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Here we are at nearly the middle of September, it still feels like summer some days but the nights are certainly cooling down and the days are certainly getting shorter. I know, I know, the daylight length is getting shorter, not the days. Details. I can tell that it is changing, I am starting to pull the flowers that are done, some are getting a trim in hope that I will have fresh flowers into mid October, some flowers like the dahlias are coming into their own and are looking bold and beautiful.

The mornings are damp, if not wet, with dew which makes flower harvesting challenging before I leave for my other jobs. I need to let them dry before they go into the cooler so they don’t rot and get moldy, and some mornings that can be very difficult. If it is cool I will harvest and leave them in their buckets to hydrate and then put them away when I get home. Some flowers and foliage don’t like being damp and chilly and they will start to pout, but the dahlias just keep on coming in strong.

What else is starting to come in are the chrysanthemums. This is an experiment for me. I am trying to grow some heirloom varieties this year, seeing if I can do it and give you flowers longer in the season, but honestly, I am getting “end of the season” flower burnout. I will see how they do, how much more work they will be and most of all how well they will be received by you my flower people and go from there.

It is good to see them showing color right now. Possibly flowers for Friday. We will see.

Last week’s 2″ of rain was a blessing. That and having fixed the filter on the irrigation system. The water actually flows now. Everything has been reboosted and is so much happier and that is what I want, happy flowers.

Buckets of flowers are still being harvested, I have plenty for you to choose from so you can create your own masterpiece, we can create a masterpiece together or you can just grab and go.

Steve is going to be away the next two weeks on an amazing photoshoot so your visits to the flower farm will be more welcome and necessary so I don’t go crazier? That also being said, he won’t be here to edit me or do the welcome as he has been doing. This will be interesting. I have to learn how to send these posts…

Until next week, (if everything works out on posting the blog). Flower on! Allie

Happy Labor Day weekend all. We all had a relaxing two days at the lake, and are now home, scurrying around checking the gardens, and I will harvesting shortly because they say…we are to get some rain, and not just .1″ or .2″ but it sounds like a two day soaker and I can not be more excited. I never believe what the meteorologist say but I am keeping my fingers crossed. The flowers will just love a beautiful soaking rain as much as I will. Much better than well water, this will give them a delicious wash and boost.

I must say that the flowers are doing quite well despite all the weather or non-weather they have had this year. From the extreme temperatures that really wilted the flower grower last Tuesday, to just the dryness of it all. The mulch certainly helps keeping the moisture in, the drip irrigation is getting the water to where we need it, to the roots, and it works even better now that we cleaned the filter and water is now flowing through the main line. It is amazing how much better the water flows when the filter has been cleaned. I only hope that it was dirty because we have never cleaned it, and not that we are pulling water from so deep we are pulling up silt to plug the filter. I will just think positive thoughts about my well.

I have gone and done it. I know that I shouldn’t have, but I have ordered eight more peony roots to grow on for cut flowers. They are stunners in my book. Technically I shouldn’t harvest their flowers for five years so the plant builds up mass and strength, but I will wait for two years because if I wait for five it would sorta be like why? I should be retiring in another few years. I am very excited about them, the space is being prepped now for their arrival in October, along with everything else that will be arriving in October. It is going to be a VERY busy month. Peony planting, but that is only eight, 5000 tulips, garden cut back, digging up dahlias and getting them ready for storage, taking up the beds and getting them ready for spring and so much more, and more. At least it keeps me out of mischief right?

As you can see, I still have plenty of flowers to chose from. Pick up a pre-made, create your own, or have me create a masterpiece? for you.

If there are flower stems that are too short to sell, or are slightly damaged, I put in the shed door hanging pot. It is really fun because they are all misfits and to try to make something from a bunch of misfits can sometimes be a challenge, but one that I enjoy. So here is Fridays door arrangement. Kinda fun I think. But, my feeling is, it is fun, it makes me happy, I am not entering a contest and it make ME happy.

I am going to go harvest, Steve will make me sound literate, and I will be back next Sunday. Flowers Rock!

Only three days left in the month of August. August, the hardest month of my flower growing year. Almost…over. I find August always hard. The light really starts to change, not that that is a bad thing because I think the colors of the flowers glow more because the sun is lower in the sky, and I am allowing myself to stay in bed till 5:30 which is a treat, but the insect pressure is greater, the dryness is particularly difficult, and my body is just plain weary. But then I get huge a huge uplift looking at the flowers that I am harvesting and your excitement over the flowers that I have, and that just makes it all so worthwhile.

Things are still busy here at the farm. Besides doing my daily rain dance, (to no avail) I am still busy watering, thank god for drip irrigation and lots of mulch; fertilizing weekly, weeding still and harvesting. Never a dull moment. The cover crop in the garden has been mowed

and it will die down during the winter adding biomass to the garden.

Like every fall, this is when I assess what will happen next year in the flower garden. So far, I know what will be leaving. Sunflowers will be way reduced in numbers. More perennials will be added, fewer cosmos. Actually it isn’t that I will be eliminating either sunflowers and cosmos completely, it is just that they will be planted on the sides where the narcissus are because the bees just love them, and if I need to cut a stem I can, but they won’t be taking up flower space. The rest of the flowers and their numbers will probably stay. I might be getting too old to plant more peonies but I just can’t resist. In the new empty space I thought I would do pumpkins and gourds again. They were loved by all when I did them a few years back, but all things are up for change, but that is where my mind is going now. Any thoughts and or suggestions?

If you could walk through the garden with me in the evenings you would be able to hear how alive the garden is right now. The garden is just humming with bees, if you could only see the bees on this sedum. It was quivering, and if you know sedum, you would know it takes a lot to make it quiver because the stems are so think and succulent.

The finches, sparrows and chickadees are all taking the seeds from the unpicked sunflower heads and the gone to seed cosmos. See why I want to plant them on the verges of the garden? And the butterflies just add more amazing living color to the mix. It is truly and amazing thing to see and hear.

I am trying my hand at drying flowers this year. Nothing fancy, but I hope to be able to give each of you, my regular people, a small posy at the end of the season to keep you excited about the next season. That and I thought I would try my hand at wreath making this winter. It has been a long time since I have done them, but what the heck. So stay tuned as they say. I could have some very interesting ones. Very me.

I will hand this off to Steve now for editing, (checking my spelling and that I don’t have too many run on sentences) and then he, not me, writes the little ditty at the beginning of the email, that send all you so gleefully to the blog. I just thought I should give him credit for that entertainment.

Until next week. Allie

Although the days are getting shorter and the flowers aren’t quite as needy, there is still lots happening here at the farm. Just about every flower that I have is in bloom right now, and looking good to boot! Let me start at the front right row and go from there. Cosmos, blooming, marigolds and nicotiana all blooming. Next row, strawflowers, asters, scabiosia and cleome, all blooming, and so on and so forth. You get the idea, I have a lot of flowers blooming.

Most normal flower growers would never have flowers blooming in their fields, I know I shouldn’t, but if I haven’t cut it, and I have plenty to cut from, I am leaving it for the bees, and let me tell you I have some very happy bees right now. The garden is humming with their excitement. Don’t fret though, there are plenty of flowers for you all as well. I just want to make everyone and everything happy. I am not happy though sharing my flowers with the Japanese beetles. Come on birds, there is plenty for you in this garden as well.

I wish it would rain. I have a bunch of seedlings from the old vegetable garden that I want to move into the flower garden, and some transplanting to do so the question is…do I take the risk and do it by the end of the month? Or do I keep my fingers crossed and hope for the late summer fall rains to help me out. I need to get them moved soon so they can get established before winter sets in. I know, I know, that is months away, but things like this have to be planned for.

As I am typing this I am looking at the vase of sunflowers that came out of the sign last Friday. Waste not, want not. Yes, I recycle my flowers. That water in that vase is skanky! Does it need changing! Actually not only does the water need changing, but I should also clean the vase. You know the saying is that your flowers want clean water to drink as well as you do, so if you wouldn’t want to drink the water in your vase or your flower buckets, neither would they.

Here are some flowers of the week….

I grow the talum for the little red berries, but I am going to try using the flowers and some of the very chartreuse foliage because it looks so cool. I will have to experiment.

My final note tonight is this…because I am such a space cadet most evenings and I can’t remember to send out the newsletter the night before flower day I have decided not to. If I have any important changes to tell you I will let you know, like time changes later in the season, but for now, I am going to give your inbox a break from me, and my sent box a break. Rest assured, I will be open, without fail on Tuesdays from 2-6 and
Fridays from 9-3, until further notice.

Until next week, Allie

Here we are in Mid August, and the flowers just keep coming on. New varieties of flowers almost every two weeks and that is what keeps it all so interesting, all the different varieties of flowers that I can offer you.

The extreme heat and humidity of the last few weeks wasn’t good for anything. Your flower grower wasn’t happy, the dogs weren’t happy, and the flowers weren’t happy one bit. The strong scattered storms only dumped torrents of water, good for the rain tanks, not good for much else. The cosmos took a hit so most of the have been cut back, but cosmos really aren’t wind stable. They break with just the slightest breeze even if the are staked up. The rain gutter on the tank I use for filling the water buckets and washing the buckets has come unattached, which Steve has fixed but I realize that the down pipe is not where it should be so I just have to climb up and reattach it. Speaking of rain tanks. Look what I purchased.

This tank holds 1550 gallons of water. It will be placed behind the new, and still unfinished garage and the roof on the right side will fill the tank. We have a few details to work out, but we will be ready for next year’s growing season. It may not be used for the flowers, but it will give me water to get the fruit trees, blueberries, grapes and all the trees and shrubs decent water during the growing season if the weather gods aren’t kind to us. Very excited about this believe you me.

You must be wondering by now what flowers are available. There are plenty for you all to choose from. Zinnias, ageratum, scabiosia, celosia, dahlias, asters, marigolds, sunflowers, rudbeckia and so much more. There is also lots of aromatic and colorful filler to round out each bouquet. Oh, and the peacock orchids are setting bud so stems of those will be available as well!

I was asked on Friday now much longer will I have flowers and I would say through mid October so that is exciting. Then clean up and I start planting for February tulips! It is never ending here at Lottarock.

I have had requests this year about doing flowers to be given as gifts, small dinner parties and little events. I have done them happily, so now I am putting this out there for you all. Can’t believe I am doing this. If I have enough notice, I will create for you. NO WEDDINGS though. Dinner parties, birthdays, concerts all can be done. All I ask is a day or two of notice. If you need the flowers on days that I am not open, I will do them and put them in the spare fridge for you and they can either be deducted from your card, or they can be paid for separately. Just saying that I am not a floral designer, but will do my best. If you have any questions, just shoot me an email. I do enjoy the creative part of flowers as well so we will see how this goes.

I leave you with the shed door bouquet, made out of stems that are too short. I kinda like it.

Until next week. Allie

We have now entered August, and boy does it feel like it. Hot, humid and dry. Dry as a bone in the outback. The good news, we had .85″ of rain today. Not nearly enough, but I won’t have to water the garden tonight. I am trying to get myself into the difficult mindset of running the irrigation in the evening, hoping that the flowers will have a longer time to take up the water before the sun hits them. I have been watering at six in the morning but I am going to try to remember to do it after evening chores at six at night. One wouldn’t think that this would be difficult but apparently it is for me. I am hoping that it will make a difference with the flowers.

I am not really sure what all the fuss is for flower growers to grow cosmos. Yes, they are a lovely pink, red, seashell form, doubles etc, but the vase life is short, or the flower life is short and they get tangled up in everything. One could say the same about the flowers of the sweet pea, but at least with the sweet peas you are wooed with the intoxicating aroma. Cosmos, bah. Next year they will be relegated to the verges for the bees, but not in the flower garden per se. If I need a quick filler for something I will have them on hand but for my mixed bouquets, bah. I am in love with the nicotiana that I am growing now and might try a few different colors to round things out.

You know how I say that flowers have their season? Well, the sweet peas are out, the perennial scabiosia that I love, love, love is about down, but the zinnias are doing well, the rudbeckia is out of this world. In fact, next year maybe I will plant only half of the sunflowers. I love the rudbeckia so much more, and I get about the same color schemes. I mean, look at this Rudbeckia.

The fillers are coming into their own. I don’t know why they take half the summer to be able to pick, but they are so worth the wait. If I can make a bouquet smell as delicious as it looks I am a happy flower farmer. The foliage of the Hibiscus mahogany, the basils, the mints, the various amaranths, are all good in my book. Like I have said before, if you want unusual, I will grow it.

Another flower I am having fun with this year, and I can’t believe I am saying this, is the cleome, or spider flower. Yes, it is thorny, and yes, it doesn’t not have a pleasant aroma, but it holds up well and gives a bouquet some…what is the word I am looking for?…Look at these florets? unfolding…

So, What else is happening? The dahlias are coming into bloom. Slowly, but I should have a few stems to offer this week, with more on the way.

This is very exciting and I have the old standbys as well as a bunch of new varieties this year. But also, besides the dahlias coming in, the first of the annual asters are starting to flower. Soon, there will be buckets of asters.

So. I leave you with this thought. Am I growing too many flowers? Nah. I hope. It is just high summer and everyone just wants to stay cool and not think about flowers. Sigh.

Until next week. Your flower girl. Allie

Welcome.

How on earth did this happen? We are in the thick of summer and you can tell by the flowers on offer. The true summer flowers are here, the zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, rudbeckia, lisianthis, yup, all the summer flowers and the summer bugs that go along with them. Every morning is started with watering, harvesting and squashing bugs. It’s a great way to start the day I tell you.

As I have said, when one flower exits, another variety of flower steps up to the plate to add beauty. The sweet peas are sadly gone until next year. Last week’s heat wave did them in as I had feared it would. So the sweet peas are gone, but the dahlias have started. Slowly for sure, but this next week’s heat should push them right along.

So other than watering, harvesting and squishing bugs, there is’t much to report. I should be starting perennials like soon, like last month, but here we are. August tomorrow. I better get cracking. I have weeded the perennial area of the cutting garden and have gotten most of it mulched, which is quite the task, I have added more netting and tied up more rows to try to keep the stems straighter and not quite so arty farty. I like them that way but not everyone does. Tuesday morning is still fertilizer day, and farm day and I have been harvesting flowers to dry. Have no idea what I am going to do with them yet….time will tell. If you have any ideas, let me know.

I will leave you to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Stay cool and hydrated, the flowers and I will also do so. Until next week. Allie

Phew, it’s hot, and dry. I feel as though I am back in Australia these days with these temps and dry. But here I am, sitting under the ceiling fans that are going full bore planning my week on how to stay cool.

It is best to water the gardens and to harvest first up in the day so I try to be out with my harvest buckets by 6:00, while the gardens are still in the shade of the trees and the tool shed. The plants go into a wilt like the flower farmer by 11 in the morning. They have water, it is just with this intense sun because there aren’t any clouds and it is just that they are respiring faster than they can take the water up. As soon as they are back in the shade they look better. Kinda like me.

I think I have harvested the last of the sweet peas for the season. I have two buckets of them in the cooler, but they don’t like this heat and all and I think it is the end of this year’s crop. I would suggest that if you want some, better get them soon. The ones in the cooler are really looking good and I am finding they are lasting about 4 days in the vase which is good for sweet peas.

Flowers are rocking in like crazy and in any color combination you could want. Just look at last week’s floral display.

The dahlias are budding up and I figure soon they will also be added to the floral bench. As I say, the flowers are always in transition, one flower exits for the season, and another quickly fills in the ranks. That is what keeps it interesting about being a local flower grower, flowers truly have a season.

With this heat, the flowers are having a hard go of it. Take them home in the go cups of water, recut the stems and put them in cool water with the little packets of flower food. Keep the flowers out of the sun, and repeat this process every few days to keep your flowers looking their best longer. As I said, now is the season of the so called dirty flowers. These are the flowers that make your water scummy in just a matter of days. Zinnias, rudbeckia, celsoia, sunflowers and others are all guilty of this. If you run out of little magic flower powder, just add a couple of drops of bleach to your flower water and that will help tremendously.

So, I am going to go for a swim, but I thought you would like this drone shot that Steve took last week of the flower garden. I must say, I am pretty proud of it.

Until next week, your wilted flower farmer, Allie

Wow, is it dry. What a difference from last year when we were getting good rain to make up for the previous year. Now? I would love some rain. A week of a nice soaking rain would be oh so lovely. Thankfully all the flower beds are on drip irrigation and everything is well mulched, but still, it is dry. I am also grateful that I have rain tanks scattered around the property because that water is going to be needed. I have now decided to let the high tunnel go. Most of the crops have been harvested from there and they did a marvelous job bridging the seasons for me, but now, maybe a week or two earlier than I would have liked, I am stopping their water. This only affects the Icelandic poppies as a crop but I need the water elsewhere. Instead I will be harvesting seed to save, harvesting the last of the ranunculus and anemones to save for next year and redesigning the entire high tunnel to make more growing space for early spring flowers. Yippee!

The peony season has also just ended. I made myself a lovely bouquet with the last of the blooms. I made the bouquet last Tuesday and it is still looking beautiful on the coffee table and that makes me happy.

As we know, one flower exits, and another quickly takes its place. The sweet peas are going gang busters. I just love burying my nose in a bunch and inhaling. It is such a seductive perfume and when I walk by the rows in the evening the perfume just wafts around me.

Also coming in strong are the rudbeckias and the snapdragons.

There are plenty of flowers to chose from that is for sure. I love growing the unusual, not lots of them because they are so unusual, but they add such interest and sometimes drama to a bouquet, but I also grow many of the usual flowers as well to round out the selection.

Now that the typical hot weather is here, here are some tips to keeping your flowers lasting longer. Take your flowers home in the go cups and don’t let them sit in the hot car. When you get home, recut the stems, add the flower food if I remembered to give it to you, and yes, It does make a difference. Put the flowers in cool water and keep them out of the sun. Change your vases water every few days, and if you have run out of flower food just add a small splash of chlorox to the water to prevent scummy stems. The best flowers of the summer are known as the dirty flowers and they will turn scummy quickly if given the chance so the flower food helps as does the chlorox.

I am almost done here. I just want to remind you that the flower shed hours are now Tuesdays from 2-6 and Fridays from 9-2. If you haven’t been here yet, we are at 76 Stoddard Rd, Hancock and there is a sign at the end of the driveway when we are open. Bring a friend as well, the more the merrier.

So. I’m done now. Until next week. Flowers Rock on at Lottarock! Allie

It is funny, I was doing an instagram post last Friday for the flowers I was taking to the Hancock Market and I looked at the bunches of flowers ready to go and said, “these are not your typical flower bouquets.” The flowers I grow are not typical for the most part, but they are the flowers that I like to grow and use. The Eremurus (Foxtail lily), Kniphofia (red hot poker), the sweet peas (that I wasn’t going to grow), and other really cool plants will be available in the flower shed this year. I like the challenge of growing the odd flowers, I like the challenge of making a bouquet using some of these flowers and I hope you enjoy them as well. And I want to thank you for allowing me to follow my passion.

Besides the unusuals, the usuals are starting to rock in. The snapdragons, rudbeckia, and zinnias are rocking in, the filler is looking good and there are plenty of flowers. I have been harvesting buckets of sweet peas, I still have peonies, well, you can tell from this what is being harvested at the moment.

I have sown cover crop onto the two new beds that I will hopefully be putting into production this fall with more peonies, which apparently I can’t have enough of, and bearded iris. The bed inside the garden fence has germinated, but I keep finding weird places whee the buckwheat is germinating. Thank you chipmunks. The bed outside the fence is being enjoyed by the free ranging guinea birds. They have both germinated but I am no longer watering them because I must save my water for the flowers, so those beds will be what they will be. Any cover crop is good I tell myself.

The dahlias have had their first course of coralling. I am trying a new method this year. Not happy with it right now, so I will redo it on Tuesday so it will work better for me.

I have been told on numerous occasions over the last few seasons of the open flower shed that “I am not good at arranging or picking out the correct flowers that go together” and as I said on Friday, It is what makes you happy. It is not a contest, and you are not being judged. It is what ever makes you happy, and you being happy with local, flowers, that fills me with great joy. Thank you.

Until next week. Allie