Author: Allie

Mid June and Flowers are Blooming

Well we have made it to the middle of June. The days are long, the mosquitos are biting like crazy and the flowers are rolling in. The peonies are blooming their heads off and can’t be more beautiful. The perennials are also coming into full blooms and it is just dang beautiful here at the farm.

The new peonies that I planted last March? are giving me a bloom each which is great so I have an idea of what the look like and let me just say that they are stunning. Next year there will be a few stems of each to offer which will increase the number of varieties. But first, look at these stunners that are on offer right now

The cool thing is that I still have varieties that I haven’t even harvested yet which is very exciting.

The early perennials are coming in quite nicely, the foxglove, yarrow, salvia, astrantia and the early blooming phlox are coming in so as we go into summer the easier the flower arranging becomes because the selection just keeps increasing.

These are two new varieties that will be offered next year…

The ranunculus are still going strong, far better than I expected, as are the anemones. The cool annuals are looking great in the tunnel and will also soon be joining the floral excitement.

I am going to try for the third and final time to plant the zinnia seedlings again. Damn slugs. These I have let get bigger and hopefully stronger so they won’t succumb so rapidly. It is just so frustrating so I will keep my fingers crossed and the DE handy.

It looks as though about 90% of the dahlias have emerged so I have added the middle stakes and ordered more twine to start corralling them probably by the end of the month. To be honest, I am pretty happy with how things are doing and looking so far this season. It certainly hasn’t been consistent in the weather department but looking good I think.

I will leave you with last week’s #windowframethursday. I think it is over the top beautiful.

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

What a Busy Week it Was

The flower farm was a flurry of action this last week. All of the summer annuals are in the ground and the holes of the seedlings that didn’t make it have been filled. I got them all in by the time the weekend rain arrived, and they look good. Fingers Crossed. I also got the Acidanthera planted even with the majority of the corms rotted. I planted the best and am keeping my fingers crossed on that as well. I did order 40 corms last Monday and they should be at the post office tomorrow so I can get them into the ground ASAP. I just love this flower because of its blooming time and also its perfume is just lovely.

The dahlias are emerging from the soil which makes me happy. Soon I will have to get them staked and rounded up. It is amazing how fast they grow once they emerge from the soil.

I have been busy harvesting peonies this past week as well. I would say I am about a third through the harvest already, All of the Red Charm have been harvested and sold. I know, who would have thought that 50 stems would be gone in a week. Certainly not me.

Nothing makes this flower farmer happier than harvesting her blooms, and then selling them.

I do have some stunning varieties that are coming of age to harvest. Etched Salmon is my new favorite, (in the photo on the right, the Etched Salmon is on the left side, behind the Edens Perfume) and I only have two plants, hmmm, might have to order some more of those and take out the boring single whites. I know, I know, I’m not ordering any more plants, especially ones that I can’t harvest from for three years. They are kinda like asparagus, have to let the roots really develop before harvest can begin. I do have some plants that I could let go of…better flag them now so I will know….

The ranunculus are finally ready to be harvested. They certainly took their sweet time but they are here at last, for a short time. They don’t like the heat…and we are going into the heat season. Next year I will be more organized.

On the bird front, the robins in the tool shed fledged. They fell out of the nest just as I was going into the shed. We were all startled. The parents were beyond upset. I open the doors, took Sadie into the house, she doesn’t have a good track record with baby birds… and they hopped out of the shed on their own. The Carolina Wren chicks are still in their nest in the flower pot on the front porch and I expect them to fledge any day now. Someone else started to build a nest on the window gears in the greenhouse. I removed it. I love my birds but where they want to nest isn’t always the best spot for our life here on the farm.

That is all of my exciting flower news for this week I think. I will pass you off to Steve and I will be back next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Happy June!

I say that as I am writing this with a turtleneck on and a wool sweater. But they say that this week’s is going to be summer like…They say.

In case it does get warm, and it will, I have put some shade cloth on the greenhouse to try to keep the temperatures down. Of course just as the anemones are coming into bud, the temps decide to do what they are supposed to. Be summer like.

The anemones and ranunculus don’t like it hot, and will start to go dormant after a week or two of hot temps, so I am trying to keep things cooler. The plants in the tunnel seem to be doing fine, but the tunnel is better vented.

Also with the warmer days the peonies will be popping. I harvested the first handful today,

These Red Charm are the first of many, many peonies that will be harvested in the next few week so get ready. There are a bunch of new varieties this year as well, and because they have only been in for a year, those stems will be very limited. Like one off each bush…but there will be plenty for all.

I have been a busy flower farmer. All of the dahlias are in, and on my morning inspection and slug cutting I see that some are starting to sprout. This always gives me the most angst, are they going to sprout or not. I do see some action but I am still keeping my fingers crossed. This week’s heat should help. And slugs, they are back. Not like last year thank goodness, but it is now part of my morning routine. Slug check and snip.

I had a big flower order go out on Friday night for a Saturday wedding. The bride wanted bright, and wild so the designer got what she asked for. Bright and wild.

The summer flowers are all in the ground except two trays. The bed is prepped, just have to get it done. I had a bit of a blow this afternoon. The peacock orchid that blooms in the last summer, is fragrant and a stunner apparently didn’t like being in the cooler over the winter with the dahlias and the tulips. Damn. Lost at least 50% of the corms. I will plant the rest of the best and keep my fingers and toes crossed. I have been overwintering them for years but in the basement. Lesson learned. If they survive, they will always be stored in the basement here on out.

I leave you with two flower pics.

I forgot, to those that I have snuck up to the porch to see the Carolina wren nest, the eggs have hatched, and the activity going in and out of that nest is fast and furious.

Not to be out done, the robins in the flower shed have also hatched. Also not the best place to raise chicks if you want quiet. I also told Mrs Robin that this wansn’ the best place to have a nest. No one listens to me…

Well Steve is back, so enjoy his intro.

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

I Have Had Enough of May!

Honestly, I can hardly wait to see May exit. I know, unusual for me to say because I am always lamenting that time goes by far too fast, but this has been the coldest, and wettest May’s that I can remember and I can only hope June will be drier and warmer.

That being said, I haven’t had to water any of the new planting, and the cool season plantings are just loving this weather, but the summer flowers? They are still in the greenhouse, and even there they are cold. Although they are sharing the space with the ranunculus so I have to keep it cool, I am covering them with frost closth to keep them a bit warmer at night. Kinda like me still under the duvet.

Because I am waiting to put out the summer annuals I have gotten the dahlias all planted. Three beds of them this year, many new varieties, and some larger flowering ones to play with. They don’t last as long in arrangements as the ball type, but they do make a wow factor so I can hardly wait for them to bloom. Right now I am anxiously waiting for them to emerge out of the soil. That is a huge plant job off the list though.

As soon as the cool flowers are done in the tunnel, which won’t be for a while yet, hopefully by the end of June, the chrysanthemums will be planted in. The plants are looking good and will be ready to get into the ground. Actually, they would like to go in the ground now but at the moment there is no space.

I have been thinking….Anyone interested in a flower arranging workshop? I am thinking bring your own vase, and get to arrange/play with flowers that I don’t generally offer up, and then you can take it hope with you. Just thoughts going through my brain when I am gardening or trying to sleep.

I don’t have many photos this week, with Steve away everything takes longer…Speaking of Steve being away, he is having a really good time, taking lots of photos and posting them on instagram. swpope134. Also if you get this blog, yay for me. If not, Steve will send it out hopefully when her returns.

But here is a photo of the flowers that went out on Thursday for a DYI wedding. I think they are beautiful.

So until next week,

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Spring? Depends on the Day

Or it is a typical spring, cold and rainy for a few days, then sunny, hot and humid for a day or two with thunderstorms, then like today and the upcoming week, cool and damp. I’m still in long pants and wool socks.

Despite the weather, things are progressing here at the farm. To be honest it is hard to predict when things are going to be happening, like will I have peonies for a wedding on Saturday? Given the forecast, probably not, especially in the required color pallet, but then again, who knows. It is good for the cool crops that are coming along, but I am holding off putting the warm crops in the ground because it just isn’t warm enough. Well knock my socks off. I just measured the soil temp and it’s 60 degrees, so the soil is warm enough, but the air…not yet. That being said, I could get the dahlia tubers in this week…

The perennials are coming right along and many are being harvested. The peonies are close, oh so close.

I am harvesting a handful of anemones each day, the pansies are getting longer stems and are being a great filler, the high tunnel is growing well and I think I saw ranunculus buds this morning, that is hopeful.

The first bed has been planted out in the garden and is looking good after a week,

and all the rest of the plants have been moved into the greenhouse for more sun and hardening off before they go into the ground. The last of the tulips have been harvested and they are all in the cooler and I will have them for weeks now.

I am posting this early because Steve leaves today for ten days in Wales and I have to get it done while I have him, and I have to take notes on how to publish this because he does it for me. I will do my best, but, I might miss next week so don’t be alarmed if I’m not here. I will still get the newsletters out, but the blog? That remains to be seem.

I leave you with two arrangements this week. My #windowframethursday, and my porch one made from leftovers from the week’s sales.

So, fingers crossed I will be here next week.

Allie, I dream os flowers, do you?

Happy Sunny Day! and Mothers Day too!

We are all basking in the sun today. After having eleven days of rain, measuring up to 6.3 inches of rain, we are all celebrating. The fact that it is also Mother’s Day it is a true celebration.

Despite all the rain, I have been able to harvest the tulips and keep them safe in the cooler. Some flower farmers weren’t as lucky and lost their crops but I have been lucky. I have two more varieties that are still in tight bud so with tonight’s predicted frost warning I should be OK. By the end of the week all of the harvestable tulips will be in the cooler for many more weeks of floral enjoyment.

Believe it or not, the first of the anemone are showing color. I had almost written the crop off but the ones in the greenhouse are showing color and I see lots of buds on the ones in the tunnel, so as the spring progresses the amount of floral varieties also increases. Of course there is no telling when anything will truly happen with the vagaries of weather, but, things are happening.

The farm is looking beautiful in all the spring lushness. I just love this time of year, or really any time of year there are flowers growing in the garden that I can play with I just love. Speaking of loving flowers, here are the photos from this last week’s #windowframethursday.

The flower shed is filling up with lots of flowers now, and the robin is sitting on her nest. It really takes a lot for her to leave the nest now so soon time will tell. I should google how long it takes for robins eggs to hatch.

Here is a photo of the flower shed this weekend, looking mighty nice I would say.

Remember, we are now on summer hours so the flower will be open on Tuesdays from 2-5:00 and Fridays from 9-2:00.

I will pass this off to Steve while I check on his birthday dinner.

Hope to see you soon. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

In the Throes of Spring

Wow, spring is coming on fast and furious and and I would just like it to slow down just a bit. It is absolutely beautiful out, and flowers are going crazy but honestly, it is all going by far, far too fast.

You all know I walk the gardens, all of them at least three times a day. Many times to to just be in the springtime glory, because it certainly is glorious, but also to see what is coming up that will be offered for cutting in the next week. Let’s just say, there is a lot that is going to be on deck by the end of the week. Just in time for Mother’s Days flowers. Or, let’s be joyful, Anyone’s Day flowers. Since many of you readers aren’t local, let’s go on a really quick tour so you can see what you are missing.

All the spring flowers that will be ready for Friday’s flower shed will be tulips, narcissus, honesty, possibly camassia, leujococium and more. There will be armloads of flowers going into bunches and bouquets.

The interesting thing about spring is that the flowers really aren’t around for long. Yes, the tulips are because I store them, but many of the other flowers are so fleeting. Especially when the weather is hot. This is one of the reasons I stroll the flower gardens so often during the day. So I can harvest them at their peak and store them so they will be perfect for you. The peonies are also looking really good and before you know it….Bam, oh how quickly it goes.

All the spring flowers are in the ground, and I am waiting impatiently for the next round after this round. This includes the ranunculus and anemones, clarkia, oh it is just so exciting. Honestly, I am now getting ready to get the summer flowers ready to go in the ground. First the flowers that will take the cooler temps, then the summer annuals, then the dahlias. I did take the dahlias out of the cooler yesterday because I needed the space and I need them to warm up and start showing those eyes for dividing. All will be in the ground before the end of the month.

Before I forget, the flower shed will now be on summer hours. This means Tuesdays from 2-5, Fridays from 9-2. Just for Mothers Day, from 9-2. Welcome summer schedule.

Before I end, here is the arrangement I did for last week’s #windowframethursday. Even today, it is still looking good. And they say that hellebores can’t be conditioned to last more than a day.

Flowers used are fritillaries, hellebores, mertensia, muscari and spirea held together with a pin holder.

I would have written this on the porch this afternoon, but it got a bit cold, but this is my view from where I sit. Please enjoy my view.

Not too shabby. Until next week. I dream of flowers, do you? Allie

Remember, Flower shed hours are now summer hours. Tuesday 2-5 and Friday 9-2:00

Allie

Whoa! Last Sunday of April!

Well this quarter of 2025 zipped right by. How does this happen? Is it because the flower season starts in January with hauling in crates of tulips? Is it because by mid February tulip harvest has begun? Is because by March we are in the thick of tulips, seeding and getting ready for the next season? Is it because the end of April has seen the last of the forced tulips and yes, the first in-ground tulips will be harvested tomorrow? I don’t know, but time needs to move down just a titch please.

It has been another busy week on the farm, but no news there I guess. The willows that were planted out are showing new growth which is exciting and even more exciting is the new shrubs are looking really good so the plan for this week is to get the cardboard down in the rows and the wood chips on top. I fed everything on Thursday in anticipation of the weekend’s rain, which we did get a good amount of, so now mulching. After that gets done it will essentially be hands off for quite a while, which will be good because there are plenty of other things to attend to.

It appears as though the bird attempting to build a nest in the greenhouse thought better of its chosen location which is great, but now I have a bird building a nest in the flower shed. Not quite as bad because it can come an go at its pleasure and I am only really in there once or twice a day every few days.

In the dirty room (which we can now spin around in there is so much space) the seeding is going right along. I have a lot of transplanting to do this week and another big batch of sowing, this time the zinnias and cosmos and other things that I missed. The chrysanthemum cuttings are looking good so far which is very exciting, and the next batch of seedling transplants can go out into the greenhouse to harden off.

The greenhouse is looking mighty full with the bench filling up again. The narcissus will all have to go under the bench this week because I have buds on the anemone and soon I will have to be able to get to the crates to harvest some flowers! Whoo hoo. I don’t see much happening on the ranunculus yet, but hopefully those flower buds won’t be far behind. The tunnel is looking good, and it seems as though the ranunculus that I planted without soaking have decided to show signs of life after all, with the back up plants ready to get planted now. Nothing like a little bit of competition to spur growth on. After this week things will be getting really tight in there.

For the past few years I have been asked to do the flowers for the Music on Norway Pond benefit which I really enjoy doing, lets me stretch my creativity. So this is what I created yesterday.

After today it looks as though we are going to be in for a stretch of nice weather so I will be pulling tulips, I suspect so, by Friday. Fingers crossed there will be a selection of varieties, but other flowers are rocking in as well so things are looking good on the floral side.

I will leave you with last week’s #windowframe. It is essentially the prototype of what I created yesterday. Enjoy.

Have a great week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Welcome to another crazy week on the flower farm. Every day is something new and different, and exciting. The most exciting is that spring is actually happening. The witch hazels are done blooming, making way for the forsythia and the magnolias. The hellebores are are blooming their socks off and the narcissus buds are swelling with promise.

On Monday I got all of the perennial seedlings planted out into the garden, perfect weather for transplanting. Mostly overcast with no wind to speak of and the nights were above freezing. The peonies have been cleaned up and fed, and half of the irrigation has been laid out in the cutting garden. Even bigger news is that the last crate of forced tulips has been harvested so now we are dependent on the ground tulips.

So you all know that I have been a bit worried that there will be a lull in the tulip production but hurrah! White Emperor will be be first one on deck. It will still be a week before harvest, but no delay. Good news all around I would say.

I am having a bit of a problem in the greenhouse. As I was rounding the corner yesterday I noticed a little wren with bits in its bill sitting on the ledge going into the greenhouse. My fears are correct. She is building a nest on the ledge of the greenhouse. Argh. Not a great place because if it gets cold, I have to shut the doors, her entrance, and I can’t keep the doors shut to keep her out because it will become far too hot in there for the crops. Hopefully she will become discouraged with all of my activity and find somewhere else safer to build her nest.

I am not going to remove her nest because if this is where she wants to be she will just build another one. Sigh. If she continues I will chronicle it for all to see.

I did create a #windowframethursday on Friday last week but never got around to posting it. It was one of those days, so you all get to see it now, with the same arrangement four days later when the tulips have opened up a bit.

I hope everyone has a beautiful spring week coming, and I will be back to regale you with more next week.

Allie, I dream of flowers, do you?

We are Nearing the Middle of March

Oh sorry, we are nearing the middle of April but it sure feels like March. Ugh. Cold, raw days…some days with snow…then we have one and a half nice days then back to cold, raw and cloudy. The worst was yesterday, though.

That snow was forecasted to be one to three inches, and by the time we went out to do morning chores it was five inches. By the time it had more or less finished it was plus five. The majority of it is gone, but there is enough to remind me that it was here.

We did have a dusting of snow on Flower Shed Friday, that was also beautiful and it didn’t last long. It had to make way for the next day’s snow.

Early in the week I did that tetris thing between the willow garden and the twiggery, moving things hither and yon. Almost all of the flowering shrubs are now in the twiggery, getting well watered and all the willow sticks are now planted in the willowery. Steve was able to till the rows where they were going to be planted and in a couple of hours I had them all in. Yay? Did I feel my body parts that evening? I think a total of 40 willow sticks went in. Let’s just hope they take. They should.

I have one lonely crate of tulips remaining in the dirty room and I think if we see sunshine this week they will be going out with the others in the bulb room. What a season that has been. The first half harvested, the second half, the ones in the ground are just needing some sun and warmer temps to get them really going. They are looking good, they just seem to be slow. Hopefully with some sun and warmer temps they will catch up and there won’t be a lull between the two crops. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of tulips, since it was snowing outside I thought I would finally sit down at the computer and get next year’s tulips ordered. That is quite the job but both orders are out. I have ordered some really beautiful ones, I hope, and there will be twenty two varieties of forced ones and nineteen? of the in ground ones so there will be plenty of variety for all of us.

I also started the last ranunculus I have. I decided that the last batch I did isn’t doing anything. Lesson learned. No matter what, after soaking them put them in trays and sprout them before they go into the ground so they will have roots and a bit of green to get them going. Planting them in the ground right after soaking them just hasn’t worked, hence the third planting.

This coming week is another busy one, the next batch of seeding, ranunculus planting by Thursday, yup, they should be ready to go into the ground by then, they are already starting to show green bits. I have a bunch of perennial seedlings that have to get into the ground… you know, all that cool flower farming stuff.

Here are the photos from last week’s #windowframethursday. Even today it still looks beautiful, even more so because the tulips have opened up.

I will turn you over to Steve. Have a great week, hopefully a sunny and slightly warmer one than we have been having.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?