Blog

Mid April and Not A Good Forecast

Actually, it’s not even the middle of April but the third week of April. I say, with a week of rain, .1″ here, .2″ there, another .1″ it does slowly add up and with the not normal temperatures things have really begun to spring. All is looking good…

Tonight’s temperatures doesn’t really worry me. They say (the very accurate weatherpeople) our low is going to be 29 degrees at 6am. Ok, everything I have planted out so far (and it’s a lot) is cold hardy so should be fine. Fingers crossed. My big concern is Tuesday morning were it is to be 23 degrees. We will have a problem. Flowers, and flower buds are very susceptible to be killed at these temperatures. See all those beautiful tulips? I am going to have to try to protect them. I am sure I will not get much sleep the next two nights worrying. l have hoops that I can put over the tulips with frost cloth, and Christmas lights for a bit more heat. I am and will be harvesting everything tomorrow that is even close to harvesting. I can always store it in the cooler.

This afternoon I went out in the rain and harvested the flowering nectarine branches that would defently be black by the morning, the forsythia and the spirea that is just breaking bud. I also harvested every narcissus that was a goose neck stage to put in storage.

All of the bare root plants that got planted last week…I might cover them…the hellebores that are just now blooming their hearts out, they will all be covered with something….I have a little bit of stress going on right now. In many ways snow would be so much easier. It would protect the plants from the cold…

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Just about everything that was ordered in the cold dark winter days has been planted out, except the roses that have already leafed out and the hydrangeas that came fully leafed out. They have been pulled into the dirty room for the next few nights. It is a good thing all the tulips crates are out now.

The summer annuals have been seeded for the most part and they have all germinated since Tuesday’s sowing. Once they get their true leaves, they will be transplanted, and eventually go into the greenhouse ready to grow on until they are planted out.

The tunnel is completely full now. All the cool annuals are in, the ranunculus are in as are the anemone, and yes they will be covered Monday night for a bit of added protection.

On to brighter things. i have started my #windowframethrusday now that I have enough flowers to play with so here you go.

All held together with a hairpin holder and chicken wire. I just love how those Caro tulips open up and change color.

Well, as I look out the window as I am typing this missive I see snow. Great.

So I leave you with a photo of last week’s tulips offerings… enjoy

Until next week, Allie. I have nightmares about flowers, do you? Just let me worry, you enjoy.

So far in April we have had snow, days in the 60’s, beautiful sunny days with incredible wind that makes it feel like its 30 degrees out, warm days with little sun, and days with no rain. Which we need, especially this time of year when everything needs that boost to emerge out of the ground and flowers .

Despite the lack of rain, spring is slowly happening. I have one full crate of tulips left in the dirty room and two partial crates so we could almost have a party in the dirty room now there is so much space to move around in. The dogs are wondering what has happened to their obstacle course to get to their crates. The seed rack has been cleared out to make room for this week’s sowing of the summer flowers, the greenhouse has been emptied (sorta) to make room for the seedlings that came out of the dirty room, and the tunnel planting has begun and that will get finished up tomorrow.

Tomorrow the ranunculus and anemones go into the tunnel.

The last of the bareroot stock went into the garden so besides the six crabapples, the woody garden otherwise known as the twiggery now has 16 lilacs. I still have six hydrangeas to be planted but they arrived fully leafed out so I am hauling them in at night when it gets below freezing along with the five roses. They are keeping each other company in a bulb crate for the time being. Unless I am crazy, I do believe the twiggery is about planted to capacity. If I succumb to buying more woodies, they will have to go somewhere else.

Drone shot of the twiggery. The grey stripes are the plants that got planted last spring. Where you see brown earth is what Garth did, and this was removing tree roots, rocks and regrading. At the top on the right are the crabapples and the 16 lilacs, two rows worth plus two. Out of view on the left is the regraded bank of the pond to the east and south. It is amazing. The first bed on the left is for two perennials that really like to run so they will contained in their box, and the next bed was tilled today and that is for the hydrangeas that will go in when the rest of the farm leafs out. That is the major project of this year in a nutshell.

Besides all of the hard yakka, I did have some fun playing with flowers. I didn’t sell out on Saturday at FlagLeaf so I had some flowers to play with.

This is called a mash up of colors and flowers. I used what I had. Tulips on the left from Friday, the hyacinths from the week before as well as the tulips on the right. A few of the flowers I forced just cause, and the greenery is all at least a week old. Not my best, but still, color.

Yesterday I created this with the first of the outside flowers.

I think that is about it for last week. This coming week is more of the same, just different. The weather is supposed to be good, I hear rain is in the forecast, fingers crossed.

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

And the Boxes Keep Coming

‘Tis spring, and what happens in the early spring? All the plants that I have ordered through the long cold winter are starting to rock in. On Wednesday two boxes of roses arrived and are waiting planting. Thursday 2 boxes from FEDCO arrived holding 35 bare root trees and shrubs, that I managed to get into the ground yesterday. It is a good thing Garth finished up when he did on my last? clearing project. On Friday the box with the chrysanthemum cuttings arrived and they got potted up Saturday morning. This week coming the 16? lilacs I ordered are arriving and another order of shrubs has been shipped. Oh, and all the perennials that I have ordered have also been shipped. It will be a busy week planting. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Oh, and snow is in the forecast for Tuesday to make it more fun to be outside.

Every flower that was harvested last Thursday sold, and if I had more to harvest they probably would have sold as well. I think everyone is needing color and happiness right now. Don’t worry, there are still tulips to be had in the coming weeks, just no more hyacinths.

Speaking of tulips… if you look closely, really closely, you will see the tips of the tulips poking out of the bark mulch.

That is very exciting and a big phew…I think I stress more about tulips than I do any other crop I grow. Probably because they are such an investment of dollars, time and energy. They are such a treat at this time of year.

I am sure you are all asking what I am going to do with my time this week, besides planting 20 shrubs and I have no idea how many perennials. Wait, I think it is 90 perennials that will have to go in this weeks as well. Well… I have a greenhouse of seedlings that are ready to go and be planted in the tunnel.

They will also be joined by the last planting of ranunculus and anemone. This planting will wait until at least Thursday because the lows for Wednesday morning will be 18 degrees. That calls for two layers of frost cloth for protection.

Meanwhile, under the benches I have narcissus from last year’s crates that I wintered outside and hauled in when they were un-frozen. I had hoped they would beat the field grown narcissus in bloom time and that just might be the case..

So on this long rambling note, I will leave you with our Easter wishes from Lottarock.

Until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, sunshine during the day, rain at night and a few more hours in a day.

The Last Sunday of March

To be honest, I won’t miss March. It has been crazy weather wise, beautiful days to melt the snow, and then the next day a few days of winter returning where the winter coat comes back out for barn chores and garden walks. Not that the beginning of April will be much nicer but it is a lovely thought to have. And yes, I still have snow piles, but nothing like what they were last week.

The snow is finally gone out of the cutting garden so I made my official foray into the garden on Friday. It is still far to early to see much growth, but it has been good to be able to get in and sorta check on the spring process. The voles were very active and dined very well over the winter. I don’t think I have lost complete crops, yet, but they were certainly active. One just has to breath deeply and look at it as a way to change it up. Again.

Speaking of changing it up…Garth is in with his digger and in two days has done major work in the twiggery, also known as where the donkeys were. Stumps have been pulled, rocks discovered, some serious grading and this picture doesn’t say it all but holy moly, what a difference. I have tons of room now for more shrubs and trees!

I can’t believe that I won’t have any full bulb crates to haul in tomorrow. It will be a shock to my system. Now I am just taking out empty crates and stacking them up for the meantime, and the flowers are getting pulled and put into the cooler. Slowly the dirty room will empty of bulb crates and I can think about taking chrysanthemum cuttings, which won’t be nearly a space hog but will still keep the room dirty. That and I have a lot more seeding to do as well, the summer annuals will needed to be started this week or next.

With our bitter cold temperatures the last few nights I have double frost clothed the seedlings and ranuncs and anemones. Yes, I know that they are cold hardy, but not that cold hardy. Looking at the forecast it looks as though I can put away the protection for a week. With the double layers they seem to have come through well, but when it gets down to 18-20 degrees overnight they need protection.

My first hellebore bloomed for me on Friday.

Just cause I can I am taking a Zoom floral design class with a designer in Belgium, Emily of Fleuropean. It is am interesting group; a few Canadians, a Swiss, German, and a number of us from the US, but we are from all over. We are to design along with everyone on Zoom, which is weird, but anyway, it is interesting. This is what I made. I used everything that I am growing here so I was far more limited than the Europeans, but it works.

All done in a small bowl and held together with a hairpin frog. Next week’s creation will be also using chickenwire taped down for more stability. I still have limitations in flowers but i really don’t think this is all that bad.

Next Sunday is Easter! I am going to be creating mixed bouquets for the shed and Flag Leaf Bakery. Everything will be from the farm so it will include tulips, willow, branches, narcissus and hyacinths. I just want to mix it up for the holiday, and to see if I could get the timing right for easter. Then we will be back to tulip bunches until I have narcissus and more.

One last photo before I send this over to Steve for his editing and ditty.

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

I am Ready for March to Go!

March is never the easiest month to go through. The weather flucuations; the sleet, snow and rain mixed in with wind and possible chance of sun are taking its toll on my psyche. I just want sun, temps in the mid 40’s (don’t want to rush spring) rain at night, less gale force winds…you know, weather perfection. I know, this is March, and in reality, much of April as well. At least I have flowers to share.

This last week has been the first week that I have been able to totally circumnavigate the flower garden. I told myself I am not allowed in the garden until the snow is gone from that space. As you can see…

This promise to myself is driving me crazy. I am peering over the fence as much as possible, but in reality, not much is happening wether I am in the garden or not. Soon I hope, but until then, I just hang over the fence and look as hard as I can for signs of green. I do have shoots of narcissus showing up outside the garden though… and that helps. Sorta.

What I don’t have outside though I have happening inside. In the greenhouse I have cool flower seedlings, perennial seedlings, narcissus and the first round of ranunculus and anemone happening. It is getting a bit full in there at the moment.

Many of the seedlings will go into the tunnel in two? weeks, the crates of narcissus are ones that I wintered over between the tulip beds and have brought in to fill the floral gap,(that experiment seems to be working so far), and the first of the ranunculus and anemones have been planted out into the used tulip crates. I don’t have room for much else at the moment.

Tomorrow is the last batch of tulips to leave the cooler. If that isn’t a big yay I don’t know what is. That means that I have hauled 45 crates of forced bulbs in since the end of January. Thirty eight of them being tulips. The remaining have been dutch iris which I won’t do again, hyacinths and narcissus. The flower bunches for Easter will be stunning that is for sure.

What ever you do, don’t fret about not having tulips. The cooler is full of tulips ready to greet you each week well into May, and probably June when the peonies flower.

So I continue to seed, circumnavigate the garden multiple times during the day, harvest tulips, hyacinths and narcissus in small amounts, circumnavigate the gardens a few more time cause something might have happened in the last two hours when I was out there last and impatiently wait… and wait… and wait.

Meanwhile, next Friday and Saturday Garth will be here with his digger making more garden space for me for all the the plants I ordrered during the winter and that is very exciting. Also the chrysanthemum plugs should be sent next week…so I will soon be starting to get the fall crops ready…And, I have already gotten the tulips order forms for next year! Life of a flower grower is never boring.

So until next week, Allie. May this weeks dreams about flowers be less dramatic than last weeks flower dreams!

I heard an interesting quote this morning….

“Keep sowing seeds. It is a declaration of Hope.” Georgie Newbery.

I think it is entirely appropiate for our times. Growing flowers is looking towards to future and peacefuller times.

Allie

Typical March, every day is different weather wise. Not a bad thing because it keeps us on our toes, and April seems so far away, but the first day of spring is at the end of the week. Wonder what that will be like? Sunny, windy, rainy, snowy, could be all the above in one fine March day.

My most exciting news is that today I was able to take my first walk around the garden. Not that I was able to see much but stems and plant label stakes, but for the first time in months I was able to circumnavigate the gardens. Oh I was still walking in snow, but it was doable. Oh, and the path leading to the flower shed is completely open so unless we get more snow or it is really raining, snow boots won’t be necessary.

This week’s to do list? Besides hauling tulip crates and harvesting flowers, it will be to get the sprouting ranunculus and anemone planted in the empty bulb crates in the greenhouse. That is a biggie. I also need to get the snapdragons seeded and check what else I need to get seeded for this time of year. I also need to get the tunnel prepped for the transplants that I would like to get out sometime next week. I am waiting until the night time temps this week are a bit higher than 18. The frost covering helps but not quite as well when the temps are that low.

I am pathetic for tossing flowers when they go by. Mostly because many times the fading flower is so beautiful. Now Steve would say it’s laziness, but I love the senescene of the flowers.

This is one of my earliest tulips to bloom and I have to say many flower peoples’ favorite because it is just so stink’n beautiful any stage of bloom. The only reason I have them is because the bucket fell on the floor last Friday and they got damaged. Lucky me I guess.

The tulips last week were…Balroyal Pink, Delta Storm, Red Impression and Amazing Grace. Next week they will be slightly different.

Steve has returned so you will get his proofreading and entry ditty. Yay! So until next week,

Allie. I dream of flowers (and sometimes have nightmares about flowers), do you?

What a turn of weather! But that is March for you. Wintery crap on Wednesday and Thursday to today mostly sunny and temperatures in the mid 50’s. Talk about a radical change in just a few days. The driveway is mostly open again, the roof is clear of snow and rocks are appearing. Slowly.

The tulips harvest is going well. After tomorrows tulip pull into the dirty room I will have two more weeks of crates to go! Don’t worry, this is not the end of tulip season. From the time I pull the crates in it takes about four weeks to get them to bloom. This means that there will be tulips at least until the end of April if not longer, and those are just the forced tulips. Then we have the 2200? in ground tulips that usually bloom around mothers day, weather cooperating. So not to worry, there will be plenty of tulips through June and probably until the peonies bloom.

I have run out of places to put my seedlings. The rack is full but I am hoping that tomorrow, with the fine weather to lasting until Thursday when the nights begin to go below freezing again I can get some of the cool flower and perennial babies out into the greenhouse. They will have to have protection at night, but I am running out of options. Once the ranunculus and anemones sprout they will get planted into the used tulip crates and out into the greenhouse. Flower tetris at it’s best.

Soon I hope I can begin my multiple circuits around the gardens watching the evolution of spring but I don’t think that will happen for a week or two, but who knows. I am certainly ready to smell the damp earth and get my hands into the soil.

So I can’t pass you off to Steve tonight cause he’s in Austin TX, so you will have to put up with my proofreading and possible entry ditty.

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

And knowing March, who knows what we are going to get thrown at us weather wise. Today was beautiful even if it didn’t get above freezing, tonight down to 0f, tomorrow well below freezing, but then looking at the week ahead, temps don’t look too bad. We will see. Maybe all the snow will be gone by the end of the month so Garth will be able to stay on schedule to get the next expansion phase done. After that, no more expansion. No comment from you all who know me so well.

The snow has been melting slowly here though. Rocks still haven’t appeared but I can tell it’s melting. This is what I had at the beginning of the week.

After a week of getting my WP Mail SMPT sorted out by their technical staff, who couldn’t be more helpful by the way, even though it took a week, I believe we are up and running. I didn’t get the newsletter sent out the night before the first flower shed of the year, but I did manage to get something mailed out on Friday morning. It has been such a long time since I mailed out a newsletter I have that learning curve again, but just saying, the flower shed will be open on Fridays now from 10:00-2:00. I will try to get the newsletter out as a reminder. The tulips are looking beautiful and seriously needed for not just their beauty and needed color at this time of year, but because we all need joy.

The dirty room is maxed out space wise and I still have baby seedlings to transplant and the ranunculus and anemones to soak and sprout. I am already using the top of the dog crates for tulips…this is going to be a challenge for me this month.

It is too cold to put these babies in the greenhouse right now…I will figure something out I am sure. Might have to use the basement for sprouting the ranuncs and anemones…

I can say one thing for sure, from Mid January on it is never boring here being a flower farmer.

Until next week may our snow begin to melt gently so it goes into the ground to fill the water table, may we enjoy the much longer days, and may we enjoy fresh locally grown flowers.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

That is right. You have read correctly. The long awaited tulips are here! And boy are we going to need them with tonight and tomorrows Nor’easter. A little bit of color will go a long way now that is for sure.

It is a good thing the tulips are here because I don’t know if the dirty room could hold another four crates of tulips. Now it’s crates out, crates in. The flow has begun. Yay! And now that the flow has begun I am going to start bringing in some different spring flowers to mix it up a bit, maybe some hyacinths? Certainly some narcissus. As always, I will let you know when they are ready.

One of the many things on my todo list this week is to start transplanting the cool annuals and perennials that are ready to be bumped up. For this I make two inch soil blocks for the each seedling to be planted into and where they will stay until they are planted out into the garden in the spring. I also need to get the first soaking of the ranunculus claws and anemone. These are soaked for about three hours, then they will be planted up and sprouted on until they will be far enough along to get planted out in the tulip crates that are now being emptied. See how this all works?

Many of you, if not all of you received a lovely spam invitation from me to an event here. Hopefully most of you are clued in enough to know not to open it. I have gotten two of them, both from friends and one of these infected my mailing list. This is a very popular spam, everyone wants to get invited to a party right? If you ever get another one from someone you know put it in your junk folder. Call or text the person who sent it to confirm it is legit. More than likely it isn’t. Bummer I know. If I am going to have a party I will send out real paper invitations!

Now. The most important thing. The flower shed will be open now on Fridays from 10-12. This is so the temperatures have a time to warm up so the flowers can be in the flower shed and not here in the house, and until noon because I know the tulips will go fast. If you think you will be late, text me or email me to let me know and I will put a bunch aside for you.

I leave you with a floral gift that went out last week.

I hope to see many of you on Friday from 10-12. I will also put it on instagram and hopefully a newsletter, but that is another story.

Until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, (and no snow) do you?

It might be 32 days left until spring but do you think I will be seeing a snowless garden? That is the question. I have lots of plants starting to rock in by the middle of March….It is a good thing I have a lot of tulip soil to pot up the perennials because I don’ think I will be planting outside by then (I knew that when I ordered so I am prepared).

But spring is happening here in the dirty room. S-L-O-W-L-Y. I am harvesting the first crate of tulips, and I have others on their heels. Not as quickly as I would like, or for that matter any of my flower people would like, but nature can’t be rushed as much as I would like it to. That being said, I am hoping I will have enough tulips to offer on Friday…it’s still five days out….stay tuned.

The seedlings are looking really good. They had their first feed yesterday making the house smell a bit like low tide. Some of them are getting their true leaves so I will be able to transplant some soon and then hope to get more cool flowers seeded and the sweet peas.

When I was down in the cooler yesterday I noticed that I had shoots coming up on the Muscari that I thought were goners. Now that is exciting! I had written them off but hadn’t gotten around to dumping them. It is a good thing I didn’t, I guess.

This time every year I always worry about the season and how it is going to go. Weather is always forefront, never knowing what we will get and when but also will I have too many flowers? Not enough flowers? I am looking forward to this year’s expansion with more woodies and perennials and my collaborations with others as well as some possible design work thrown in to keep that creative energy going.

I have a couple of thoughts brewing in my brain so stay tuned to see what I am thinking of. Nothing will start until I have flowers though, and plenty of them so I have plenty of time yet.

Stay tuned to the newsletter for the flower shed details. If you don’t think you get the newsletter and want it you can sign up on my website. Also check your spam on Friday. If you haven’t received a newsletter on Friday, sign up or let me know and I will add you. This give you all the most up to date flower shed details. Check your spam folder first though. I will also post on Instagram on the night before an open flower shed, if that works better.

So, I think I have covered everything this week so I will pass you off to Steve for his entrance ditty.

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