podcast a listen and also follow us on instagram, twitter, and pinterest.
Thanks and see you in the garden!
Sean and Allison