Author: Allie

Phew, it’s hot, and dry. I feel as though I am back in Australia these days with these temps and dry. But here I am, sitting under the ceiling fans that are going full bore planning my week on how to stay cool.

It is best to water the gardens and to harvest first up in the day so I try to be out with my harvest buckets by 6:00, while the gardens are still in the shade of the trees and the tool shed. The plants go into a wilt like the flower farmer by 11 in the morning. They have water, it is just with this intense sun because there aren’t any clouds and it is just that they are respiring faster than they can take the water up. As soon as they are back in the shade they look better. Kinda like me.

I think I have harvested the last of the sweet peas for the season. I have two buckets of them in the cooler, but they don’t like this heat and all and I think it is the end of this year’s crop. I would suggest that if you want some, better get them soon. The ones in the cooler are really looking good and I am finding they are lasting about 4 days in the vase which is good for sweet peas.

Flowers are rocking in like crazy and in any color combination you could want. Just look at last week’s floral display.

The dahlias are budding up and I figure soon they will also be added to the floral bench. As I say, the flowers are always in transition, one flower exits for the season, and another quickly fills in the ranks. That is what keeps it interesting about being a local flower grower, flowers truly have a season.

With this heat, the flowers are having a hard go of it. Take them home in the go cups of water, recut the stems and put them in cool water with the little packets of flower food. Keep the flowers out of the sun, and repeat this process every few days to keep your flowers looking their best longer. As I said, now is the season of the so called dirty flowers. These are the flowers that make your water scummy in just a matter of days. Zinnias, rudbeckia, celsoia, sunflowers and others are all guilty of this. If you run out of little magic flower powder, just add a couple of drops of bleach to your flower water and that will help tremendously.

So, I am going to go for a swim, but I thought you would like this drone shot that Steve took last week of the flower garden. I must say, I am pretty proud of it.

Until next week, your wilted flower farmer, Allie

Wow, is it dry. What a difference from last year when we were getting good rain to make up for the previous year. Now? I would love some rain. A week of a nice soaking rain would be oh so lovely. Thankfully all the flower beds are on drip irrigation and everything is well mulched, but still, it is dry. I am also grateful that I have rain tanks scattered around the property because that water is going to be needed. I have now decided to let the high tunnel go. Most of the crops have been harvested from there and they did a marvelous job bridging the seasons for me, but now, maybe a week or two earlier than I would have liked, I am stopping their water. This only affects the Icelandic poppies as a crop but I need the water elsewhere. Instead I will be harvesting seed to save, harvesting the last of the ranunculus and anemones to save for next year and redesigning the entire high tunnel to make more growing space for early spring flowers. Yippee!

The peony season has also just ended. I made myself a lovely bouquet with the last of the blooms. I made the bouquet last Tuesday and it is still looking beautiful on the coffee table and that makes me happy.

As we know, one flower exits, and another quickly takes its place. The sweet peas are going gang busters. I just love burying my nose in a bunch and inhaling. It is such a seductive perfume and when I walk by the rows in the evening the perfume just wafts around me.

Also coming in strong are the rudbeckias and the snapdragons.

There are plenty of flowers to chose from that is for sure. I love growing the unusual, not lots of them because they are so unusual, but they add such interest and sometimes drama to a bouquet, but I also grow many of the usual flowers as well to round out the selection.

Now that the typical hot weather is here, here are some tips to keeping your flowers lasting longer. Take your flowers home in the go cups and don’t let them sit in the hot car. When you get home, recut the stems, add the flower food if I remembered to give it to you, and yes, It does make a difference. Put the flowers in cool water and keep them out of the sun. Change your vases water every few days, and if you have run out of flower food just add a small splash of chlorox to the water to prevent scummy stems. The best flowers of the summer are known as the dirty flowers and they will turn scummy quickly if given the chance so the flower food helps as does the chlorox.

I am almost done here. I just want to remind you that the flower shed hours are now Tuesdays from 2-6 and Fridays from 9-2. If you haven’t been here yet, we are at 76 Stoddard Rd, Hancock and there is a sign at the end of the driveway when we are open. Bring a friend as well, the more the merrier.

So. I’m done now. Until next week. Flowers Rock on at Lottarock! Allie

It is funny, I was doing an instagram post last Friday for the flowers I was taking to the Hancock Market and I looked at the bunches of flowers ready to go and said, “these are not your typical flower bouquets.” The flowers I grow are not typical for the most part, but they are the flowers that I like to grow and use. The Eremurus (Foxtail lily), Kniphofia (red hot poker), the sweet peas (that I wasn’t going to grow), and other really cool plants will be available in the flower shed this year. I like the challenge of growing the odd flowers, I like the challenge of making a bouquet using some of these flowers and I hope you enjoy them as well. And I want to thank you for allowing me to follow my passion.

Besides the unusuals, the usuals are starting to rock in. The snapdragons, rudbeckia, and zinnias are rocking in, the filler is looking good and there are plenty of flowers. I have been harvesting buckets of sweet peas, I still have peonies, well, you can tell from this what is being harvested at the moment.

I have sown cover crop onto the two new beds that I will hopefully be putting into production this fall with more peonies, which apparently I can’t have enough of, and bearded iris. The bed inside the garden fence has germinated, but I keep finding weird places whee the buckwheat is germinating. Thank you chipmunks. The bed outside the fence is being enjoyed by the free ranging guinea birds. They have both germinated but I am no longer watering them because I must save my water for the flowers, so those beds will be what they will be. Any cover crop is good I tell myself.

The dahlias have had their first course of coralling. I am trying a new method this year. Not happy with it right now, so I will redo it on Tuesday so it will work better for me.

I have been told on numerous occasions over the last few seasons of the open flower shed that “I am not good at arranging or picking out the correct flowers that go together” and as I said on Friday, It is what makes you happy. It is not a contest, and you are not being judged. It is what ever makes you happy, and you being happy with local, flowers, that fills me with great joy. Thank you.

Until next week. Allie

Here we are, the night before the 4th of July, summer is more than half over and I feel as though we are just getting started. The spring flowers are done, until October then the tulips come to be planted. The later spring flowers are done, so so long ranucnulus and anemones. Yes, I still have peonies but soon they will be gone and then, the summer flowers will be here. Yes, the summer flowers. That means cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, asters, dahlias and so much more. So much more that I can’t even remember what I have planted. Oh, and sunflowers. Lots of sunflowers.

The last of this summer’s flowers seeds have been sown and in the next week they will be planted out into the garden. If I were to want more biannuals and perennials those seeds will have to be planted in the next few weeks so they can go into the garden by September. It is so interesting because some days I can barely get out of my own way, but yet to keep up with flower production I need to think at least, and that is truly at least six months ahead, really I should be thinking a year in advance. I do my best.

All of the anemones and ranunculus that were grown in crates have been taken out and are now drying off before storing them for the next season. The ones that were planted out into the high tunnel and now getting dried off and sometime this month they will be dug up, cleaned and stored until planting in February. Soon the high tunnel will be empty like the greenhouse. All those beds in the high tunnel are going to be rebuilt, so I have more space to grow those cool flowers that were an important segue from spring to summer. I am learning on how to bridge the gap so there will always be flowers from mid February until mid October when the last killing frost ends it all. I take a breath, plant the tulips and it all starts all over again. Aren’t I lucky to be able to grow all these flowers for my/our enjoyment. I am having a blast and I hope you are as well. In case you don’t know….I love flowers.

I will now let you enjoy the fireworks of the 4th, but I do have to leave you with two photos of last week’s harvest, or part of last week’s harvest anyway. I can not thank you enough for for being part of this floral adventure with me.

So until next week, I leave you with visions for floral bouquets! Allie

Welcome summer! With spring’s chilly exit last weekend the summer temperatures are here, and that means goodbye to the spring flowers, the tulips, anemone and ranunculus. Hello Icelandic poppies, corncockle, clarkia, bachelor buttons and many perennials. Soon they will be gone and the summer annuals will be here. What makes flower farming so interesting is that every week there is something different in the offerings, and sometimes a special floral treat. It can be a couple of stems of delphinium, a stem or two of the stately foxtail lily, bundles of lavender. One just never knows.

The lovely, dainty sweet peas are here. Yes, the ones I wasn’t going to grow. They will be offered in bundles mixed with other dainty flowers to round out the bouquet. Yes, I know that they are short lived in the vase, maybe 4 days, but honestly, how can one pass up on the beauty and the perfume? Makes me swoon. This is when you get to use all the little vases you were wondering why you were keeping. It is for the sweet peas.

I still have peonies to offer. I only recut and condition what I think I can sell on open flower shed days. I don’t want to say that I am parsimonious with them, but I don’t want their beauty to go to waste. I should have them to offer until mid July and they should last in your vase for at least five days.

More sunflowers are being planted for another week or two yet and the dahlias have all emerged and some have even had their first pinch. Ranunculus corms are being dug up, washed and dried to be stored for next early spring planting, and that includes the anemones as well. Crates are being emptied and on the next wicked hot couple of days they will all be disinfected for the next batch of tulips in October and so on and so forth. Everything is looking good I think and I am staying our of mischief. Well except I am going deep down the peony selection hole. I think I can fit another 12 plants in….then thinking about adding bearded iris to the mix to round out the offerings. I know, Call me crazy.

I leave you with these images to see what the possibilities are. I think it is worse than a candy shop.

As you can see, lots of very cool flowers to be had.

So until next week, may you dream of the floral bouquets that you can create. Allie

On Tuesday it will be the summer solstice and summer will have officially arrived, and I can almost say, almost, say that the summer flowers aren’t far behind. Hard to believe that soon we will be halfway through the year, and flowers will still be available until October 15th. Well that really depends on Mother Nature, and seeing that I am rugged up in a heavy wool jumper who knows what she will have in store for us. But, wait until you see what I have in store for you this week coming. Have I got some beauties.

The peonies are almost done being harvested but have no fear, I have them all stored safely in the cooler so before each flower shed day I will have new ones available that will be recut and conditioned for you. So here is the question. Are you ready? Is it crazy for me to want to plant more peonies? I have the space. I feel as though I need more varieties, not that the ones I have are boring by any stretch, but I would like to mix it up some more. Am I crazy? What do you all think? If I get more this fall, I won’t be able to really harvest from them for 2 years and I will be…don’t go there Kerwin. It’s flowers. How can I say no to flowers? I am thinking about adding iris this fall as well. Not tons, just a few varieties, just to add more floral interest for you all.

All the dahlias are planted and all but a few are sprouted so those rows the irrigation is now on. The two flats of sunflowers that I was hardening off before planting the chimpmunks enjoyed, so only about half of those were planted out today. More will go in by the end of this week, then one or two more sunflower sowings and everything will be planted. Now is time to start seeding next years perennials and bi-annuals so they will be ready for next year. More foxglove, astrantia, campanula, geum. Hmmmm, I might be running out of space soon…

I am changing the open flower shed hours. Tuesdays will now be from 2-6 and Fridays will stay the same at 9-2. I think that this will be easier for everyone to remember, including me. I was having the hardest time with Tuesdays hours in my mind. I hope that this change will make it easier for you to come and visit, and for me to remember. I am generally here anyway so why not?

As always, I look forward to seeing you. I miss you when you don’t come to visit. It’s a floral social fix for me as well…sounds corny, but true. Your enthusiasm for what I do makes it so much more. In so many ways.

So. Until next week. Allie

So here we are at nearly mid June. Where has the time gone? I have been selling flowers now for five amazing months and although the flower journey is only about half way through, I keep getting the question, for how long will I have flowers? And the plan is until the killing freeze sometime in October so don’t wish my floral life away. I will have plenty of flowers for plenty of time yet.

The peonies are still happening, and I have harvested plenty that are in the cooler waiting for you. I have some that are still tight buds so….I would say peonies will be available for a few weeks yet. Meanwhile, the ranunculus that I planted directly in the high tunnel are going really well. The ones that got us until now that I had planted in the crates are done for the season, but the ones in the high tunnel are looking really, really good. On the other hand, the anemones that had been doing so well have decided that they have had enough for the season. I might get a few more stems, but it is time for them to take a rest until next spring. But, that is the beauty of flower growing locally. There is truly a flower season to understand and enjoy. Yes, I can get the flowers to come in a bit earlier by using a tunnel, and yes, I can hold them a bit longer with the cooler, but the flowers and the weather really dictate what happens on the flower farm as far as availability, and that is what makes it exciting.

Speaking of exciting, look at what i found this morning as I was checking how the irrigation was working.

The first sweet pea of the season! What a surprise that was. That was like walking into the barn one morning and finding twin baby goats!

So what do I have on offer this week coming. Peonies for sure, orlaya, stock, the best I have ever grown by the way. I don’t have much stock but I will make sure I will next year for sure. Icelandic poppies, ranunculus, and I will just have to wait and see what else happens.

The gardens are almost all planted now. I have a few gaps to fill, another sowing of sunflowers to be seeded and some just about ready to be planted out along with the last sowing of cosmos. The dahlias are starting to emerge….and I am still as busy as ever.

As always, I look forward to seeing you all, you certainly make all this worthwhile. Your joy with my flowers makes this so worthwhile.

If you haven’t sent a “hi” return email back to me so I know that you are receiving these blogs and you are on the mailing list please do so. Many of you have email me back and that is great but I haven’t heard form many of you so I am just hoping that this isn’t going into your spam box. Returning just a ‘hi ‘shows the email server that you want these missives and not to put me in the spam or promotions folder.

So. Until next week. Think flowers. Allie

Here we are already in June. Am I excited? Am I overwhelmed? Am I exhausted? Yes, to all of the above. The good news is that now that June is here, just about everything is in the ground. I have another sowing of the late blooming cosmos to seed yet, and a few more sowings of sunflowers to do, but the main push, to get all of the summer annuals in the ground is complete as well as getting all the dahlias planted. Now, I have no idea how many I planted, just a lot. But really who can say no to purchasing dahlia tubers in the winter months of January when one so wants their vibrant and intense color of summer. Shopping cart full. Guilty.

Jager has been hard at work trying to get the destructive rodents. He has been working so hard he has rubbed off his eyebrows and now has big scars. Silly dog. Gotta love him though, but to be honest, clawless Mikey is a far better hunter. Thank you Joyce.

The peonies are slowly trickling in. I should be able to harvest a lot this week with the warmer temperatures. A couple shot open this weekend while we were at the lake so they will just add beauty and color to the gardens. I can even view some while I am typing this. They are so beautiful. If I harvest them at the correct stage, I can hold them for weeks so you all will have an extended peony season, versus what you would normally get if you were to pick them out of your garden. Yay for my amazing flower cooler!

One of the best things about being a small flower grower is that I can grow some of the really unusual things that might not be seen at a regular flower shop or even a farmers market. The Fox Tail lilies are sending up their shoots and I have even one showing color. These are perfect as one stem in a wine bottle, they are that stunning, so you need to keep stopping by. The campanula I started by seed this spring are showing some beautiful buds, the shrubs and vines are making very interesting filler, and I am having a blast making bouquets. I can be creative and I am loving that. That being said, I will have bouquets available on open flower shed days and you will still be able to buy by the stem so you can create your own masterpiece.

Any yes, I still have tulips and they are still on sale. They are still looking absolutely stunning, and will have beautiful bouquets with the oncoming peonies and the other flowers that are rocking in.

What else do I have to say? Hmmm, not much, but hope to see you all at the flower shed soon.

Oh yeah, and if you can, could you just send me a simple “Hi” return so I know that you have received this. Some of the blogs and newsletters are going into the spam boxes, and just saying Hi back to me lets me know that you are good to go. Many thanks.

Until next week. Allie

HAPPY LONG WEEKEND. Yes, it is practically the end of May, only two more days left. Hard to believe that we are almost, almost half way through the year. But first, we are going to celebrate. What, you might ask? We are having a tulip sale. Yup, I have had enough of tulips. You must remember that I have been doing tulips in one fashion or another since December so, a tulip sale is in order. I want them all gone, and I still have some absolutely stunning varieties, doubles, fringed doubles, singles and just about every color you could want. For every dozen you buy, they will be $10.00 a doz. If you want less than a dozen it will be a dollar a stem. Either way it is a true bargain. Yup and easy math for me. And bring all your friends, Tuesdays tulip sale is open to everyone.

So. When you come to the flower shed on Friday, I will have peonies, ranunculus, Icelandic poppies and, fingers crossed, the beginning of the cool annuals.

I have planted half the annual flowers, and this week the dahlias are going in the ground. More sowing of sunflowers, and some serious housekeeping in the dirty room. We have set a peanut butter bucket in the greenhouse to hopefully catch the damn rodents that are eating my ranunculus corms. At this rate, I won’t have any left to overwinter for next year. Honestly, if it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

The sun has almost left the garden so I must get out and water. Until next week. Allie

Wow, we sure have had some hot, un-spring like weather lately. I remember saying not that long ago that it was such a cool spring we were running about two week late in the season. No more, we blew that out of the water two weeks ago. One cannot predict Mother nature, nor should one try if one wants to keep their sanity. One just learn to roll with it the best one can. And I am trying. Really I am.

To mitigate the extreme temperature, I have hung frost cloth from the rafters of the greenhouse to break the intensity of the sun and it is sorta working but when the temps outside are in the nineties, it is truly hard to keep the greenhouse cool. I water early, harvest early, but I am sad to say the the ranunculus that I have waited so long for are looking peeked, kinda like the flower farmer. I am hoping to harvest a bit longer, but only the temperatures will tell. I do have some planted in the ground, verses the crates that are looking better, maybe because they are in the ground and maybe because they were planted later in the year. Hard to tell, but they are so stink’n beautiful, and they look so beautiful paired with the tulips. The anemones seem to be fairing with the heat better which is good.

Speaking of tulips, I still have many beautiful varieties available. Some stunning French singles, bodacious doubles, bi-colors and more. I am only conditioning what I think I can sell on the open flower days and I try to have an interesting selection available for your choosing. These are flowers that opened on Tuesday during open flower day. Almost a week later and they are still looking beautiful. And my house is not cool, believe me.

Then I have these tulips that I don’t know if they can get more beautiful.

This week is the big push to get a lot of of the summer annuals in the ground. Steve is going to hook up the irrigation for me, so that will help tremendously. I only have three flower days a week to devote the the gardens, so I try to get as much done as possible without doing myself in. Not always easy to pace oneself with deadlines, but I am trying to be smarter with my body.

What flowers are on deck next? I would say that by Memorial day I will have peonies, and some of the cool annuals such as agrostema, orlaya, Icelandic poppies and other flowers, but that depends on Mother Nature.

I know that I have had some new people sign up for the newsletter and blog, so I just want to give you a warm welcome and give you a quick overall of Flowers at Lottarock. The flower shed is open on Tuesday afternoons from 3-6 and Friday mornings from 9-2. There is always room for new members. Members? sorta, but not really. For $100 you get a simple debit card, and the flowers you choose are deducted from your balance. Your card can always be topped up whenever you want. The cards are good for two years. I hope to have flowers available from Mid February through to mid October. The flowers can be purchased by the stem, or I can make a bouquet for you. I look forward to seeing you so my flowers will bring you as much joy as they do for me.

And last but not least. Because we are crazy here at Lottarock Farm and because we don’t have enough on our plates…Let me introduce you all to Whiskey and Bear. Our newest additions.

Until next week. Allie