Month: October 2025

The Last Sunday of October

Well here we are at the last Sunday of October. Week 44 in the flower farmer’s calendar. Yikes. Just where has the season gone? Or should I say seasons.

It has been as busy week here. All of the forcing tulips are crated and in the cooler. So we went from this

It took me 1 1/2 days to get all of these tulips planted, plus which you can’t see, the hyacinths and iris. It will be a beautiful March if all goes well with the new bulbs. It will still be a beautiful March and April and all of the rest of the months next year.

I have almost also gotten all of the dahlias sorted today. So last week it looked like this…to this

The good thing is that is another big tick off the to do list. The in ground tulips have been shipped and I am expecting them any day now, so getting these two big projects done will make things a bit easier. The beds for the in ground tulips is ready for them, which is also huge, so planting the 2000 should only take the most of one day, fingers crossed.

The flower shed is now officially closed for the season. If you have a special order let me know and I will see if i can do it. I still have flowers, just not enough for open flower shed days.

It is a good thing for the heavy duty frost cloth because it sure is being used on these cold nights.

Just because the dahlias and part of the tulips are done it doesn’t mean that the flower farmer can rest yet. I still have a few things that need to be transplanted and divided, then once the mums are done everything will get cut down, irrigation pulled and garden hopefully mulched. I figure, or rather hoping everything will be wrapped up by the middle of November.

I did have time to do my #windowframethursday so here it is.

Before I send you off to Steve for proof reading and his little entrance ditty I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the support you have given me through out the season and for that matter all the years. It means everything to me that you love my flowers and continue to support me from buying flowers, emails of encouragement and by your smiling faces when you come to the flower shed. Thank you.

Until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Well. Last Week was a Week to be Sure.

What a ride this past week has been! We had frostmass the previous Friday which, as you remember, wiped out all the the dahlias and the summer annuals. And it has been non stop since. You might also remember that I was slowly entering panic mode because the tulips were supposed to be shipped on Oct 6, or week 41.

I called the bulb company on Tuesday morning having not heard anything about my order. They were sounding shall we say a tad bit stressed, running behind schedule. I was told that my order had been pulled which means that it is now in the warehouse waiting packing. When I receive the invoice it will be shipped. OK. I get that, so I spent the week getting all the dahlias dug and put in crates safely in the cave until I can deal with them.

The garden is looking very different now. All the dahlias are dug, all the annuals are cut down and soon the rest of the garden will get cut down.

BUT!

Friday morning in my email at breakfast I got an invoice for my tulips so I thought super, they should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. Nope. Around 3:00 the Fed Ex truck drives in the driveway and low and behold, tulips! So I put aside the dahlias for a few minutes, to take care of the tulips, which are all now safe in the cooler starting their chilling requirements. Phew. I still won’t have tulips to offer for Valentine’s Day but I will have them before March.

This week’s project is to get the crates sanitized and hopefully by the end of the week planted. The cooler is going to be a very busy and full cooler by November. After all the tulips and dahlias are taken care of, then the rest of the garden can be addressed. It isn’t going anywhere.

What do I have to do for that? Well, the landscape fabric has to be pulled and folded, the irrigation lines need to be rolled up and labeled, compost needs to be added to the beds and the remaining perennials need to be cut down and added to the berm. Oh, and I still have nine peonies to plant, another 2500 tulips to plant and I am sure I am forgetting things.

I did have time to create two table pieces for a celebration of life this past week though. The colors are very autumnal, large enough to make a statement, but small enough not to overwhelm the buffet tables.

As you can see, I have been a busy flower farmer.

Before I forget, this week coming will be the last week for the open flower shed. The flowers are still beautiful, but I just don’t have the selection and volume. Don’t fret though, I will still keep you entertained with the flower farm goings on.

I will pass this on to Steve so he can write his ditty and get this published.

Don’t forget to stop by the flower shed and say hello! It will be the last open shed until February 2026!

So until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, and sometimes they are nightmares!

Frostmass has Arrived

Well it happened. Last Friday morning we had our hard freeze. There is nothing like going from the 80’s the week before, to a hard freeze the next week. Not only is it a shock to the plants but the poor flower farmer. At least we had been given a heads up a day earlier so measures could be taken.

The Thursday that the warnings were coming through I harvested flowers three times. The first pass was in the morning before the sun hit the flowers, then again after lunch, then again around 4:00. I think four or five buckets of dahlias were harvested, all the cosmos, zinnias, a bunch of chrysanthemums that I couldn’t get under cover so by Thursday night the flower cooler was full of beautiful flowers.

I am glad I harvested and I also covered the chrysanthemums that I had started from cuttings, the others I left to chance and they all came out beautifully. Yay.

The next morning, we had this.

Despite the summer flowers being smelt, the autumn flowers sailed through the freeze and we should have flowers for at least the next two weeks. Hurrah! Everything is safely tucked in the cooler staying “warm” and I say that because most mornings now the cooler is warmer than the outside air.

Last week was week 41 in the flower farmer’s world, and I should have received my first shipment of tulips. Nothing. I sent an email to the bulb company wondering where they are. No panic yet. The worst thing is I probably have tulips available for Valentines week…but we will still have them when we need them the most which is February, March, April and May. I will let you know when I start to panic.

I have gotten confirmation that the narcissus that I couldn’t resist, iris and hyacinths for forcing have been shipped as well as nine more peony roots. I thought I had only ordered six, apparently I got slightly carried away. Hard to believe, I know.

Other happenings on the farm? The last of the dividing of the perennials, dividing and planting the plants for the shade flowers, finish cutting down the summer annuals and digging the dahlias. Not all will get accomplished this week by any means, but it is on the to-do list. And when the tulips arrive, get them crated up ASAP so they can go into the cooler.

I am enjoying tonight’s rain and sitting by the wood stove, first fire of the season. I will leave you here so Steve can finish up and get this published.

So until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Happy October

The calendar might say October but as I write this is is 80 degrees and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. This means that the flowers are still here! We had a couple of close calls last week, patchy frost, but all the flowers escaped!

That being said, when my watch was giving out frost alerts every hour I got the flowers ready. I harvested just about every dahlia stem there was to harvest, and any other flower that could be harvested. I got the hoops out and the frost cloth to protect the chrysanthemums but yay, everything survived.

It looks as though our next brush with cold will be Thursday. Steve will have to cover them on Thursday night and uncover them in the morning. Then it looks like we will have another nice run of weather.

Meanwhile, I am going to start the clean up of the gardens. Plants that are no longer producing well enough and are just sooo tired looking, they will be added to the compost heap. I have to get started at some point because there is always a lot to do. The beds that will house the outside tulips are all ready to go, but that is about it for next spring’s bulb crops so far and the bulbs should be rockling in very soon now.

You must be asking yourself, what flowers will I have for October, well I will have the chrysanthemums, the asters are looking good, and the dahlias are still rocking like stars. There will still be enough flowers to make some beautiful bouquets.

While I remember to tell you. The flower shed will be closed on Friday Oct 10th. I plan on being open on the 14th from 1-4 (if Steve remembers to cover the flowers while I am away). Remember, if you are not getting the all important newsletter, please sign up. This gives you up to date info on the flower shed times and days open.

There will also be no blog next Sunday, but I will be back the following Sunday with many stories to tell of my travels. Yes, I am going to Belgium for all things floral and plant as well as a birthday celebration. (Not mine)

So I will return in a fortnight, and I will be dreaming of flowers. Allie