Author: Allie

A busy Week in July

It’s interesting, some weeks the flower farm is busy with flower orders going out, and some weeks I get a lot on my list done. This last week was the first. I had three special orders going out, two were for tables after memorial services, a special arrangement, a big wholesale order for an event and two other orders.

The little daisy like flowers in the left on are a new coreopsis I am growing this year. I just love the colors and airyness. They are from seed I got from a grower in VT at the flower conference I went to in January. I have four varieties and they are all really cool. They are also with a variety of self sown rudbeckia and queens annes lace.

The bouquet on the right has malope, snapdragons, fillipendula, campanula, yarrow, veronica and blushing lanterns.

Speaking of self sown rudbeckia, when I was harvesting for the above arrangements I saw this beauty. I am going to flag the plant because I think these flowers are just beautiful.

I haven’t planted rudbeckia for about two years now, I just let them reseed. this year I have a beautiful patch of them and then this one. Amazing what happens when you must let nature takes its course.

What did I do on the farm this last week? I got a lot of harvesting done, I cleaned out the cooler, pinched the chrysanthemums that are growing in the crates, I cut down all the cool annuals in the tunnel and started pulling the first batch of ranunculus corms to save for next year. All very important but small jobs that I could fit in.

This weeks is fertilize the annuals, get the stakes in the dahlias, work on the weeds, and that is just some of the flower stuff. Then I have the rest of life stuff that also has to get done cause Steve’s knee is out yet again. It does seem to be slowly improving, or maybe that is just my wishful thinking and manifesting it. Olivia has done something to her right shoulder, in comisseration with Steve so she is off the the vet tomorrow. Oh the joys.

I have one last photo, of bits and bobs flower arrangement.

I am going to give this to Steve to proofread while I do the goats and chickens. Have a lovely week, and until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Three Days Away

After a horribly hot and humid week we decamped to the lake for the long weekend and boy was it needed. As I said to one of my flower people, I will be out of the office until Sunday night and will not be looking at my emails. It worked. I had three beautiful days away, kayaking, swimming, reading…Now I am back full of something or other.

I haven’t walked the gardens yet, that will happen when we go out to the barn, but I am sure they will be fine. The watering system should have done the job, and I am sure the voles have been busy dining, the weeds growing and everything else, but that is for later, if not tomorrow.

You all will be proud of me. At least Steve is proud of me. I was tempted to order 6 trays of 32 perennial plugs for the garden. After stewing about it for a day, I decided that even though I am leaning towards more perennials and woodies I really don’t want to make a huge investment on 216 perennial plugs. If I did that then a row at least would have to go from the annuals, and really, am I ready for that? I am still reducing the farming when I am 70, that is what I have promised Steve. I still have some time to change my mind…but if I add them, I will have to find some more wholesale accounts.

The flower shed schedule is back to normal now until August. Tuesdays from 2-5 and Fridays from 9-2:00 unless you have a special order.

The dahlias have been fed and have had their pinch. This week the plan is to get the stakes in so they will be able strung up when they are ready, i.e. tall enough. The cosmos are starting to bloom as is the celosia, marigolds and hopefully the zinnias, so the summer flower bunches aren’t far behind. Remember to ask for the flower food with the summer flowers. It keeps the water cleaner, or add a couple drops of bleach to the water to kill the bacteria. Believe me, it does make a difference.

I have no photos this week. It was too hot to do anything but get the essential flower stuff done. I will be much better about it this week and hopefully the following weeks. I haven’t even done any flowers for me this week!

I will pass this off to Steve. Thank you for reading this weekly missive. I do enjoy writing it and sharing my trials and tribulations as a aging flower farmer.

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

The last Sunday of June

Six months in the book for this flower farmer. I started with tulips in January, hauling crates in anyway, and now we are about to enter July. It seems as though the weather is going to follow suit. HOT and humid. Joy, harvesting before the dog walk, keeping the water up to the flowers and the flower girl will be paramount this week.

I have to remember to raise the temp of the cool bot tonight or in the morning. I don’t need to keep the cooler at 40 degrees now. The summer flowers that are coming in don’t even like it that cold so we will raise it to 50-55 degrees. That will still be quite cool, especially if it is in the 90’s outside.

While I still remember, the flower shed will be closed on Friday July 3. If you are going to need or want flowers you will have to get them on Tuesday, or special order them for Thursday pick up. We are going to be chilling at the lake.

My new irrigation system has arrived which is great! It is totally moveable, as long as I can get a hose to it to run it. I am going to use it this summer to get some cover crop to germinate, instead of me watering by hand each day with my mobile tank. I figure once I get the seed down 4 waterings of 5 minutes each day, this should get the seeds off to a good start. First though I want to broadfork the aisles between the peonies to see if I can break up some of the hard pan that was created when Garth was running the digger over the area when he was making garden space for me all those years ago. Once I get it forked, I will sow tillage radish which is supposed to go deep and open up the soil, and buckwheat for a cover crop and pollinators. No time off in the summer.

The dahlias are up and just about at the point where they can get their first pinch and fertilize. Once that is done they will get fertigated (seaweed and molasses run through the irrigation) once a week until they and all the annuals then switch to a foliar spray of the same.

The cool annuals are about done, and with the high summer temps this week that will be the end of them, so if you want more beautiful ranunculus and anemones this is the week because they will start going dormant very soon now.

The sweet peas “I’m not growing” are still going strong as the the

pansies whose stems are getting long enough to put in bouquets which makes me happy. Not a big seller, but they just add so much and last a long time in a bouquet or arrangement.

Speaking of pansies in an arrangement, I had time to do an arrangement on Thursday. Here goes.

I filled the container when I made it on Thursday, again on Friday and tonight it is bone dry. What we need to remember as flower lovers that the flowers are going to drink more water in the summer. Even more water if the flowers aren’t conditioned, which these weren’t. Shame on me. So remember, keep the water up to the flowers. Keep the water and vase clean and, if you can, keep them cool. For you my flower lovers all flowers are conditioned but you will still have to keep the water clean and the flowers watered.

I will pass you off to Steve for what ever ditty he writes. Don’t forget to go on and read me, my clicks are down. What ever that means.

Also don’t forget the flower shed will be closed on Friday July 3, so you will need to come on Tuesday from 2-5 or special order for Thursday. Stay cool and hydrated.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Happy Summer!

At last, summer. My most favorite season. My favorite season at the moment. As with the change of seasons, the flowers also start to change. We will slowly go from the cool annuals and many of the perennials, to the summer flowers that include the zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons and oh so much more. It is so exciting to go out into the garden each morning and see what I am in store for.

Right now the campanula is going strong, as well as the yarrow, bupleurum, foxglove and delphinium. I have harvested the eremurus…

The wealth of flowers is mind boggling, in my opinion anyway.

The pansies are still going strong and I am starting to get some really long stems that make them fun to add to arrangements, and the sweet peas, that I’m not growing, are going crazy so I am making kitchen windowsill posies of mixed small flowers that are really charming. They are also good for the bedside table in the guest room.

I have finally been able to track down some litre pots of Viburnum opulus ‘roseum’ which is fabulous for cutting large stems for event work, or small stems for arrangements. I thought I had ordered four plants, which I had room for, but apparently for shipping it was four sets of two, so I received eight plants. With a little scurryring I found room in the partial lilac row that is now full of odd plants. Oh well, I found room for them all. NOW. I am all done buying woodies. No more room and now matter how badly I want it, and how long it has been on my wish list. NO. No more woodies, Kerwin.

Most of the dahlias have emerged now so in another week they will get their feed and pinch to make them bush out. I have also finally pinched the zinnias, it was hard to cut them down and lose the flowers, but it is for the best, and half of the celsoia has been done as well. I will say that by the middle of July, the summer annuals will be going gang busters with bloom.

Besides deadheading the peonies that I left on the bushes, I also need to keep up with the mowing and I want to broadfork the isles of the peonies to see if I can improve the drainage. They are doing well, but I want to see if I can get them to do better, then after that I will sow some tillage radish that will also improve the drainage by opening up the compacted earth with their taproot. Have you ever heard me say I’m bored? Didn’t think so.

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

Well. That was an Intense Week.

Intense in so many ways. Intense heat and humidity that made the peonies go crazy which made for intense harvesting…with intense watering going on early in the morning and evening. But, it seems as though this week is going to be nice so I will happily take it.

I have harvested all the peonies that I am going to harvest.

They are all now safely in the cooler, chill’n until they are needed. If you are wondering, I will more than likely have peonies into July, or until the masses of summer annuals come in. Have no fear, the peonies will be here.

The automatic watering system is now up and running. I have just been using it on manual, but now it is set up and ready. I just have to remember each night to hook up the pipe that delivers the water to the garden, or it all just runs down the driveway, and that is a serious waste of precious water. Next year I am going to get a wobbler system that will water the seedlings that go in until they are large enough to reach the drip tape, that way I don’t have to hand water the 5 rows. I figure it will also be good for when I need to water the cover crop. I also have to change out the drip system in the tunnel, it isn’t working as well as I would like and I need a better system for when the mums go in the tunnel.

You all will be pleased to know that I have ordered the outdoor tulips. The price has gone up yet again, as well as shipping. The most expensive crop I grow by a long shot, but so worth it when they bloom.

What else? The last batch of cutting for the chrysanthemums has happened and the stock plants for their pinch to make them branch. They are looking good. The sweet peas that I’m not growing are starting to flower, and I am finally catching up on the weeding in the gardens. Still hauling water down to the twiggery to water the new mock orange that went in a few weeks back, but they are flushing out which is good. My other plant for this week is to get the twiggery rows weeded, hopefully wood chipped, if my tractor driver is up to it, and the early spring shrubs pruned to make room for next year’s flowers. Need to do that ASAP or I will miss the boat on the flower buds setting in time.

We had a couple of unexpected rain showers on Friday, so this is what I created while it was waiting for the rain to ease up enough so I could get back out.

I really like how the geum is almost a miniature Itho Joker I think.

Steve is back from his adventure so he will have the pleasure? of proofreading again. Yay on my part.

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

What a ride this flower growing season is becoming. The weather certainly is flukey, hot, cold, hot, cold but I am learning slowly to take deep breaths and it will be what it will be. Far easier to say than to be calm but I try.

My high lite for the moment is that the garden is planted. The last of the summer annuals were planted out on Friday. That is a huge yay. So far they are looking good. I have done the pinch on the cosmos and marigolds, tomorrow the zinnias get pinched. If you don’t know, pinching removes the apical meristem that makes the plants grow tall on a single stem, and with this removed the plants will now branch and I will have multiple stems per plant. Harvesting flower stems also does this but this gives me more stems right off the bat.

All of the chrysanthemums have been planted out in their crates, and the last batch of cuttings are being rooted as I type. They are all looking good and by August they will be moved into the tunnel to finish off their growth and flowering.

The 2026 tulips year is officially over, YAY! As much as I love the tulips they make me very anxious. It is an expensive crop to grow, with the increasing cost of the bulbs and growing medium but I still feel as though it is a good crop to grow. Even the outside grown tulips have their risk and their high waste factor but who doesn’t need fresh local flowers in February, March and even April when the weather is so yuck. That being said, I am beginning to pull my thoughts together on next years outdoor tulips so if you have ones from this year that really struck you as a keeper please let me know. I will be honest my note taking was a little sparse on my favorites and the duds.

OH! I guess I should say that the peony season has started. That is right. The peonies have started. Not as rapid as the demand, but it has started.

So now that everything is planted, the chrysanthemums are planted out all I need to do is keep everything weeded, fed, harvested and happy.

Here is part of Saturdays flower harvest from the tunnel. The anemones are coming in strong as are the amazing pansies.

Because I finished getting everything planted out on Friday I gave myself time to play with flowers. More photos of it are posted on instagram if you want to check them all out.

Steve is off on a road trip out west taking photos and having fun so you will have to put up with my editing, or lack thereof. I hope you all have a good week, and until next week,

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Yay! The End of May

Strange title you say. Not really in my mind. This has been one of the most challenging flower growing months I think I have ever experienced. Beside the wild temperature swings, the once a week heavy rain, yesterday’s snow and an almost freeze, (of course only a few days after I planted out the heat loving zinnias), I just need to think that June must be better.

I have requests from designers for peonies for weddings and honestly, I am telling them I just don’t know. This week is supposed to be warm, but with cool nights, who the heck knows. The cool flowers like the ranunculus and anemones are doing just fine but everything else is at least a week or two behind. Oh well, gotta roll with the punches.

That isn’t to say that I don’t have flowers. Oh yes, I have some beauties.

I have 90% of the dahlias planted. The were soaked for a few seconds in castor oil, dish soap and water as a vole preventetive, fingers crossed that this works. At the end of the day I am dumping the extra solution in the mole holes. Can’t hurt, I figure.

The greenhouse is nearly empty, still about six flats of summer annuals to go in yet, but getting close. The anemones and ranunculus are doing fine, least the anemones are blooming. In the tunnel we have a lot of blooms happening.

With the rain, and the few days of warm temps the weeds are making their appearance so hopefully by the end of the week, when much of the planting is finished up I need to start going through once a week and get a handle on the weeds.

Meanwhile…

I am getting some design work in. This one is from my design class on Tuesday. I wouldn’t reccommend doing a zoom design class, but…here it is….

I have yet to post it like I am supposed to. It’s one things creating the piece, another photographing it, and then getting it posted for the class to see and on Instagram, well…not quite getting to that part.

I was also commissioned to do create two bouquets for a birthday gift. A large and not quite as large.

I will say, that I do enjoy the design challenge, only working with what I have. I am sure there are more flowers in these designs, but you get the gist.

This week on deck? hopefully getting the rest of the flowers planted out, including the last of the dahlias, weeding, and of course harvesting.

Remember, we are now open on Tuesdays from 2-5:00 and then our regular Fridays from 9-2:00.

Hope to see you in June! Until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

May? or March

I sit here writing this again huddled by the fire. Raining, which I am not complaining about, but 50 degrees? Good lord, these weather swings are challenging, for the plants and for the flower farmers.

Despite everything Mother Nature has tossed us this month as far as temperature swings, a lot is happening on the farm. I am beginning to harvest some of the perennials which I find exciting, very exciting. As much as I love tulips, I am looking forward to having new and ever changing flowers to work with now. If you didn’t make it to the farm last week you would have seen the first of the bearded iris, geum, centaurea, and anemones, yes, anemones. The crop that I didn’t think I would see a flower out of this year because of the late planting time. I see no flower buds on the ranunculus yet, but they are looking good, which makes me hopeful.

The chrysanthemums have been planted out in their crates and are nestled in the beds the tulips were in. I think I chose the second hottest day last week to get them planted but I was determined to get them done. I thought I had taken a photo of my great effort to share but apparently not. Yesterday I got most of rows three and four planted out. I feel the rest of the seedlings need a little bit more growth to be planted out yet so they will wait. This week I will then plan on getting the dahlias planted out.

My never ending drama with the stink’n voles continues. More plants have been wiped out, argh, so before I plant the dahlias I am going to do Liz Thomas’s tulips dip. I am going to soak each dahlia tuber in castor oil, soap and water solution before planting. It worked beautifully for tulips and I figure why not for dahlias. Yes, it will slow down planting but at least, I hope, it will prevent them from being an expensive vole food.

I have another floral design class on Tuesday so since I now have more flowers than the lovely tulips I thought I better practice. Not that anyone from class is seeing them unless they follow me on Instagram, but I still need to do some practice. I find the bouquets the most challenging but I think I am getting better.

This one I gifted to a very deserving person and they were very grateful. I mean, how many flowers can I have in my house? I don’t have that many rooms!

This arrangement I created on Friday during open flower shed. I gifted it to myself in both the time to create it and that I kept it for me. That and I had finished the task of getting the five new mockoranges planted out in the twiggery. It is a true gift.

The flower sheds summer hours are now here. They are… Tuesdays 2-5 and Fridays 9-2:00, any other time by appointment please.

Now. Here is my thinking, last year I was doing an intentional Tuesday with flowers, where I would create an arrangement, but be intentional about it. I would like to open it up this year that on Tuesdays, you can join me. Letting me know in advance if you would like to join me would be great, just so I have enough flowers harvested and conditioned. You would bring your vase, and the cost would just be the flowers that you use. It is a good time to be stress free, breath deeply and be creative. I hope that some of you will join me this summer.

The robin in the tool shed has hatched her eggs and doesn’t seem to be stressed this year so all is good. Maybe we will see the babies fledge on an open shed day!

I am going to pass this off to Steve so he will amuse you (and me roll my eyes).

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

May’s Mid Point, Week 21

I am not quite sure how we have gotten to mid May already, nor our crazy temperature fluctuations.. I mean really? Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we were getting a much, much needed rain, and we had a fire in the wood stove each day because it never got to 50 degrees. Today, marvelously sunny, breezy and and unreal 80 degrees! Tuesday is to be 90! WTF!

Needless to say farmers are pulling their hair out. These swings are very hard on the plants, especially the ones that go out so small. I am keeping my eyes on the last batch of tulips left in the ground. As soon as they start to show color they are getting pulled. They will all be out of the garden by Tuesday for sure, if not tomorrow. That space will then be turned over to the chrysanthemums that are going to be grown in crates.

You know how I keep saying flower farming keeps you on your toes? Well here are the first anemones.

Now these are early. Like a month early for the greenhouse, and two months early for the tunnel. I have no idea what is going on. It should take three months from planting to bloom. the greenhouse ones were planted out the end of March. The tunnel ones on the right not until mid April and I thought they were going to be a total loss because of the heat. Five days of temperatures in the eighties and they start to go dormant. It looks as though I will have a handful of anemones at the shed on Friday. The ranunculus? Who the heck knows. the pansies are also starting to bloom, but I was sorta expecting that.

I was going to start the Tuesday flower shed this week but seeing the temperatures, the flowers will just blow wide open so I am going to wait until the 26th to start Tuesdays. Mark your calendars, and I will remind you.

I have to say I think the farm is at its most beautiful right now. The crab apples are blooming, as well as the magnolias, lilacs, narcissus and soon the bluebells and camassia, (what the stink’n voles haven’t destroyed). If you come to get flowers please wander around and enjoy the beauty.

I have a busy week ahead of me. Flipping beds, planting out the last of the sweet peas I”m not growing, potting up the chrysanthemums that was on the list two weeks ago, starting to get the annual beds ready for planting, oh yes, I have plenty to do.

I am going to pass this over to Steve, but before I go, here is last week’s tulips of choice and I was able to get a bunch for myself and OMG! They are stunning! Least I think so.

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

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope all you mothers out there were treated with fresh, local farm grown flowers for your day of appreciation, if not, I still hope you had a magnificent day.

I was having a creative day today. I was asked to assist in a floral install at the Inn at Hancock. I am glad we did a prototype on Thursday because it got the brain cells churning so this morning’s installation would go smoothly. We had left the framework in place from Thursday so this morning, starting at 6:00 all we had to do was flesh it out. I think all three of us were pretty chuffed at the finished creation.

If you can zoom in on it you will see it better. I am especially proud because every lovely stem was grown here at the farm. All of the forsythia, kiwi, spirea, tulips and narcissus came from Lottarock.

Meanwhile, while I am not being creative I am busy on the farm. No watering this week which is huge! I did get more hardy annual planting done before the rain and of course harvesting more tulips and narcissus. The cooler is getting full again!

The flowers in the tunnel are looking good. I do need to fertilize tomorrow morning, which I have to do before it warms up and the wasps take over. It is a point of contention having to share growing space with wasps. And speaking of sharing space, the robin is back on the nest in the flower shed. I just let her know that we have to share the space on Fridays during the open flower shed.

I do understand that my open flower shed days don’t fit everyone’s time frame but you can always message me to say that you need flowers on a certain day and I will do my best to accommodate but the flowers shed days do work best for me, and the weekends are mine. Soon, soon Tuesdays will be open, just not yet. I will let you know when.

The farm is looking it’s spring finest, I must say, so when you drive in and out I hope you go slowly to enjoy the beauty. It certainly makes my heart swell.

My other creativness was last Thursday’s floral hostess gift. I haven’t posted it yet on Instagram but I will share it here because I can.

I must say I do love being creative when I have the time not to rush…Hah!

I hope you all have a fabulous week, Allie. I dream of flowers, oh you have no idea how I dream of flowers.