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I don’t knpw what is going on with this weather pattern but it sure is squirelly. March 3 and it is 54 degrees as I write this at 4:30 in the afternoon. I have a snowdrop blooming! I am not looking forward to when the winter shoe is going to drop, because it will I am sure, but meanwhile, to be honest, I am enjoying these winter days.

A lot is happening here at the farm. I have gotten the first batch of ranunculus planted in their crates and they are in the greenhouse, along with all of the perennial seedlings and the anemones that are going to get crated tomorrow morning. I have moved a bunch of tulip crates in there just because I could and it will make tomorrow morning’s tulip Tetris be easier. Two less crates to move!

On deck for tomorrow, besides tulip Tetris, is soaking and planting the next batch of ranunculus and anemone and cleaning up and organizing the high tunnel for the first planting of the cool annuals. Get it done while the weather is nice I figure.

I heard from my tulip salesman and he thinks the order list for tulips 2025 will be available this coming week. I know, I know, I still have 25 crates in the bulb room and to think about next spring just seems so weird but that is a flower grower’s life. Plan six months or a year ahead for the next crop. This will be interesting I am sure.

I guess the next most important topic is that I will be having shoulder surgery on Thursday. Don’t worry, there will still be flowers on Fridays. Steve and friends all pitching in to get them bunched and ready for Fridays. I think I will be able to harvest when necessary, water and sow seeds by the 15th which is the next big sow date. They say I will be rehabbing for 6-8 weeks, and I will be doing PT into May…but I figure each week I will be getting stronger and able to do more and more as long I don’t get stupid and stubborn. Who, Me?

On to a brighter note. I have been playing with some flowers and these are last week’s instagram images.

Can anyone have too many flowers? Certainly not me! I am pretty sure that next spring along with tulips I will be growing on miniature narcissus and muscari to tiny posies. What do you think? Let me know please.

So I will leave you until next week with my arm in a sling. Remember, Fridays are Tulip Fridays here at the farm from 10-2:00. Come by and say hello!

This last photo I hope makes you smile. It is Whisky enjoying some spent tulip flowers I had tossed over the fence for the goats’ enjoyment. I figured if deer enjoy tulip flowers, goats will too.

Until next week. Allie.

I can not believe that this is the last Sunday of February, where the heck has the time gone? Probably with the snow. Boof, gone. Not that I am a great snow lover, but the gardens certainly do enjoy the protection of a good layer of snow. For example, the in-ground tulips are now open beds. Not good. The bed of chrysanthemums that I am trying to winter over are also now totally open. Not good, especially since they are on the edge of hardiness, a real steep edge. I need to get some cover on them sometime this week in case we get some more deep freezes. I wonder if bubble wrap on top of the beds would help? Hmmm.

Inside, spring is going full force. Tulip crates are going bonkers! I have tulips in storage everywhere! These are last Thursday’s haul getting ready for tulip Friday.

This week’s tulips are going to be more Columbus, Bell Song which is a pale pink with a white fringe, Flaming Flag and I think Dallas along with some stragglers from last week. They will all make a stunning bouquet.

The dirty room is full to the brim. On Tuesday I am planning to get the ranunculus transplanted into the crates and get them into the greenhouse, that will open up some space. I am also going to send out the perennial seedlings which will also open up a lot of space. Phew. I know that I will have to cover and uncover them each day when the nights get below freezing which it will because it will still be February and March, but a flower grower will do what a flower grower has to do. Hopefully by the next big seeding, which will be mid March, I will have space to put things.

You you may not know that back in the olden days when I was in Uni I studied both floriculture and landscaping. One of the things that got me into forcing tulips and other spring bulbs is because we used to force them at Woodmans in the cold frames back behind the sweet pea house. In my job in CT, we also forced bulbs for the Easter season. So after taking the course on tulips, my mind got to wandering and remembering and this is what I have managed.

So my goal for next spring is to also offer posy bunches of little flowers for “I am thinking of you gifts”. I mean you can give tulips as well, but these are charming I think. I am excited anyway.

I have been trying to send out the newsletter each Thursday so you all know that the flower shed is open and the hours. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured it all out yet, but fortunately 41 of you did get it. I am working on it and I do apologize but pay attention to this blog and to #flowersatlottarock for my missives on when I will have flowers.

THE FLOWER SHED WILL BE OPEN ON FRIDAYS FROM 10-2!

I leave you with this photo I just took of the flowers on the shelf. A bunch of mismatched tulips that were not good enough for you my flower lovers and a tiny bouquet of the little narcissus with forced forsythia and a sprig of my blooming witch hazel.

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

I made it through Valentine’s Day and I want to thank all of you who reached out to get flowers for their darlings. And thank you to you who came out for the first meager tulip offerings. Now things are ramping up and this week we will have four varieties to choose from; Apricot Beauty that loves to sway to the music, Mystic Van Eijk, Tom Puce and the beautiful Columbus.

I am mixing them up this year since all the cooling weeks have been finished, I am pulling what I think will go well together. It is all very exciting, and you will be happily surprised as well.

Meanwhile, beyond tulips, yes there is such a thing beyond tulips. Who ‘da thought? Anyway, things are getting crowded in the dirty room. Upwards of 12 crates plus of tulips, then the seed starting shelves are getting full, more seeds to start soon…every flower grower plays Tetris this time of year, moving, moving, moving crates, seed flats, moving everything so it all fits into often a too small a space.

But, the ranunculus and anemone are sprouting…

Soon these will be moving out into the greenhouse into crates along with the anemones and that gives me a few more shelves, then the perennials will be able to move out into the greenhouse like the lavenders

So the lavenders, delphiniums, echinacea, columbine, and the rest will move out into the greenhouse. Then, I will have more space for the next up seedlings. Soon, by mid March the high tunnel will be planted and space will really be limited. Tetris, a lovely game to be sure. it is keeping me fit.

Speaking of fit. I am working very hard at it. I keep doing my exercises, and then I overdo it, cause that is what I do apparently.

I did get the newsletter out on the new platform. Sadly only to 41 of you. I think I fixed the issue, we won’t know until Friday coming up. So, if you don’t get the newsletter because I still haven’t figured it out, here are this week’s details. **The flower shed will be open from 10 to sold out. (sell out happened by 11:00 last week, this week and going forward there will be more tulips available). I have an orthopedics appointment at 10:15, but should be back by 11:00 fingers crossed. But do not fret! Steve will be the Satyr…(according to Siri, that is the male equivalent of a fairy), to assist you. (Steve corrects this with fairy, Satyrs are associated with Bacchus, the Greek god of drink and licentious behavior. Fairy is non gendered as in one of the Fae, Ireland’s gift to folklore.

I leave you now so you can mark your calendars for tulip pick up. I hope to see many of you on Friday. I will leave you with this image.

Until next week. I dream of flowers. Do you? Allie

Are you ready? I’ve got tulips and, they will be available to all on Friday Feb 16! I am telling you now to mark your calendars because if I can’t remember how to send out the new newsletter, or I mess up, you have been forewarned. The time will be from 10:00 till 2:00, here at the farm but honestly I don’t think they will last that long. The varieties will be, drum roll please, Apricot Beauty, Tom Puce and Mystic Van Eijk. All beautiful. if you want my opinion.

I have a lot of transplanting to do this week. All of the perennial seedlings have germinated and put out their true leaves, or enough of them to do it anyway. Many of the cool annuals have germinated and are off the heat. Things are heating up!

The ranunculus and anemones have been soaked and are now trying to sprout before they get transplanted in the soon to be empty bulb crates, then they will go into the greenhouse. I am hauling tulips crates in to grow them, and back out to hold them until Friday. I certainly am getting my upper arm workout, that is for sure.

So tulips now should be pretty consistent. There are still at least 25 crates left to come into the dirty room, it looks like a bunch more but since I haven’t counted them I would say 25 crates, four crates per week… yeah, plenty of tulips to be had.

So, just a reminder, Tulips here at the farm on Friday the 16th from 10-2:00. If you want a bunch of locally grown flowers for your valentine, shoot me an email and I will have them ready for you.

I leave you with last week’s #windowframethursday of Apricot Beauty in bud and full.

Until next week, enjoy Tuesdays snow, and think flowers! Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

With great Phew, I can say that not only does the first batch of tulips have flower buds to be seen, but, I’ve got flowers! I harvested two this morning, probably another half dozen tomorrow, so on and so forth. Soon, there will be plenty of tulips for all, and I will share. Promise.

Tomorrow the next four crates get pulled into the dirty room, getting mighty crowded in there, I also have a big seeding to do for the cool annuals, and I need to get the ranunculus and anemones soaked and sprouted. My ‘free?’ time is getting less and less. I love it though.

It certainly has been so nice to see the sun shine these last two days and it is supposed to be lovely through the week. I think we deserve a stretch of nice weather. A temperature alarm goes off in the dirty room around 10:30 these mornings so the door gets open for four inches for the day, trying to keep the room temp around 65 degrees. We shut it down around 4:00, and yes, the house does get quite refreshing, but it works. Air change is good for our health, that and exercise, which I am getting plenty of these days.

As soon as I have enough tulips to share, in two weeks?, I will let you know, and I will let you know where I will be having them. Just at the farm? Peterborough Farmers Market? Flag Leaf Bakery if they will have me again? Still trying to figure out those logistics, as well as the newsletter, but hopefully, by the time I have enough tulips to go around, I will have that figured out as well.

Each week is getting more and more exciting, but since I have no other news right now, I will leave you with last week’s #windowframethursday. A lone sprig of witch hazel in a bottle. Jujst the color I needed while it was still gloomy out and it was the only flowers I had.

Until next week, start dreaming flowers, because I certainly am. Allie

That Friday is Groundhog day? And we will be halfway through winter? Of course as I say this it is snowing outside, but the days will be noticeably getting longer and there will be flowers. Yay!!!

I am only doing minimal flower growing at the minute. Every two days I water the tulip crates, about every hour I check on the seedling to see if they are germinating, such busy work. No, what I am really spending my time on for Flowers at Lottarock is getting my act together. I’m trying to figure out how to improve my newsletter, which is different from the blog, learning how to do reels for Instagram because that is where the viewers are, so they say, getting my Quickbooks organized, new LLC, have to be even more serious….the rest of my time is spent going to physical therapy, which is making a huge difference in my range of motion and hopefully strength, doing my physical therapy exercises, and wearing my bone stimulator that will hopefully get the stink’n clavicle to start to heal. That, takes up to three hours a day. Boring I know but it is good that I have so many ‘Office’ projects.

I always question my flower growing, especially the tulips. I wonder did I get the number of weeks right for the chilling before I pulled the crates? Are they doing anything? Are there any flower buds? The first tulip crate pull is always the most excruciating, the wait! I must fondle those Apricot Beauty stems daily to see if I can feel flower buds, being careful not to crush them, and I think, I really think, that by the time I write this next Sunday, I might, fingers crossed, be able to show you the first tulips of the season. I am on pins and needles with anxiety…I should know better but still.

The flower farm is still quiet, nestled under snow…inside the lavender has germinated, as has the dianthus, phlox, the start of the delphinium and echinacea and quite possibly the columbine. The next big sowing is coming up soon, but for now it is office work and healing.

Since I have no flowers that I have grown yet, I will share the Witch Hazel ‘primavera’ pictures that I took yesterday. I thought my eyes were deceiving me, but I have color in the garden. She (our old cat Fidgit is buried underneath), is blooming about three weeks early, but I will take the color for sure. Enjoy the color. I certainly am.

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

Don’t worry, we are all fine. I was referring to the bitter cold. Luckily, when I started this tulip growing gig we stuck a temperature alarm in the cooler so from my phone, I can tell the temps in the cooler. Too hot, my phone sounds an alarm. Too cold, my phone sounds an alarm. Luckily, my phone has not set off any alarms. Phew. I have the temperature in the cooler set at 41F, which is fine for the tulips and all of the dahlia tubers I am storing in there. The alarm is set to go off at 36F, which is fine for the tulips but getting into the danger zone for the dahlias. Steve and I scoured Keene on Friday looking for an electric blanket that, if I had to, I could cover the dahlias and turn it on low. No luck. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we get through tonight, the last of the super cold, and if the alarm goes off, I run down with another heater and plug it in for a few hours. Right now the temp is 38.3, and we should be OK.

I have set up the next row in the dirty room for the next batch of tulips to get hauled in.

Tomorrow at some point week 14-2 will be hauled in and placed on the crates, and I will hook up the light overhead. I want to thank everyone for their offers last week of lugging crates for me. I stubbornly wanted to try it myself and I had no problems. Probably because I had them at my waist. On the other hand, Steve had to move a simple seed tray for me because I couldn’t lift it. But yay for being able to do the tulips!

As you can see, progress is being made. I am thinking two more weeks before I have tulips!

I almost bought flowers at the supermarket on Friday. But then I said no. I will have fresh local flowers available hopefully in two weeks, which are much more superior to the imported flowers that have been sprayed with every chemical cocktail under the sun, that shouldn’t even go into the compost because the are so laced. Yes, they are cheap, far less than what I can grow them for, but you know what? Local flowers will always trump,(bad word) imported flowers if one follows the season and truly cares. Enough of that diatribe.

So, soon, very soon, I will have tulips, then the ranunculus and anemones will be started, the cool flowers will be seeded, and we will be on our way.

The dogs are impatient to do chores, so they can have dinner, so I will leave you here. Hope to see you all soon.

Thank you for your support, Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Last week’s arrangement, a winter wonderland, while I wait for Lottarock Flowers.

There are many reasons to say wow about this week. One, tomorrow we are half way through the month of January. How does time fly so quickly? Wow number two, this time last year, to the day tomorrow, I was hauling in the first four crates of tulips, which is on my agenda tomorrow, and the biggest WOW is by Feb. 6, I was harvesting tulips. So fasten your seatbelts all. Farm fresh flowers are only weeks away! I always keep my fingers crossed, but soon, three weeks soon, we will hopefully have tulips.

So after I tidy up and organize the dirty room space, I will start hauling crates. Luckily I only have to do four, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to do it. I will see. The last thing I need to do is drop a crate because in my bull headdedness, but I also don’t want to make my shoulder worse. I will be happy if I can even haul one crate before I ask for help. but…if I can do all of them I would be a happy camper.

Meanwhile, while I wait impatiently for flowers, I am studying marketing, growing, how to do instagram reels, really? updating mailing lists, doing my PT and subsequent exercises, taking the dogs for walks and walking the gardens. I have transferred the business from a DBA to a LCC so I really have to make this work, hence all the marketing homework. Growing flowers is just so much easier and certainly more fun. For me, anyway.

So that is about all the news I have this week from Lottarock. The days are getting longer which makes me happy.

Until next week my flower friends. I dream of flowers. Do you? Allie

You probably thought I had faded off into the void, but here I am, another year of flower growing for you, my flower lovers.

I will say I am not sad to see the end of 2023. That last quarter was a struggle to say the least, but the calendar has turned the page and we are looking towards a fantastic floral year. I have started PT for the left wing and fingers crossed I will be back to fine fettle by the time flowers begin.

Speaking of flowers, seeding begins this week for the perennials, next week the first three crates of tulips get hauled into the dirty room, which means I must do a deep clean before now and next week. If all goes to plan, I should have tulips available for you all by the middle of February.

Meanwhile, both Steve and I are suffering from head colds, so have had a total down day watching the snow come down. Now the garden is safely covered for the rest of the season. That is if the snow stays. I have been walking the gardens once or twice each day just to check on things, checking that I have enough space to put everything when the big plant out begins. I am also digging deep into becoming a better business person…not fun but necessary, as well as flower learning which is far more fun than the business side of things. At least in my opinion.

Happy January everyone. It is good to be back and growing flowers again.

I dream of flowers, do you? These dahlia tubers are dreaming flowers. At least I hope they are.

Until next week. Allie

Happy holidays to all you you, my faithful flower people. I hope each of you have a safe, family, friend and fun filled week of celebrations. We here at Lottarock are celebrating the increasing light, friends stopping by, cheer and family. I mostly want to thank you for supporting this flower farmer with your love for my flowers and especially giving your support during this flower farmers shall we say challenging last few months.

I will be back weekly after the New Year because believe it or not, seeding begins and soon there will be tulips. Yay!

I wish you all the best holiday season. You flower lovers are the best and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. See you in the New Year.

I dream of flowers. Do you? Allie