Author: Allie

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.

Despite the week of torrential rain, and mostly gloomy weather the flowers here at Lottarock are really starting to come into bloom. I have buckets of flowers waiting for your selection!

Since the first of July we have recorded over 7 inches of rain. Unheard of for this time of year. Not that I am complaining much, the rain barrels are overflowing which is fabulous, but I would like a day or two of decent sunshine to dry things out a bit and for all those buds to break open. Have you ever met a farmer that is completely happy with the weather gods? We strive for perfection.

The most exciting news on the flower front here at Lottarock is that the Lissies (Lisianthus is their real name but we call the lissies here) are starting to bloom. Yeah! These are magnificent flowers in both bud and bloom and there are lots of shades to choose from.

The other cool flower starting to bloom is the Crocosmia. I love what these flowers add to a bouquet in both color and their form and look great with the rudbeckia, sunflowers, grasses and goldenrod.

It is sad to say that I am stopping the harvest of the beautiful Icelandic poppies. I am letting the remaining go to seed to collect so I can plant many more for us all next spring. But there are so many more flowers to choose from I hope that they won’t be missed.

That seems to be the most exciting news at Lottarock this week, there are lots of really cool flowers to choose from if you are building your bouquet. Some are perennials so their time is fleeting, but that is OK because the annuals are really starting to come into their own. Every week or two is different in the selection of flowers that make it all the more interesting as a flower grower and as flower lovers.

So I leave you with two photos of Shirley poppies that are growing in the beds. They are stunning flowers as you can see but for the life of me I can’t get them to last more than a day or two in a bouquet no matter how I condition them, so I am leaving them in the garden because they are a honey bee magnet and I just love looking at them.

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Until next week. Allie

Happy 4th everyone. Hard to believe that it is already July and the summer is quickly zipping by, although the weather isn’t feeling like July, more like April. One week we are sweltering, the next shivering. God know what the plants are thinking about these temperature fluctuations. Hot, cold, hot, cold so on and so forth. At least we have finally gotten some well needed rain. 3.8 inches! We’re still in moderate drought but improving.

The flower garden is really starting to fill in. The bachelor buttons are going gang busters as is the feverfew and the Icelandic poppies. One of my new favorite flowers to grow. They are amazing. I keep thinking that with each heat wave they are going to peter out but they are still going strong. I do believe the poppies will tide me over until the cosmos and the zinnias really kick in which should be by next week. I am getting a flower here and there so they are close to harvesting. Oh so close. The other flowers are closing in fast on their heals so by Mid July there will be buckets more of flowers to chose from.

I am starting to pull together the seed list for the perennials, bi-annuals and the plants that I am going to experiment to winter over this winter to get flowers to everyone earlier next spring. Lots of planning on where everything will go, as well as other little details but winter is a great time to play with different growing techniques.

As usual, I look forward to seeing you all at the flower shed on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings. I leave you with a photo of last Friday’s flower shed door bouquet. Soft and delicate.

Until next time. Allie

It is hard to believe that this is the last Sunday of June. Summer is just zipping by, but the flowers are really starting to fill in and every week there are more offerings to be had. The bachelor buttons are a sea of flowers, and that blue added to a bouquet really makes the bouquet pop.

You might be asking, “But what is new?” Well, the calendulas and rudbeckia are starting to bloom, the grasses are really starting to look interesting, soon we will be having lots of cosmos and zinnias as well. I am hoping that by the middle of July I will be harvesting from everything that has been planted. Well, not everything, because I have some late summer flowers that need to wait their turn.

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Not that I want to jump ahead in the seasons, but I have just placed the remaining tulip order for the spring of 2022. Yikes! The plan is to have 6500 tulips available starting the middle of February on until the natural season ends sometime in May, depending on the weather. I have ordered some stunners so that is something to look forward to next spring. In flower farming, planning for the next season really starts six to 12 months out. Crazy I know, but it takes that long to get crops started and grown to be available in time.

I got the pumpkins and gourds finally planted in the ground last Friday and they made it through the weekend.They are outside the fencing so I am hoping that the local critters will leave them alone.

Speaking of local critters, I have a snake living or hunting under the weed mat in the garden. It startled me when it came out but it had a rodent in his belly so I told it that it could stay and eat to it’s heart’s delight, just give me warning when it appears so I don’t get startled. It needs to live in the lisianthus right now because someone is eating the roots off the very expensive seedlings and killing them. Grrrr. (I refer to it as an it because I don’t know its sex).

I leave you a picture of Orlaya, a new plant for me to grow but I think a keeper. Let me know what you think.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the flower shed, and wish my international friends could visit for a flower fix. Until next time. Allie

Today is the first day of summer, the longest day of the year. That is good because it gives me more daylight hours to get everything done, but soon I will lose all this glorious daylight and you know what, that will be good as well. Cheers to summer and all the beautiful flowers it will bring.

We are entering the quiet time in flowers again. Don’t panic, I still have flowers, it is just that there is a slow down between the peonies and when the annuals really start in. I do have peonies that my flower fairies cut when I was away and put in storage for me, I have six stems of stink’n awesome foxtail lilies. Just six stems, well, maybe seven, but not many so I wouldn’t pass these by believe you me. They are tall, elegant and well, you judge for yourselves.

The bellflowers are still going strong, snapdragons, stock, orlaya are all coming in, as well as other flowers from the garden. Some mighty fine arrangements can be made with the flowers that are available.

The Icelandic poppies are still going strong, their flowers are paper thin, translucent almost, on these thin wiry stems but they hold up so well.

I am back to the annual question. I ask you, How many tulips is too many? I seem to have a problem narrowing down the number of tulips that I want to grow for you all next year. Hmmm, what is a flower grower to do?

Until next time. Allie

I say that because, honestly if I don’t know what season it is these days, how on earth do my flowers? Tropical days, quickly followed by cold nights and days, quickly followed by more topical days, and now quite pleasant.

The peonies have not liked the sudden temperature spike, anymore than I did, but I had a very faithful core of friends who kept the plants and seedlings well watered and were harvesting flowers that were trying to explode from the heat every few hours, putting them in water and cooling them down while I was away at a very important memorial service. My thanks goes out to everyone who pitched in to keep my flowers going and helping to keep me sane. Actually I don’t know what task has been more difficult this spring.

I know you are all hanging off the edge of your seat to know what is happening here at the farm. The second batch of sunflowers have been planted with one more seeding to go. The next batch of glads get planted this week. I still have peonies and the Icelandic poppies are just stunning. I have called it quits on the ranunculus and anemones for the year. They were lovely but they don’t like the heat and I need to make room for a new growing structure. The perennials are holding down the fort while the annuals are getting established. One can only plan so much, then mother nature does what she wants.

I am slowly pulling together the tulip order for next spring so if there was a tulip from this year that really pulled at your heartstrings, better let me know.

I leave you with an image of last weeks flower offerings. Every week is new and different, but always something to look forward to. Until next week. Allie

After a short break of not having three open flower shed days, we are back on line with lots of beautiful flowers. This heat of the last few days is really bringing on the flowers, I have lots of Icelandic poppies that are the most intense colors, then iris, foxglove, Canterberry bells, oh! did I mention peonies? They are starting to come in strong. There will be some really different flowers to make some really interesting bouquets.

Just about everything is planted in the garden. The first batch of glads are in, all the dahlias, the first succession of sunflowers, with one lot on deck, and another yet to get seeded. The garden is quickly filling up and is looking good. I have hooked up the irrigation finally and have had a run through and it all seems to be working, for the moment anyway.

I leave you with tempting shots of some beautiful peonies. I least I think they are beautiful.