Author: Allie

Welcome September

What an exciting week we had this last week! Some beautiful with bucketfuls of flowers, which is always exciting, and some a little nerve wracking. Those of you who came to the flower shed on Friday noticed the boards across the driveway. Yes, more driveway woes. We had a sinkhole. A mere 18 inches across and only 18-24 inches deep and only three feet wide. Yup, let it happen on a flower day.

It is patched for the moment, until we get the prices on repair or replace. It’s safe to drive on and far more quiet than the thump thump of the boards and plywood covering the hole.

The dahlias have finally hit their stride. It took some time this year because of all the crazy weather, the hot, the dry, the cool, the dry, the whatever, but there will be loads to choose from for the next few weeks, and there are some stunners. I mean, look at this bee just nestled in the bosom of the Cafe au Lait.

Speaking of bees, the garden is just humming with life. If fact I have to be careful harvesting in the morning because the flowers have sleepy and cold bees on them and I have had them hitch rides on the flowers and on my clothes out in the garden. And the flower shed is also humming with big bumblebees on flower days. The garden is full of happy critters. I think even whatever is in the garden nibbling the clover and queens Annes lace is happy. Charlie, my brother, has spotted a rabbit, and where you have one, you have more. Joy.

The most Joyful though is we have had rain. Here at the farm we have had a whopping .7 inches. Not a lot by any stretch, but you know the plants are loving it. They are all standing tall now versus sagging to the ground. The big water tank is back up to 400 gallons! and believe me, that is joyful.

Have you ever wondered what 250 hydrangea stems look like after they have been harvested? Let me show you.

I think this is my largest hydrangea harvest to date. Last year was 175 stems, might have been 150…Anyway, it is a good thing I planted another 15 bushes this spring, because I am going to need them in the future. Fingers crossed as always.

The chrysanthemums are looking good, and my goal this week is to get the frost/cold protection built for when that time comes, and it will, although hopefully not until the end of October, please.

I had no #intentionaltuesday last week, but… I do have a #windowframethursday for you all to enjoy.

Well I have to go harvest more flowers for a special order to be picked up tomorrow, so I will hand you off to Steve. It is always interesting to read what the man has to say. So until next week.

Allie, I dream of flowers, do you?

Last Day of August, Welcome September

Well another gardening month done. Probably two months to go. Don’t get me wrong, I love flower farming and all my flower lovers, but it has been a bit of a challenging year this year. first with the nonstop rain and the prolonged cold, then the extreme heat, and now the wicked dryness. I have less than 400 gallons of water left in my big tank with no rain in sight. A plus is that the days are shorter, it that a plus? Yup. Less sun on the plants and betters hours for the flower farmer.

But have no fear, the well isn’t dry yet, although I will probably be pulling water from it next week to water the further reaches of the flower farm. Despite the dry, the flowers are still going like crazy and there are plenty of them for all to enjoy. The first of the chrysanthemums are showing nice color, others are showing nice buds. I need to get those beds ready for frost soon. Who knows what the weather has in store for us these days. Back in high school we always had a killing freeze before we went back to school. Now, not until mid October, but who knows. It is better to be prepared than get caught with our pants down, or however that saying goes.

Speaking of chrysanthemums….I have ordered next year’s plugs. Four new varieties plus the ones that you will be enjoying this year when the time comes. I am excited to offer flowers later in the season. I know, silly me. Retirement looks a bit farther down the road…Sorry darling.

The tulips will be rocking in in about six weeks, more or less with a lovely tarrif attached to them. Gulp. Some flower farmers are trying to cancel their orders, some are trying to figure out how to deal with the added price. Me? I am just hoping for the best and I can sell them and cover my costs. I will cross that bridge when I get to it. At least I’m not buying 600,000 bulbs like the larger growers, but still, the tarrif will have to be paid.

On to happier news. I have been enjoying doing my #intentionaltuesdayflowers even though I haven’t been posting them. You get to enjoy them but not instagram yet. I just can’t seem to get around to posting them. Anyway, here is last week’s non posting.

The nice thing about the #intentionaltuesdays is that I do it in the flower shed between flower people and I use the flowers left over from the previous Friday, this way you all get the best flowers, I get to have fun and there is no waste to speak of.

So now we have the #windowframethursday, which I do post on instagram?

Well I think that is enough rambling for today. but before I go I have to show you this tee shirt Steve got for me….

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

Cooler Weather, Yay!

Last week was a beautiful reprieve from the hot weather. I am sure it will be back soon but the forecast for this week is also going to be cool and I will take it for sure. When the days were so hot this summer it was hard to be in the garden past noon, but now with the cooler weather I am playing catch up with everything that had been put on hold.

So off the list is getting the tunnel cleaned out. When it had been so hot I didn’t even want to go in there because the temperature would have been close to double what it was outside. Not good. On Tuesday because it was cool and drizzly I spent the morning pulling weeds, which there were plenty of, and lifting out the ranunculus corms. The flowers that still looked good I have kept, but everything else is gone. Two tractor bucket loads of crap.

The rest of the week was spent weeding the poor willows and watering them. They look so stressed, but I will give them another deep drink this week and finally get some mulch on them which will really help. I also got that garden mowed so you can even see that there are plants in there. After that I watered the twiggery deeply and finished that weeding, then watered the the external gardens. It is so dry I feel as though I have done nothing but water. If we don’t get rain soon it will be really bad because I only have 650 gallons of water left in my big rain tank. That will only be another 3 big waterings. An inch of rain will go a long ways to filling the rain tank.

I did get some cover crop seed down on Tuesday in the drizzle, only wet enough to get my shoes soaking wet, not enough to get the soil damp, so I am now hand watering the seed so it will germinate. Argh.

Despite the dryness, the flowers are going gangbusters. I am harvesting lots and still have plenty, the insect life is amazing. The garden just hums with happy insects and birds.

I had a disaster Friday, to me anyway. I was liquid feeding the dahlias when my very tangled hose was NOT cooperating, and rather than putting the hose down, walking up the path to get it around the corner I yanked hard, and got the hose to where I wanted it, but…in the process I broke the corner stake and crushed three dahlia plants. I was soooo cranky with myself not to take the time. But, after I finished up, I disconnected everything and took the hose out of the garden and completely straightened it out in the sun and had it relax, then I nicely rolled it back up. A lesson learned? I would like to think so.

So I leave you with last week’s #windowframethursday. Another fun one to make and hopefully for you to enjoy.

It will be another week watering, mulching and harvesting flowers, so until next week, Allie, I dream of flowers…

Week 34 in the Farm Calendar

Here we are at week 34, two thirds of the way through the calendar year, and probably the same for the gardening year. I would say that I have a third or less of the growing season left. Yikes! The weeks move on and the flower varieties continuously change. The snapdragons are done, the annual asters are full bore for this week and maybe next and then they will be gone. Ever changing and that makes it exciting.

The dahlias are really starting to come into their own. More and more varieties are coming in and the number of stems is also increasing. They make such a wonderful focal statement in arrangements, but also act as a great bridge blending colors together. I just love dahlias. More than tulips you might ask? The tulips offer the same colors and floral interest in the spring that the dahlias do in the late summer. I love them both, and they are both hard work and expensive to grow, but in my eyes, so worth it.

Not much new is happening on the farm. I am just trying to keep up with the watering. The cutting gardens are watered on the well, everything else is being hand watered heavily once a week until we start getting some good rain. I still have half a tank of water, but some rain to top that off would be greatly appreciated. Actually as I am writing this we are in New London at the lake having a nice downpour. Enough to make puddles and if this rain gets to Hancock, fingers crossed it would put another weeks worth of watering in the tank.

I have been very good about doing my #intentionalflowerstuesday but not so good about posting them on instagram yet. So here is last week’s non posting. There are two sets here. Same arrangement, two different backgrounds. This whole process is so interesting, one, being intentional with what I am doing, then photographing them…

So these are against the dark wood of the cave… the next are in the cave against a white wall, same arrangement.

Not much of a noticeable difference. Much

So my last is last week’s #windowframethursday. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do creating them…

I am going to pass you off to Steve now. I will be back next week with more flowers and flower news. Hopefully we will get some rain. Until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers.

It’s Gonna be a Hot One

The forecast for this week looks like it is going to be a hot one. Joy. First up on deck will be harvesting before the sun hits the gardens and then filling up the mobile watering tank and water all the plants that are on the verges of the flower field. This will take a number of tankfulls I am sure because some flower farmer who will remain nameless has been pushing the planting boundries and those plants need water. It has been a very dry last few weeks so I need to get on it.

Also because of the heat on Tuesday the flower shed will be in my flower cave. I will remind everyone on the newsletter list on Monday night, but the flowers will appreciate not being in the hot shed.

I got an email from one of the larger importers of tulips, peony roots, and other essential spring plants from the Netherlands and to sum it up, they are anticipating a tarrif of15% on goods shipped over this fall. Up, that includes the tulip bulbs that I ordered back in March. There is nothing I can do, or they can do…everyone hopes that everyone involved will come to their senses. If not, the floral industry is going to take a really big hit. Globally, not just me. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that an agreement is reached before the tulip shipment.

My biggest accomplishment last week was getting the twiggery weeded. Steve mowed the paths for me which was a termendous help, then I just weeded and tidied. When you drive in now you can actually see the shrubs, and despite the weeds and lack of watering they are looking really good. Yay!

I am being really good about doing my Tuesdays intentional designs and photography. I am now going to post them and they will be under #intentionalflowertuesday. I will also show them here. Here is last week’s…

So I sent this photo off to a friend, and she commented back about the beautiful celosia. I replied that I had a bunch of different varieties this year and sent along photos of each variety. The comment back was about this orange one, which I think is Burnt Embers would be hard to work with.

I then paired it with three different dahlias, and see what it does.

I find the color play fascinating. What do you think?

So, here is the last floral of the evening. Last week’s #windowframethursday

I am going to pass you off to Steve now…so until next week, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

One last photo, taken at the fountain outside the kitchen window the other night.

Have I Ever Told You?

How much I love flowers? Just in case you didn’t know, I do. I really do, and I love my little flower farm.

I was listening to a year 4 flower farmer who is changing things up for their farm, no surprise, we all do that. It is part of the growth of flower farming. But something they said struck a sad chord for me. The said that you aren’t a flower farm unless you only grow 8 crops and grow them well. Everything else is just ‘gardening’. Well, I must differ with them, because it really depends on what one’s market is, and my market is selling the variety of flowers that I do to create arrangements and bouquets that are beautiful and unusual. More gardenesque than a bunch of sunflowers, zinnias and statice. I hope this is why you love my flowers as well. Oh well. Every business is different, but they should learn about not being so arrogant and negative about other small growers.

So since I do grow so much of everything damnit, I went and ordered more plants today. The autumn rains will hopefully be coming next month which is the perfect time for planting. Lots of good root growth with less top growth stress. I ordered more peonies, only 9, and I have just enough space for them as well as a couple of late spring perennials and summer perennials. This fall I have some jiggering of the garden to do, rearranging the existing plants, removing some plants that just are’t cutting it, as well as planting the new plants. That as well as the usual autumn stuff like cutting back and putting down leaf mulch and hopefully mulching the paths with wood chip. Oh, I also ordered more hyacinths for forcing and some dutch iris to try to go along with the tulips next year. It is going to be one crowded cooler this winter.

I have been busy working on my floral work, trying to be more intentional as you know, as well as working on photographing them. So I now have Tuesdays Intentionals, and Thursdays Windowframe. This will be an interesting exercise, but fun. Come join me in the ‘fun’.

Two days later…I have last weeks #windowframethursday. This one is totally different. They were made to go to the Waterhouse Restaurant, the little one goes along with it.

Like I said, very different. I grew a handful of lilies this year, not that I am a big lily fan because they need a big vase to look their best, but I has been fun working with them.

It will be a busy week on the farm this week, playing catch up from the last few weeks extreme heat. Mowing, watering the outlying areas and maybe even finally getting around to mulching the willowery.

Steve is back, we can all breath a big sigh.

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

I find it hard to believe that this is the last Sunday of July. It has certainly felt like July, but the last Sunday? Woah.

But here we are, and the summer flowers are finally starting to come into their own. A few weeks late, but better late than not at I all guess. The zinnias, well, they have finally started to bloom. I wouldn’t call them abundant by any stretch of the imagination, but they are starting. The dahlias are starting to bloom which is very exciting, and the acidanthera, which I thought was going to be a complete crop failure because i stored them incorrectly over the winter may not bloom for me, but damn, they’re alive.

I also have to show you the sweet peas that I’m not growing this year. If you love sweet peas, whisper into my ear and I will cut you some, but they aren’t for general sale. Only for sweet pea lovers. The perfume of a jarful of sweet pea blossoms makes up for their short vase life, but oh, it is so worth it.

I heard a beautiful quote the other day from an extraordinary farmer florist in Belgium. ” I plant, and grow flowers to inspire creativity”. I like to think that is what I do, or try to do. I plant flowers that not only bring happiness, but to create creativity. That is one of the reasons that I have starter bouquets, and then buckets of loose stems, to spark your creativity. It certainly sparks my creativity, and having an interesting selection of blooms and foliage in abundance certainly helps.

I am trying to create at least three times a week now, and photographing my work. This is the only way I will improve. That and I am having fun. The first image I did on Thursday so I posted it on instagram, but these are not by the window frame, I am practicing with backdrops.

Then I did this one…

Besides creating with flowers I have been working on my to do list…one patch of yarrow has been cut down, don’t worry, there is still a patch of first year plants, and finally the dahlias have their second corralling. It looks like that rope game that we used to do as kids, or a spiders web.

Well I was hoping Steve would be back from his trip from Australia, but not so lucky, so I have my cheat sheet so I can get this off. Next week he will be back. Phew.

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

It is so hard to believe that it is already July 20, and more than halfway through summer. Time is going too fast. When one looks at the week number, which is what flower farmers do for scheduling crops and placing plug orders we are at week 30. The tulips bulbs are scheduled to arrive week 41, not that far away in the grand scheme of things.

Another shift of the flowers is happening. The garden phlox is coming in, the second crop of yarrow is looking full and some of the later perennials are showing color. The rudbeckias are just going gang busters and the summer annuals are just taking their sweet time. The dahlias are looking good and some are showing flower buds which is nice. There is plenty of assortment of flowers to be had that is for sure.

I have had a decent response about the flower arranging class so mark your calendars. I am offering one on August 20 at 10:00, and if that goes well, one on September 17 at 10:00. The classes will be $75 and will include all your flowers and instruction. If you have a special vase you want to use, by all means bring it, otherwise I will have vases available. Registration will be necessary so I know how many flowers to harvest. Email me and either send a check or Venmo me (Flowers at Lottarock) or when you come to get flowers, bring the money then. The most I will be able to do will be five flower lovers. Maybe get a group together and have a fun floral morning.

It’s the dog days of summer so flowers are just getting staked, weeded, deadheaded and harvested. I do have a beautiful crop of sweet peas though, the flower that I’m not growing this year.

I will leave you with last weeks #windowframethursday.

I just finished a lecture on photographing my flowers so you will probably be getting more practice shots as the season continues.

A big rain storm is on the radar, so I am going to try to get this off. Steve is away again, so I have my notes on how to post this.

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

And Now Back to Our Regular Schedule

Thank you all for your patience for our last two flower shed Fridays. We are now back on schedule. Yay! We had a wonderful time at the wedding on the weekend, in fact, here is a photo you will likely never ever see again, Allie and Steve dressed up!

A great time was had by all and we are glad to be home for the drama that awaited us.

As you locals know, Hancock got hit with a rainstorm last night that dumped 4.1″ of rain at our house, to 6″ at the top of Prospect Hill. Route 123 is closed to all but local traffic, although no-one is paying attention to the signs. Big swaths of road were taken out as well as everything around our driveway.

DOT will be in the neighborhood for at least the next few days, I’ve got someone coming to look at the mess and hopefully make the drive safe soooo pay attention to the newsletter on Monday night. I will let you know if the flower shed will be open. The good news is that all the flowers are fine, just well watered.

I can’t leave you without any flower photos, I don’t have from last week, but I do have some from the wedding for you to enjoy.

The upside of this is I won’t have to water for a day or two, and the flowers are just fine.

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

I Think We Can Say…

Summer is officially here! Yes, the temperatures and humidity is up there, but the summer flowers are just about here. And yes, it is exciting. Summer annuals and summer perennials converging for summer beauty.

The heat has gotten to the cool flowers in the tunnel, I will harvest what looks good, but it is the official end of the anemone, ranunculus, godetia, so they will all get pulled in the cool of the morning while the flowers that will take the heat can stay for the moment. I have some really nice annual phlox, the pansies are still doing well, but I need to do some work on them and the celsoia that I am trialing in there is going gang busters.

In the big garden the zinnias still look like crap, but this week there will be lots of annual color like cosmos, ageratum, celosia, lots of filler, and the perennials are also looking good.

Many of the dahlias are big enough now that I can do the first row of tying in, or corralling which is always a job, but not as tedious as it could be. Then there is also the weeding, staking and deadheading that always need to get done, or started.

I have not one but two floral displays for you tonight. The #windowframethursday and a Happy fourth of July

As you can see, I do have fun with the flowers that are available.

Don’t forget that the flower shed will be closed on Friday, July 11, but we WILL be open on Thursday, July 10 from 9-2:00 instead. I will send out a reminder on Wednesday night in the newsletter. We are traveling to the Cape for a family wedding. After this we will be back to our regular schedule.

Off now for Steve and his…

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