Author: Allie

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?

Can You Believe July is Tuesday?

Tuesday is the first of July, and I will have had flowers available for 6 months now. That to me just seems unbelievable, and the different flowers still just keep coming, which is very exciting and makes me happy.

So you ask what is coming, or let me start with what has just leaving. The campanula is just about all harvested but residing in the cooler, I have harvested armloads of godetia, the fillers are doing their job, on deck are the hot pokers and eremerus which will make some really cool arrangements. The lavender needs shearing and just so much more. The flower buckets are overflowing.

The zinnias are struggling, but the rest of the summer annuals are pretty close to being available. So please remind me when you get flowers to get your flower food because it is dirty flower season. In case you don’t remember, the dirty flowers are the zinnias, rudbeckias, and any other flower that has hairy stems, as well as non hairy. The water needs to be changed more often because it gets skanky. If you don’t get flower food or it runs out, just add a couple of drops of bleach to the flower water. This kills the bacteria that makes everything go yuck. Also make sure your vases are clean. If you don’t want to drink the water, your flowers won’t want to drink the water.

In the gardens the dahlias have had their pinch and will soon be ready to be corralled. the chrysanthemums have been planted and have had their last pinch. The pinching makes them branch out so I have more stems per plant to harvest. The perennials and biennials need to be started before the middle of the month so they will be strong for next year. The sweet peas that I didn’t plant are getting flower buds, (I planted them for me and a few special flower people). I am also thinking of what is getting the chopping block for next year and what I will be adding. If you have suggestions, let me know.

So I will leave you with two floral commissions I had last week. One I posted on instagram, the other I didn’t but I thought I would share them. I had so much fun creating them. I hope you enjoy.

Before I forget, the flower shed will be open as usual on Tuesday July 1 2-5:00 and will be open on Thursday July 3 from 9-12 if you need flowers, but closed on Friday July 4. The following week I will be open Tuesday July 8 from 2-5 and Thursday July 10 from 9-12. After that the flower shed hours will be back to normal. I will remind you of the changes next week as well, and it will be in the newsletter.

Phew. A lot to remember.

So I am turning this over to Steve.

Have a great week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Welcome Summer!

Welcome summer, the season that brings on the summer flowers, the flowers that like it hot. This week they should jump in growth because it is going to be hot. It will be challenging to keep the water up to the flowers as well as the flower farmer. Harvesting will begin at 5:00 in the morning, while it’s “cool” while the irrigation is running. I will be done with the garden day by noon fingers crossed.

The tunnel is bursting with flowers, holy moly do I have to harvest tomorrow morning. The agrostema, ranunculus, anemones, a new crop I am trialing, saponaria, the godetia is amazing…then add in the self sowers like the feverfew and wow!

Out in the field the yarrow, foxglove, orlaya, feverfew, bulplurum and asrtrantia are all blooming and the campanula is just starting. In case you are wondering, yes, I have flowers.

One of the things I love most about growing flowers is the waves of succession of different flowers available. Almost every fortnight there is something leaving the floral line up as something new comes in. I like the diversity.

Everything at this point is in the ground. Well, I have one for flat of chrysanthemums to be planted yet. I was planning to get them into the tunnel for season extension but there just isn’t enough room so they are going to go into the garden tomorrow. Bummer. Oh well. I will make it work (fingers crossed).

With such a wide selection of flowers available I am having fun making arrangements.

This is a just because I can, the peony in the front is Callies Memory, this is the first year for the peony, but next year I hope to have a handful of blooms available.

Still having fun, we have last weeks #windowframethursday.

Like I said, having fun.

Lastly, a bouquet for Miss Natalie for graduation from Peterborough Middle School. Next year, ConVal.

I will pass you off to Steve now while I get another glass of water.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Mid June and Flowers are Blooming

Well we have made it to the middle of June. The days are long, the mosquitos are biting like crazy and the flowers are rolling in. The peonies are blooming their heads off and can’t be more beautiful. The perennials are also coming into full blooms and it is just dang beautiful here at the farm.

The new peonies that I planted last March? are giving me a bloom each which is great so I have an idea of what the look like and let me just say that they are stunning. Next year there will be a few stems of each to offer which will increase the number of varieties. But first, look at these stunners that are on offer right now

The cool thing is that I still have varieties that I haven’t even harvested yet which is very exciting.

The early perennials are coming in quite nicely, the foxglove, yarrow, salvia, astrantia and the early blooming phlox are coming in so as we go into summer the easier the flower arranging becomes because the selection just keeps increasing.

These are two new varieties that will be offered next year…

The ranunculus are still going strong, far better than I expected, as are the anemones. The cool annuals are looking great in the tunnel and will also soon be joining the floral excitement.

I am going to try for the third and final time to plant the zinnia seedlings again. Damn slugs. These I have let get bigger and hopefully stronger so they won’t succumb so rapidly. It is just so frustrating so I will keep my fingers crossed and the DE handy.

It looks as though about 90% of the dahlias have emerged so I have added the middle stakes and ordered more twine to start corralling them probably by the end of the month. To be honest, I am pretty happy with how things are doing and looking so far this season. It certainly hasn’t been consistent in the weather department but looking good I think.

I will leave you with last week’s #windowframethursday. I think it is over the top beautiful.

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

What a Busy Week it Was

The flower farm was a flurry of action this last week. All of the summer annuals are in the ground and the holes of the seedlings that didn’t make it have been filled. I got them all in by the time the weekend rain arrived, and they look good. Fingers Crossed. I also got the Acidanthera planted even with the majority of the corms rotted. I planted the best and am keeping my fingers crossed on that as well. I did order 40 corms last Monday and they should be at the post office tomorrow so I can get them into the ground ASAP. I just love this flower because of its blooming time and also its perfume is just lovely.

The dahlias are emerging from the soil which makes me happy. Soon I will have to get them staked and rounded up. It is amazing how fast they grow once they emerge from the soil.

I have been busy harvesting peonies this past week as well. I would say I am about a third through the harvest already, All of the Red Charm have been harvested and sold. I know, who would have thought that 50 stems would be gone in a week. Certainly not me.

Nothing makes this flower farmer happier than harvesting her blooms, and then selling them.

I do have some stunning varieties that are coming of age to harvest. Etched Salmon is my new favorite, (in the photo on the right, the Etched Salmon is on the left side, behind the Edens Perfume) and I only have two plants, hmmm, might have to order some more of those and take out the boring single whites. I know, I know, I’m not ordering any more plants, especially ones that I can’t harvest from for three years. They are kinda like asparagus, have to let the roots really develop before harvest can begin. I do have some plants that I could let go of…better flag them now so I will know….

The ranunculus are finally ready to be harvested. They certainly took their sweet time but they are here at last, for a short time. They don’t like the heat…and we are going into the heat season. Next year I will be more organized.

On the bird front, the robins in the tool shed fledged. They fell out of the nest just as I was going into the shed. We were all startled. The parents were beyond upset. I open the doors, took Sadie into the house, she doesn’t have a good track record with baby birds… and they hopped out of the shed on their own. The Carolina Wren chicks are still in their nest in the flower pot on the front porch and I expect them to fledge any day now. Someone else started to build a nest on the window gears in the greenhouse. I removed it. I love my birds but where they want to nest isn’t always the best spot for our life here on the farm.

That is all of my exciting flower news for this week I think. I will pass you off to Steve and I will be back next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?