Calendula Farm & Nursery

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Calendula Farm & Nursery Plant Nursery open Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 10-5. Edible/fruiting, medicinal, native, and landscape plants. And he wears a kilt like he means it.

The Tangled Web of Calendula Farm & Earthworks

At our core we are plant-loving, dirt worshipping, tree-hugging artists and general contractors with an intense passion for growing plants and creating gorgeous & functional outdoor living spaces for other humans to enjoy. Here at Calendula Farm & Earthworks, we follow our passions and we like to share the results in hope that we are contributing

to a more peaceful and beautiful world. We acknowledge that Calendula Farm and Earthworks exists on and does its business on the traditional lands of the Puyallup People. The Puyallup people have lived on this land since the beginning of time and we gratefully acknowledge their stewardship, grieve their forced removal, and honor their continued fight to live on their ancestral lands. We affirm our responsibility to stand with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and do everything we can to protect their land and culture from further encroachment and destruction. Here is a link to a video - Puyallup Tribal Lushootseed Land Acknowledgement https://youtu.be/KGnac8x-SIM

Currently, we focus on offering:
Potted nursery stock for landscapes and home gardens
Landscape construction - from small gardens to whole yard makeovers
Production of flowers and other botanicals for dried arrangements and decor
Skincare products made from traditional herbs grown and processed on our farm

In the nursery, we specialize in plants that produce food or are used in traditional medicines and also grow an extensive selection of ornamental flowering perennials, shrubs, and trees. We use these plants in our landscaping projects and sell them at the Proctor Farmers’ Market on Saturdays in Tacoma. We grow plants that are best suited to the Pacific Northwest climate and range from garden variety Blueberries & Raspberries to unusual, old-fashioned, or hard-to-find plants like Wasabi, Carnations, Marshmallow, and Crape Myrtle. We are general contractors (licensed, bonded, insured # CC CALENLN883RE) specializing in anything that contributes to artful outdoor living. Whether you are interested in a space for entertaining, a cut flower garden, a food forest, improved curb appeal, or a peaceful, private sanctuary where you can retreat from a too-busy world, we build creative spaces to suit your style. We are particularly passionate about stonework like patios, pathways, walls, and steps and also build wooden arbors, trellises, fences and construct raised planting beds from either wood or stone. Other services include outdoor lighting, irrigation, and drainage solutions. In the fields, we grow a huge selection of flowers, grasses, trees, and shrubs whose blooms, buds, leaves, branches, seeds, and roots we dry or preserve in various ways. These are used in our studio to become seasonal decorations and art. The wreaths, swags, bouquets, and sculptures are permanently dried and preserved and can last for years. Each piece is unique and can range from more or less traditional looking to fanciful and kinda weird. Our fields also produce a number of wild herbs with long histories of use in traditional medicines. We use Calendula, Plantain, Yarrow, Cottonwood Bud, and Comfrey in our line of skincare products that include creams and balms for soothing self-care. We harvest, dry, and infuse these herbs in oil for several months, then create our basic Rejuvenating Cream, Calendula Cream, Soothing Balm, and Arnica Joint & Muscle Balm. Who we are:
Scott Gruber is the principal weirdo and owner of Calendula Farm & Earthworks. He was trained as an artist and earned a BFA in Sculpture in 1986. Since then he has operated several creative businesses in design, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and construction. He loves creating beautiful things and getting his hands dirty. Alina Mikolajczyk is the principal sensible one in the operation and contributes a staggering force of creativity, both in the studio making botanical sculptures and decorations and in our landscaping projects. She has a long history as a health care worker, culinary artisan, and has spent years doing all of that while simultaneously working at a local organic farm and raising two teenagers.

Plant of the day!Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)Wild onions are native to many parts of the world from North America to E...
09/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)

Wild onions are native to many parts of the world from North America to Europe and Asia. They’ve been collected and eaten by people as long as humans have been foraging wild foods. Nodding Onion is found throughout much of North America and is the most common species in the Pacific Northwest. Hikers might find it along trails on open mountainsides or in grassy meadows. Campers might find colonies of it among trees in the dry pine woodlands of the Cascades’ east side.

Nodding Onion leaves taste like garlicky chives. The bulbs are tasty too, but are so small they’re not worth the bother of harvesting. Also, if you don’t harvest the bulbs you’ll get more plants each year, and that’s a good thing because they are a beautiful accent to any garden. Slender leaves sprout in early spring to about 6-8 inches, then in summer taller 12-18 inch stems shoot up & start blooming. Like hardneck garlic, the flower stem curls over at the tip (hence the name Nodding Onion) with a flower bud at the end and is called a scape. The scapes are tasty too. The buds open to a spray of tiny pink blooms that look like a firework in mid explosion. All sorts of winged pollinators love the blooms.

Nodding onion slowly turns into a patch of itself and looks best in the company of other perennials who will take the stage when Onion starts fading. Masses of the delicate pink blooms are gorgeous in sunny spots, especially if you’re going for a PNW meadow look.

This is just one of many edible native plants that we offer in our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma.

This letter press print was created by staff at the Tacoma Tree Foundation in collaboration with Springtide Press. Calen...
09/06/2026

This letter press print was created by staff at the Tacoma Tree Foundation in collaboration with Springtide Press. Calendula Nursery celebrates Pride Month and sends hugs to all you Tree Qu**rs out there around Tacoma.

But wait, what was that about Tacoma Tree Foundation? Whazzat?
TTF is a non-profit that makes a massive difference in the Tacoma area to improve environmental justice in underserved areas and to improve the tree canopy in all areas of the Tacoma metro area. They stage plant give-away events, community tree plantings, and hold workshops, presentations, and speakers to inform us all about the value of trees in our neighborhoods.

Calendula Nursery is proud to support TTF for the month of June through July 4 by donating 10% of the cost of every tree sold at our nursery.
Come get the tree you need and do a little extra good for the world without lifting a finger.

Nursery open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

https://www.facebook.com/tacomatrees
https://tacomatreefoundation.org/

Plant of the day!Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)The blooms of Red Elderberry are an unmistakable signal that spring w...
09/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)

The blooms of Red Elderberry are an unmistakable signal that spring weather is finally here. They come on like clockwork in April every year as creamy white cone shaped puffs at the tips of branches, then scarlet red berry clusters punctuate the lush green foliage in May and June.

You can see beautiful examples of Red Elderberry, as well as many other worthy snapshots of river valley ecology, by traveling along Pioneer Way between Tacoma and Puyallup. As the road meanders, tucked against the ridge at the southern edge of the valley, it crosses Swan, Squally, and Clear Creeks and plays tag with Clarks Creek till you reach Puyallup.

Along the way there are excellent examples of wetland and riparian habitats. In March & April you get Osoberry, Red Flowering Currant, eagles, ducks, and herons. In April & May you get Red Elder blooms, eagles, ducks, and herons. May-June is yellow flowered Twinberry & Blue Elderberry blooms, eagles, ducks, and herons. It's like this all the way into winter when you're treated to the brilliant stems of Red Twig Dogwood and various yellow and orange stemmed willows, eagles, ducks, and herons.

There are two native NW Elderberries, Red and Blue. Grow the red one for its stately, elegant beauty and to make our local winged wildlife super happy. It's not good for humans. Grow the blue one for your own powerful medicine and food. Both of these can grow 12-20 feet tall as multi-stemmed trees. You can prune them any time for shape and size but it is best done from mid autumn to late winter to preserve the blossoms and fruit.

Find this and many other great PNW native wildlife supporting plants at our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

07/06/2026

Hydrangea 'L.A. Dreamin' is just starting to bloom! Pink is just the beginning. Colors transition to purple, then blue, and by mid summer all those colors are there all at once!

Plant of the day!Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata)10% of all tree sales through July 4, 2026 are donated to Tacoma Tree ...
07/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata)
10% of all tree sales through July 4, 2026 are donated to Tacoma Tree Foundation!

What do you think about the notion of nurturing the progeny of one of the oldest living things on earth? If you spent your entire life in service to this young being, it could still be around for another 150 generations - a life 50 times longer than yours. Bristlecone pines’ resilience and longevity is difficult to come to grips with. The oldest ones (Pinus longaeva) in the Sierra Nevada mountains started growing before the Egyptian pyramids were built. They began their lives back when humans were still figuring out ‘civilization’, yet here they are today, continuing to grow in otherwise inhospitable environments on high alpine rocky outcroppings exposed to extreme cold, snow, and wind. Having a young Bristlecone Pine tree can add a different perspective to your life every time you pass by and admire it.

Despite its propensity to grow in harsh environments, it will gladly accept a little coddling in an urban yard. If you’ve considered planting a ‘legacy’ tree for your offspring or your community, this one is a whopper. In their natural habitat, Bristlecone Pines are shaped by strong winds, snow, and gravity into fantastical, twisted, gnarly, sculptural forms. In gentler environs they’ll grow a little straighter but still hint at their wild ancestry. Once established, they don’t need anything from you except appreciation. They’re a very slow growing exercise in patience. Saying how big they might get is pointless.

We have cute little two year old seedlings that can be great bonsai starts or grown in a pot on a deck or patio as a conversation starter. Nursery open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

10% of all tree sales through July 4, 2026 are donated to Tacoma Tree Foundation!

https://www.facebook.com/tacomatrees
https://tacomatreefoundation.org/

Plant of the day!Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)Around the Pacific Northwest, when there is a project involving lan...
07/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)

Around the Pacific Northwest, when there is a project involving land restoration, protection, or remediation, and native plants are installed to provide wildlife habitat and diversity, Gaillardia gallops in as a wildflower workhorse. It doesn’t hurt that it’s strikingly beautiful too. Various Gaillardia species are found throughout North and South America but Gaillardia aristata is a PNW and western mountain states’ native. It is just as happy in a civilized, well-tended garden as it is living free and wild in meadows and grasslands.

Gaillardia will typically start blooming in late May and doesn’t slow down till late September. During this months-long show it continually pushes out new flowers as old blooms go to seed. In flower, it attracts a huge variety of native flying pollinators seeking nectar and pollen. One of the most interesting is a native moth (Schinia masoni) which has evolved color matching the red and yellow bands of color on the flowers. This moth is entirely dependent on Gaillardia for its food and reproductive habitat. When flowers turn to seed, wild birds visit the all-summer-long buffet.

Gaillardia flowers are generally reddish toward the center and yellow at the tips. Natural variations occur with more red or more yellow. They’re all eye-candy. Plant it in an area with at least a half day of sun. It’s care-free and drought tolerant. Gaillardia is an all-around winner no matter how you look at it.

Find this an tons of other beautiful and care-free native plants at our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

Here's an interesting tree story. These two Kousa Dogwoods have been in the ground for around 30 years. They are, or at ...
06/06/2026

Here's an interesting tree story. These two Kousa Dogwoods have been in the ground for around 30 years. They are, or at least were, identical twins. In 2011 a ferocious ice storm coated everything in a thick and heavy layer of ice & many trees in the area were destroyed or damaged. The one on the left looked like a bomb went off in the middle of it, branches splayed out with their tips touching the ground. The one on the right made it through unscathed. After many years of careful pruning and shaping, we rehabilitated the left one to look like a normal tree again.

Here's the weird part. Ever since the left one recovered, both trees' personalities changed. They both bloom beautifully, but instead of their past twinsy behavior of doing everything in sync, the left one blooms with a normal amount of pure white flowers, but a few weeks earlier than the right one. The right one blooms later and puts out a completely absurd amount of flowers which are more ivory colored. So many, you can barely see any leaves.

We're still scratching our heads about why. If you want to hear more tree stories, check out our colleagues at the Tacoma Tree Foundation. They have more info, programs, speakers, and hands-on community planting opportunities than you can shake a stick at (pun intended). Support environmental justice and participate in community-building by contributing to Tacoma Tree Foundation. It's a good thing for the world.

10% of the cost of any tree of any kind including offspring from these two Dogwoods sold at Calendula Nursery will go to TTF through July 4, 2026.
Open 10-6 Tue-Sat, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma


https://www.facebook.com/tacomatrees
https://tacomatreefoundation.org/

Plant of the day!Smokebush (Cotinus coggygria)Why is it called Smokebush? Because in early summer it blooms with massed ...
06/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Smokebush (Cotinus coggygria)

Why is it called Smokebush? Because in early summer it blooms with massed bunches of wee 1/8" pale yellow flowers on tons of pinkish, hair-fine stems. They look like puffs of apricot to pink colored smoke and are a head-snapper when in full bloom. Smokebush is also known as Smoke Tree partly because the common shrubby forms can grow into small tree-like shapes, also because there is a species called American Smoketree which grows to 20-35 feet and is native from Missouri to Tennessee.

The most common type has eggplant purple leaves all spring and summer, but other varieties can be purplish bronze, reddish purple, and even bright chartreuse greenish yellow. The best display in Tacoma, thanks to Parks Tacoma, is along the water side of Ruston Way at Jack Hyde Park, near the Chinese Reconciliation Park in Old Town. They have planted all the varieties in a row and they are spectacular!

Ok, so, cool colored foliage and cool blooms, but autumn is when they put on their fanciest, bestest, goin-to-a-holiday-party, brilliantly colored wardrobe. All varieties turn bright reds, dark reds, flaming oranges, and gold. All at once. Then they undress and head to bed for winter.

Most varieties can get 8-12 feet eventually and want to be fully branched to the ground. We like to limb them up into a tree shape with one or multiple trunks and a canopy of color. They are happy in full sun or light shade and once established, are drought tolerant.

Find several varieties of Smokebush, including the North American native Smoke Tree at our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

Plant of the day!Columnar Apples (Malus sp.)***10% of this tree price will be donated to Tacoma Tree Foundation***Want h...
05/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Columnar Apples (Malus sp.)
***10% of this tree price will be donated to Tacoma Tree Foundation***

Want homegrown fruit but have no room for a regular sized fruit tree? We have the perfect solution for you (as long as you like apples). If you said “yes, please” then Columnar Apple trees are for you! They grow very differently from their ‘normal’ siblings with a stout trunk straight up to a maximum of 10 feet but usually staying around 6-8 feet. They have no lateral branches but instead only have short stubby branches, called spurs, that stick out from the central trunk. The whole tree is typically only 12-18 inches diameter - from top to bottom. They grow well in large pots or half-barrels and reliably produce delicious fruit.

Columnar Apples were noticed by pomologists in the 1950s. In a batch of experimental crosses of Red and Golden Delicious apples, someone noticed something interesting in the discard pile of ‘failed’ results. Some trees had not grown any lateral branches but still leafed and fruited normally. Then in the 1960s a Canadian orchardist found the same genetic variation in one of his McIntosh trees. Game on! Those natural variants have since been crossed with others, and we now have many varieties of Columnar Apple trees.

The fruit of Columnar Apples is a great balance of crisp, sweet, and tart. They require little to no maintenance, and the fruit is always within reach. We like to use these as ‘bookends’ bracketing an entryway or pathway, or as an attractive and tasty feature in a patio or deck container.

Find these and many other fruit trees at our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

Plant of the day!Monkey Flower (Mimulus spp)Monkey Flower species are native all over the globe from Australia to Africa...
05/06/2026

Plant of the day!
Monkey Flower (Mimulus spp)

Monkey Flower species are native all over the globe from Australia to Africa & North America, including in the Pacific Northwest. They have evolved and adapted to a huge range of ecologies and because of this, the genus Mimulus is being used as a reference model for evolutionary processes. No pressure, though. You Monkey Flowers can just go on being cute.

Mimulus guttatus, or Yellow Monkey Flower is native in the Pacific Northwest. In the wild, it is typically found near streams, springs, and other moist areas including near seasonal wet areas that go dry in summer. We also grow Scarlet Monkey Flower (Mimulus cardinalis) which is native from central California to Northern Mexico in the same type of ecology but tolerates longer dry periods. Both are very versatile.

Flowers open continuously for a couple of months in late spring to mid summer, take a break, and do it again. They spread by rhizomes and seed into a carpet of 6-24 inch downy leaves and stems topped with exotic looking orchid-like blooms. It is not a plant for very tidy, organized gardens. It's best put where it can get its wild thing on. Its happy place is some shade and some sun but will grow nearly anywhere.

Pollinators love it. While we were taking a photo of the Scarlet one, a hummingbird buzzed in and hung 6 inches from the camera, peeping a challenge for ownership of the blooms! Bumblebee butts are impossibly cute sticking out of the tubular flowers.

Find this and many other amazing native plants at our nursery. Open 10-6 Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5 Sunday. 5111 36th Ave. E., Tacoma

Address

WA

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 18:00
Thursday 10:00 - 18:00
Friday 10:00 - 18:00
Saturday 10:00 - 18:00
Sunday 10:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+12534688900

Website

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