Swan River Gardens

Swan River Gardens grows and sells a great selection of shrubs that are suited for all of the Flathead Valley.   Our growers know their stuff and make sure our plants are hardy and acclimated for our region. Customers can select from flowering shrubs like spirea and lilac and many kinds of evergreen junipers or spruces. Our landscape designers can help you chose shrubs that will work in any site.  

While shrubs are sometimes viewed as ‘boring’ plants that just go around the foundation of the house we’d like to expand your thinking and inspire you to see shrubs as players in your perennial beds, anchors for dramatic island beds in the yard or for stately hedge borders that define spaces and lead the eye to vistas beyond your property. There is a shrub, or two, or three that can do all these things and more. 

In your perennial beds, a small spirea like ‘Little Princess’ flowers in June and July and then makes a tidy green mound that punctuates the space. A neat evergreen like ‘Little Gem’ Spruce can provide structure and interest through all four seasons.     In a larger island bed, a dwarf lilac such as ‘Miss Kim’ with its strong vase shape and medium size 4-5’ of height will help transition from a tree’s size smoothly to a perennial plant’s size and make a design flow effortlessly. 

If you are fond of your view of the mountains but not of your neighbor’s property, a row of native red twig dogwood, Cornus sericea, can make an informal boundary that will require little care once established.    A more formal hedge of trimmed and clipped Alpine Currant makes an excellent living fence that can define a smaller space and provide a green backdrop for other plants.

Selecting the proper shrub for a site is important to get right. Swan River Gardens Retail Nursery Yard is full of informative signs that you tell you all the things you need to know to get it right: Sun or shade, dry or moist, how high, how wide, when and what color of flower. Our informative and helpful staff is always happy to help you make choices and answer any questions.

And let us not forget roses, that very favorite of all shrubs. Swan River Gardens carries hardy shrub roses, tough and dependable for the Flathead Valley and easy to care for. New varieties such as ‘Morden Sunrise’ offer new colors like salmon and compact growth habits in the 2-3’ range.   Disease resistant types like ‘Knockout’ are becoming very popular and proving their toughness year after year.

Be sure to visit the Swan River Gardens Retail Nursery Yard for lots of ideas for using shrubs in your garden.   You’ll be surprised how useful and versatile many shrubs can be!!!