Month: November 2025

And That’s a Wrap

The end of the flowering season for here at Lottarock is officially done for 2025. And what a year it has been! From the first of the tulips in mid February until the beginning of November with the mums, you all have supported me by stopping by and getting flowers and bouquets, to sending along email and texts of support. I thank everyone of you for supporting me with my flower passion. I am ready for a break though, to be honest. That is a long flowering season for one person, and I have loved almost every minute of it, but the body is looking to doing some other things for the next two months.

The orchard, willowry and twiggery have all be mowed. The orchard has been mown short so the spring bulbs will have a chance, and the others are just shorn because spring comes fast. Well, sometimes not fast enough but there is always far too much to do then. All the rain tanks have been drained, including the huge one behind the garage and Steve and I, mostly Steve, were able to spin it so the drain is on the low side so when we power wash in insides in the spring it will drain out. Yes, we will have to extend the gutter going into the tank, but that is for next year.

I did make a #windowframethursday in my “spare time”. The fingers were not happy working with cold wet stems, and I had cleaned up the cave and dropped the tarp so ugh, the photos were dark until I turned on the light. Duh Kerwin. Anyway…

I have one task yet to do yet…clean up the flower/tool shed. It has been a dumping ground for the last month and I need to get it organized so I can find things in the spring.

There isn’t going to be much going on here in the flower department until mid January so I am going to take a short vacation from writing until things start happening. Seeding begins mid January and the first crates of tulips will be pulled, and from there it’s floral chaos, but in a good way.

Have a wonderful December, may it be filled with friends, cookies, family and locally grown flowers. Yes, they are out there. Until January..

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you? ( And I will really be dreaming of flowers!)

There is no Doubt it is November

With the time change and the November weather time in the garden is getting limited. That isn’t to say that I have been lounging eating bon bons, but there is more time certainly inside now than out.

Accuweather says snow tomorrow night. I am not expecting much of any, but i will take this as an omen that the flower days will be done for the year. I will harvest anything that can be harvested. I still have chrysanthemums that are in tight bud, I will cut them because who the heck knows…they will join the rest of the remaining flowers in the cooler. It is sad, but you know, it is also time. I have stretched out the season this year until the end of November, about a month longer than any year before and that I am proud of. I already have plans for next year on how to hopefully have chrysanthemums for Thanksgiving.

But you know that saying, one door closes and another door opens? Well, spring is on our doorstep. Only 14 more weeks until the first of the tulips arrive. In the grand scheme of things that isn’t very far away. I mean how did we get to November already?

The last of the spring bulbs have been planted. All of the extra bulbs I ordered are safely tucked in and the in ground tulips have all been planted.

All of the gardens have been cut back now, except for the mums, and that will happen this week. I have started spreading leaf mulch on the beds, after re-aligning the rows. It is amazing how out of whack they become in a season or two. I have also started to put woodchips on the paths. What I get done this month will be less that I will have to do in the spring when it is still too wet to be in the gardens.

I did manage to get a #windowframethursday out this week. The arrangement I did two weeks ago is still looking good so I wasn’t going to because how many flower arrangements can one have in their house. Me, I can never have enough flowers, but that is besides the point, so here we go.

I will continue working in the garden until the 15th then I am going to hang up my trowel until January when it starts all over again.

There will only be a couple more letters to you…I am giving you notice so you can get ready for your withdrawal.

I am passing you off to Steve and I am going to go and get the goats and chickens in.

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

Welcome November

Well it might be November but I am as busy as ever, but the good news is that things are getting checked off the list. My goal? To have everything done that needs to be done finished up by the 15th of the month. Can I do it? We shall see.

All of the gardens in the fenced area, save the magnificent chrysanthemums has been cut back.

Most of the irrigation has been pulled, labeled and stowed for the winter. The plants outside the fence are on my list for this week coming, as are getting the 1800 tulips planted in the boxes in the garden you don’t see. This is how it goes. I am reading a writer/gardener on Substack and she was talking about alliums, so I ordered just a mere 150(?) of three different varieties. Always looking for expanding the flower varieties and I also just love having small flowers for the early spring posies.

The chrysanthemums that you aren’t enjoying this year, but hopefully will next year because I will have more available, are just amazing. They are nothing like the mums that you get at Trader Joes or the supermarket. No, these are just amazing. They have movement! Next week I will take photos so you can see them. I am going to turn you into floweraholics!

I normally take down the remay and store it in the shed when we have a few days of above freezing, (it protects the mums) so the other day when I was trying to fold it up to store my garden buddy Jager was the best help…

I know the flower shed is closed, but if you need a floral pick up let me know. I do have some stunning flowers. Just shoot me an email or text me and I will have an arrangement for you. It isn’t a problem because I do have flowers going out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that are standing weekly orders so the flowers are there hopefully until the middle of the month.

That is about it for this week. With the time change the dogs are antsy to get chores down so they can have dinner. I will pass this off to Steve.

As always, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?