It is almost the middle of August, and the flowers, despite all the wild and crazy weather we have been having this summer are hitting their stride. The Japanese beetles are having orgies, they seem to pick one plant of each kind and OMG, the piles of beetles piling up on each other is just well, disgusting. So I am grateful that they are just at one plant and not at every plant. I squish as many as I can even when my hands are busy harvesting flowers but they are so thin it is hard to get them all. Tonight I had 20 of them on one Peaches ‘n cream dahlia, but nowhere else in the dahlia patch. Should have taken a believe it or not photo for you to see. Next week.
I decided on my drive back from the lake this afternoon that I am going to invest in a two valve programable timer for the second flower garden, yes, there are two…and the big garden because then they can be programed to come on when we are away and since next year I will be officially retired from gardening for others I can come back to the farm on Monday mornings instead of Sundays. I know, that is a run on sentence for sure. Not very smart of me to think of this when I was redoing the second garden but too late now. I will figure something out before next spring.
Flowers are getting harvested and hung up to dry in the shed. The beginning of the season or really until the last few weeks it has been terrible to dry because of the rain and humidity, but now the flowers are drying so they will be put in the storage bins until I need them in the winter for wreaths and package toppers. Package toppers you say? Yes, we went to a one year birthday party on Saturday, and the gift was wrapped in a paper bag, and topped with this.
In the winter, gifts that are given are wrapped in recycled paper bags, and topped with a little dried flower posy. The posy can be put in a vase for the winter and the wrapping composted, and when the flowers wilt in the summer from the humidity , they too can be safely composted.
Other farm news? The pumpkins are growing, the cup and saucer vine are starting to set flower buds, Yay! Love this vine. The cover crops are not germinating because it decided to stop raining although I would think the morning dew would be strong enough. It certainly gets my feet soaking wet.
In closing, have I told you how much I love flowers? Enjoy this beautiful August weather, flowers are abundant, flower farmers are tired and flowers are lively. Hope to see you soon at the Rock. Allie