Author: Allie

Here we are. September 19. Wow. I almost wrote July 19 but stopped myself just in time. I seem to be seasonally challenged this week. Maybe because I have tulips on the brain, or maybe I am just confused by how quickly the flower season has moved. It catches me off guard each year. But, we still have three more weeks of the open flower shed and that is good because the autumns flowers are now rocking in as well as the most amazing dahlias I have grown yet!

The recent heavy rain and crazy wind has ended a number of flowers and I am getting them out of the bed and composting them. I am hoping to get a cover crop on but first the entire bed has to be pulled before I can sow seed. I’m not sure how that is going to work so we will see. One bed of sunflowers is totally gone so I can get seed on that bed anyway. Maybe on Tuesday when I have a farm day.

So you ask, what do I have for flowers this week of September. The zinnias are still going strong, the second flush of lisianthus, sunflowers celosia are all happy and looking good and then we have the dahlias. OMG. I am not going to ever grow tons of them, but each bloom is a study. I love the shape and colors of the flowers, I am just sorry that their season is so short for me, but I enjoy every day of them, believe me.

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The sunflowers are still going strong. I usually don’t harvest the flowers if the bee’s are on them, but somehow this fella went for a ride into the flower shed.

I love the flower form of these celosias, The colors are unreal, and they just seem to add a punch to the flower bouquets because they just aren’t normal. Maybe that is why I love them. They are like coral from the reef.

I got a new flower book a few weeks ago by Sarah Raven, who gathers or has photos of herself harvesting flowers in a champagne bucket. Imagine. Anyway, my dear friend BJ came by last week with a champagne bucket for my flowers so here I am posing with it full of dahlia blossoms. Only problem is the silly me has my hands covering the silver bucket. So maybe if I ever have another picture of me posing with flowers in my champagne bucket I will keep my hands off to the side.

My most exciting news this week is that my long awaited new greenhouse is to be delivered and assembled on Tuesday and I can hardly wait. It will be put to full use in flower production next year. Just think, more ranunculus, anemones and hopefully freesia, fingers crossed. And tulips. Can’t forget my tulips.

Until next week and the floral diaries. Allie

PS. I am doing a flower card for the Cornucopia Project’s annual auction that is going to be held on Sept 24-26. Their website is http://cornucopiaproject.org , and the auction site is https://www.32autions.com/cornucopiaprojectauction. You can go to the online auction and get a gift card for yourself for next year, gift it to a friend, and support the worth Cornucopia Project at the same time. Just a thought.

Things in the garden are starting to slow down. The days are getting noticebly shorter, I now don’t find it imperative to be in the garden by 5:30 to get everything done that needs to be done before the heat of the day. Now I find myself lounging around until 5:30 and not really moving until 6. A lovely sleep in. The flowers are also starting to slow down. Oh they are still growing and blooming but just a a slower pace. I like that.

Clean up is beginning in some of the beds. Some of the flowers, like the asters, have just had enough of the wet and although they show beautiful color from a distance, they are shot and getting pulled. I am only pulling half though because they are still swarming with bees and butterflies who are obviously enjoying the nectar. The high winds we have had have broken many stems of the cosmos and the sunflowers so I am also cutting many of these back. At least enough so I can get down the paths to harvest the remaining flowers. Again, leaving some that have gone by for the bees and the birds. The finches just love the seed heads of the cosmos and I have waves of finches and chickadee’s raiding the sunflower heads. It is just so beautiful to see all the action happening in the garden.

The flowers that are getting cut are either getting composted, for future soil building, or better yet, making the feather and fur creatures happy. Recycling at its best I think.

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There are still lots of flowers to choose from at the flower shed. Still lots of zinnias, celosia, a beautiful second flush of lisianthus, dahlias, sunflowers and more.

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Just a reminder. i am planning to shut the flower shed on Friday Oct 8 for the season. Weather permitting. If you purchased a flower card this year you still have another year left. If you purchased your card last year and you have credit left, you have 4 weeks remaining to use it up. Just saying in case you have forgotten.

Until next week. Allie

Do I sound like I am wishing my flowers away? No siree. I am just letting you know that there are only five more weeks of flowers. Could be less, but that is weather dependent, and who knows what the weather is going to be. Two tropical storms in as many weeks, the flowers are, well, damp. The good news is at least I don’t have to water as often.

The last storm took down the cosmos, they are all looking so they are going to get the hedge shear treatment this coming week. Everything else is looking good. The twenty foot tall broom is blooming, or doing what ever it does. It is hard to see that far up although I could get out the binoculars for a close up, I will take a photo for you so we all know what they are doing. I don’t have some shorter ones, but these are so interesting. And you should see them sway in the wind. It is almost poetic, their movement so graceful. Hopefully the wind will be kind for a few more weeks so things just don’t get bowled over.

The dahlias are coming into their own as are the glads. The peacock orchids are setting flower buds and I can hardly wait until they start to flowers. Their perfume is just intoxicating. So I googled the name, and it is a Gladioli species. It is far more beautiful and sensuous than the regular gladioli It reminds me of the tropical flowers that I used to grow in Australia oh so many years ago.

Last year I grew the most interesting pumpkins and gourds that kept us all entertained with the colors and the diversity. Despite having planted about fifty plants out this summer they are, sad to say, a bust. The best ones were growing in the goat paddock, and I didn’t even know how many there were until… we got home last Sunday and not only had they trampled all of the vines, but the also ate all the pumpkins that had self sown, and beautifully at that from last year. So. If you were planning to get some really cool pumpkins again this year, it unfortunately isn’t going to happen. I am so sorry, I was hoping for some myself. Not only did I not get really cool pumpkins and gourds for you, but I have no winter squash in the garden for me. No butternut, no acorn, no nutt’n. Argh.

I just want to say that, if I haven’t told you when I see you, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support and love of my flowers. This is a dream that is coming to fruition from thirty years ago. I have the notebook from my years living in Australia spelling it all out. It is one of those OMG moments. Seeing what I wrote all those years ago, doing this now, and THEN finding the notebook. Way too ‘do do do do’ ( you have to hum that part). I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.

Until next week. Allie

So here we are, the last Sunday of August, and by my calculations, weather permitting, we have six more weeks of flower shed days. OMG, where has the flower time gone? It seems as though I was only just stating with tulips back in May but here we are, or here I am counting down the number of weeks left. That is good because I am about ready for a break, and that is bad because I just love my flowers and seeing you all.

But just because there is just six more weeks left, there is no need for panic. Your flower cards are good for two years. If you bought a flower card this year you are golden, if your card is from last year, 2020 and you have a balance left, you might just want to stop in and get some flowers because time is fleeting.

On to the exciting flowers though. There are still a lot of exciting and beautiful flowers to be had. The zinnias, annual asters, sunflowers, rudbeckia are all still going strong. They are growing faster and flowering faster than I can almost keep up with.

The glads and the beautiful fragrant peacock lily are trickling in as well. The perennial asters and soon the hardy chrysanthemums will be coming into flower, as well as the perennial grasses to fill out your flower selections.

I am starting the seeding of the spring hardy annuals this coming week, I have ordered 500 ranunculas, 100 anemones and 50 freesias to add to my early spring offerings, so fingers crossed, there will be plenty of flowers from mid April until mid October next year. I have been fretting about the tulips that will be arriving mid December that will need growing on so they will be available to you by early March. Our builder swears the garage will be finished by then which includes the bulb cooler and flower cooler. I am not as confident, but have come up with a solution, I hope. We will just build the bulb cooler in the corner of the finished basement and wing it with a hope and a prayer, and a good extension cord. Or a lot of prayers. Argh. Friggin’ building inspector.

Enough of that worry. I thought I would add a photo that Steve took on Friday of the “Flowers at Lottarock” so we could all see just how cool it all looks. I have to say, I am pretty damn proud of it. I only wish I was younger so I could really see my dreams from 30 years ago through, but hey, I think I am doing pretty stinking good, and I am my own worst critic.

I hope to see you all soon. I can not tell you how much I appreciate all you support and all your good vibes. Makes all those not so good gardening days worthwhile.

Till next time, Allie

Here I am on the screen porch writing this, hoping for the best outcome with tropical storm Henri. I am not worried about the structures, but I am worried about the strength of the stems with the wind if the wind speeds pick up to what they are supposed to do, 40mph+. So far, knock on wood, this isn’t any worse than many of the storms we have had this summer, but it is early yet, and the flowers are larger and the sunflowers will not like the heavy winds at all. All I can do is wait out the storm and see what happens. I have harvested all I can at the moment.

So besides Henri, you might ask what else is happen at the farm? I am harvesting flowers like a mad woman. The asters are blooming like crazy, singles, doubles, spiders, whites, purples, pinks oh my!

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The asters are only a smattering of the flower sheds offerings here at Lottarock. I have sunflowers, rudbeckia, zinnias, celosia, cosmos, monarda and so much more. Just look at what is in the cooler at the moment waiting for you all to stop by and get flowers.

I have ordered and received seeds for fall planting which I need to start now. ASAP if I hope to get them established enough and in the ground before I lose my overwintering planting window. Never enough time. I am trying to find flowers that will bridge the gap from tulips to peonies and then the next gap from peonies to the summer annuals. It is said that it can be done with the facilities I have, so what really do I have to lose right? I just need to get the lead out and do it.

At the moment I have two concrete walls for by bulb/flower cooler. I told Paul, our builder, I must have two more walls, a ceiling, a door and electricity by Thanksgiving or I am going to be on the hunt to find homes for 60 full bulb crates. He tells me “no problem Allie”. We will see Paul, we will see.

I leave you with photos of the flower garden, taken in the rain mind you, of what they looked like at the beginning of tropical storm Henri. Hopefully at the end, they will be looking the same.

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Until next time my flower friends. Allie

What an August this is turning our to be. Wow. Flowers are coming out of my ears! In other words, the flowers are producing like crazy. Almost all of what I have planted are blooming now, and I am just gob smacked by their beauty. Lisianthus, snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias, monarda, asters, rudbeckia and sunflowers…OMG. Did I add that the dahlias are starting as well? Almost too much for the senses to take in, trippin colors man. Oh to be a flower farmer with lots of flowers and flower people that just love flowers.

All you wonderful flower people that come to get flowers on Fridays know that as soon as the flower shed closes, well not as soon as I would like because there is still lots of work to do, but as soon as I can I hop in the car with my “go cup” of flowers to go to the lake for the weekend to decompress. To my bliss. So every Friday, my flowers and I go on a trip to the lake. And here we are Sunday, with Friday’s flowers at the lake.

Flowers just don’t have to stay home with you, they can travel with you as well. It is embarrassing to say but we were at a wedding two weeks back and yes, I took flowers with me to grace our room for the weekend. In a “to go cup”. Isn’t that the reason that DD and McDonalds make go cups to transport flowers to where you need to be? Works for me. and if you don’t know, I have a collection of “go cups” on hand to get your flowers from point A to wherever point B might be.

To all my flower people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support and for your love of flowers.

Here it is August. The rain seems to eased for a few days and the sunshine is making headway and the flowers are going gang busters because they have had more than adequate water and now sunshine. Buckets and buckets are being harvested every other day.

The sunflowers are starting in, and I have planted a really cool variety or two, They certainly aren’t your usual sunflower but they are interesting, and I will certainly grow variety if nothing else.

The other flowers that are starting to come in are the asters. So far the purples and pink singles, but others will soon start coming in in force. I should also start having a few dahlias rocking in soon. On Friday I had some that were just starting to show color. I can hardly wait to have some of their beautiful blooms to offer.

Despite the days getting shorter, the flower availability is still going strong. So strong in fact that Summerhill was gifted two buckets of flowers for the residents to make their own bouquets. Flowers make smiles and heaven knows that assisted living and long term care residents can use smiles.

As usual, I look forward to seeing many of you this week, and to you flower lovers that I don’t get to see, I miss you.

Till next week. Allie

Here we are. August. What happened to May, June and July? May and June were dry, dry, dry, and July was the wettest on record, and tonight, being the First of August, I will have to irrigate for the first time in a month. Even though showers and flash flooding are in the forecast, the plants are looking dry, so I will turn on the irrigation if only for half of the normal time.

The gardens are just growing by leaps and bounds. The zinnias are going full tilt, the cosmos are not far behind, the lisianthus are still coming in strong and I have the most unusual collection of fillers. I am loving the grasses because the add movement to the flowers and like a garden, a bouquet should have ‘movement’ in my humble opinion. I am growing at least three different types of annual grasses, brizia, green drops and feather top which is just starting to set seed heads, Then I have bubble grass, or bubble something that is a linum, but the flowers seed pods become like little bubbles. I have to read up on it to see when it should be harvested, but it looks as though it will be really cool as well.

The first batch of sunflowers are stating to be harvested, they are way cool as well and will add lots of interest to your vase, and mix them with some rudbeckia and grasses and viola’ a summer bouquet.

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I am off to see if the irrigation is working, so until next week, Allie

What a week it has been. Rain and more rain, but as I write this, the sun is shining and the flowers and I are enjoying every minute of it. While my shoes are having a difficult time drying out this year I haven’t had to water the flower gardens for weeks now, which is a huge time saver. That and I dare not put the irrigation line back across the driveway for fear of a big truck running over it, so there is a silver lining to all the rain.

Speaking of big trucks, for all of you who are navigating our driveway and mud at this moment I thank you for your patience. Now that the garage foundation is in I am hoping that in the next few weeks everything will be regraded, including the driveway parking area and the driveway to the barn. It’s a good thing we don’t have to get hay in ’cause it wouldn’t be happening.

What is happening is that the flowers are going gang busters. Just about everything is in flower or is pretty darn close. The first sowing of sunflowers way back when are getting some big buds as are the asters. Every week is a new week in the floral department.

I read in the July NOFA newsletter that July 30 is International Friendship Day, My thinking is….On Friday, flower day, get a regular bouquet, and then a small bunch, on us at Lottarock, to give to someone who is having a rough time, just moved into the area and is looking for a reach out, maybe a bunch to the local shelter or to just anyplace or person who could use a cheer up, and what better way than through local flowers. Stay tuned to the Friday newsletter that hopefully will be out on Thursday that will give more details.

I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful sunny forecast, I know I am, and I hope to see many of you this week for some beautiful flowers.

Until next week. Allie

Here we are, July 18 and we have had 12.4 inches of rain. It was only last month I was bemoaning the lack of rain and my worries about not having enough water. Well, that thought has gone out the window. The tanks are overflowing, the rivers are overflowing and I feel as though I am going to grow webbed toes if all of this rain keeps up. So far the flowers aren’t complaining too much, I am losing some lisianthus that are too close to the rain tanks overflow and the slugs are becoming abundant for the first time ever, but this too shall pass. Soon, I hope. A few days of sunshine would be greatly appreciated by this flower farmer.

Despite the rain, the flower shed offerings are becoming greater. I have buckets and buckets of assorted flowers and still more that are on deck. The Zinnias are coming in strong, the cosmos are trying to, they are just waiting for a few days of sunshine for those fat buds to pop. The lisianthus are stunning as always, the snapdragons are looking snappy, the grasses add graceful movement to any bouquet that is created. A new flower filler that I am growing this year is the Monarda Lambada and I have to say that I really like it as a flower and a filler in an arrangement.

There are lots of interesting flowers still waiting on the wings. Sunflowers (I would love to see their sunny faces now with all this wet and grey weather), asters, celosia, and keep your fingers crossed that the wet doesn’t affect them, the lovely dahlias. I can hardly wait to see the dahlias, they are so beautiful….

So I leave you with a photo of last Fridays flower shed in all its floral bounty.

Until next week, stay dry and let the sun shine on us.