A Week of Challenges

Last week certainly was a doozer. We had a hail storm on Monday afternoon, luckily all the flowers are fine, and I wasn’t home to see it happen because I probably would have been in a panic.

Hail on porch deck

Then at the end of the week we were told to brace ourselves for the remnants of Hurricane Debbie, so I added another layer of twine to support the dahlias and kept my fingers crossed. Luckily, we only had a half inch of rain, and lot of wind, but not to two plus inches they were warning us about. In between these events we had some good rain so I haven’t had to water all week! Our well had a week’s vacation.

The flowers are looking good. I am fretting I won’t have enough for the following week, but I seem to be getting by. The dahlias are coming in slowly. Persnikety things dahlias. They don’t like it too hot, which we have had plenty of this summer, then this past week hasn’t had lot of solar which they also don’t like. Not much I can do but be patient.

Buckets of flowers, waiting

My flower days are filled with tying up the flowers, weeding, mowing and harvesting. All necessary. Once the row is weeded I try as quickly as possible to get mulch down to try to discourage more weeds.

I did have time to do my #windowframethrusday arrangement. Not my best, but not horrible either, but here it is for your enjoyment.

#windowframe

I am starting to go over in my head about next year, I know more perennials for sure, but if you have any suggestions just let me know.

I had a special guest visit the garden on Saturday morning. My long distance cheering fan and mentor, Kathy G. Thank you for taking the time to visit me. It means the world to me.

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

Happy August!

I hope everyone was able to stay cool this past week. I was doing flowers early in the morning in what cool we had then would sit on the porch in the afternoon under the ceiling fans reading. What a novel thing for me to do! and I was reading novels to boot, not books on how to grow better flowers! Very novel.

The flowers are looking good despite the heat and the lack of rain. I am careful with irrigating because of our well but so far so good. Last week I filled the mobile water tank three times and drove around hand watering just about everything that was put in new this year that isn’t on the watering system. That took a while, and three batteries to run the pump. Next week I will take a picture of the remote watering system which is kinda cool and one that I am very grateful for. Steve picked me up two more batteries because one battery is good only for 1 1/2 tanks of water. Each tank holds 65 gallons.

As you can see the flowers are quite floriferous. The zinnias have finally come into their own after such a terrible start. There aren’t as many as I would like, but I have them. The celosia is starting to feather, the scented geraniums are magnificent as foliage, the orach is setting very cool pods for interest, I am harvesting various perennials and am still battling rodents that are driving me crazy.

I had a snake eating a frog and I reminded said snake that we are to work together on this gardening project. You are to take care of the rodents, the frogs take care of the insects and we need to work as a team and not eat each other. Sheesh.

The dahlias are starting to bloom, slowly. They don’t like the heat and it slows them down, which is interesting because they are from Mexico. I am harvesting some, but I have lots of buds so soon, really soon I hope. I will have buckets of dahlias.

I just want to say thank you for your understanding that the flower shed was closed the last few Tuesdays. Life sometimes overrules flowers. We should be good now for the rest of the season with the shed open both Tuesday afternoons and Fridays. If you have special requests just let me know in advance so I can have things ready for you.

I haven’t done and #windowframethrusdays for a while because well, life is just not aways accommodating but finally I got one posted last week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had fun creating it.

One last shout out to Gary who saved me once again with the website. Thank you Gary. You are my savior.

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

Finally, a break in the weather

Gardening is much more pleasant this week, for a change. It is so much nicer to be dealing with the cooler temperatures, even though it is only for a few more days, it is actually nice to be out in the garden.

My biggest excitement is the house is finally finished being painted so no longer will you have to wonder where you were going to park when you come to get flowers. The driveway is open again. That is a huge yay, and I am sure they are just as happy to be out of here as well.

The flowers are going gang busters and some of the dahlias are even starting to celebrate by showing bud and soon color, and then home to you.

As you can see, just about every flower that has been planted for the summer crop is blooming. The rudbeckias, snapdragons, salvias, scented geraniums and basils for fillers, the list just keeps going on, and soon, very soon dahlias will be added to the list.

Not much new is happening on the farm so believe this, I don’t have much to say, so I am giving to give you all a break and stop here.

Remember, there is no flower shed this Tuesday, but the shed will be open on Friday and the rest of the scheduled flower days.

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

It’s Mid July, and the heat is still on

This is the longest wave of heat I can ever remember and trying to keep up with the watering is, shall we say, challenging. The plants don’t like the heat nor does the flower farmer. Back when I was living in Queensland, we would have shade cover over the nursery stock. It did break the intensity of the sun and did make the plants, and growers cooler, but I don’t know if that is feasible here. At least not yet. In our future? It is a possibility. I’m certainly glad I am not harvesting in the high tunnel now. Or working in a greenhouse. They just get unbearable this time of year.

The summer flowers are finally hitting their stride. I am beginning to harvest the zinnias and celosia and a marigold or two. The garden phlox is beginning to bloom and blooms are coming in strong for almost all of the flowers now. This is a photo of last Thursday morning’s harvest, and is only part of it.

Color, and lots of it

Even with the extreme heat, the flower shed will be open Tuesdays and Fridays. I am hopeless for posting the openings on instagram, but I do get the newsletter out the night before to let you know of any changes. Speaking of notices, Tuesday July 23 the flower shed will be closed. I will continue to remind you, if I can remember….Then back to our normal schedule.

I am going to go for a swim. Stay cool everyone, and hope to see you in the flower shed soon.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

July 8

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July weekend, or maybe even week? We certainly did. thank you to everyone who came by to get flowers on the second so we could have a long weekend with friends at the lake. R&R is just what was needed to rest up for mid season flowers.

The summer flowers are coming in and I am harvesting like crazy. The zinnias are just starting as are the celosia and marigolds. I may not have tons of one flower, but each harvest is at least three buckets full. I am shutting down the tunnel for the season now. The crops are almost done and the irrigation seems to have spring some serious leaks. Oh well. We’ll get it all fixed up for next spring.

The peonies are now all gone till next year now. In some ways they are like the tulips, although a much shorter season. I certainly love them when they are here, but it is also nice to see new flowers coming into season. And that season is the summer annuals. Yes, the “dirty flower” season is upon us.

What are dirty flowers you might ask. These are the flowers that make your flower water skanky. All of our favorite flowers are included in this category. Zinnias, yarrow, celosia, the scented geraniums. So when you get your flowers on flower days, remind me to give you a flower preservative packet. It keeps the water cleaner and also has a bit of flower food in it. If you don’t want the packet or run out, just a couple of drops of bleach in the water will help. Change the water every day or two, recut the stems and the flowers will be just fine. if you don’t do anything, well, they will turn skanky. Trust me.

The dahlias are coming along nicely, I am hoping by August? I will start having them available.

Flower farm details are check for slugs and Japanese beetles on my way to feed the donkeys in the morning, and after I feed the donkeys at night. Turn on the irrigation before the sun hits the hoses, harvest very early in the cool or wait until evening. Once a week I will the mobile water tank to water all the new plantings that are not irrigated, as well as top up the donkey water tank cause damn we need rain. Exciting I know.

I leave you with my red, white and blue flowers to celebrate the 4th.

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

July at Lottarock

June, what a month that was. Memorable in both good and bad. But that’s farming. But July is here and let’s go!

I had lots of special flower orders going out in June, buckets of flowers for a DYI wedding,

Special birthday bouquets, in remembrance arrangements,

And lots of other cool floral projects.

The summer annuals are slow right now, so it is a really good thing that I have some cool annuals in the beds that I can cut from as well as having perennials and bulbs for interesting flowers. It is a good thing I have been planting more perennials in the garden because they are great for filling the gaps.

The flowers in the tunnel are done for the season. They did really well until the big heat of last week, so I am grateful for them believe me, but I will dry it out, harvest the ranunculus and anemones to save for next year and pull everything else. If I can get my act together I will plant it up with some seedlings that I will keep going until winter, then let them go dormant until February and be able to harvest them really early. It is always the big IF.

We/I had a bit of a panic moment this past week. Around eight in the morning the bulb room alarm goes off saying that the bulb room, cooler was up to 53 degrees. I had a senior moment thinking it was the dirty room and ignored the first three alarms. Then I read my phone correctly and it was the bulb room. WTF!?! The air conditioner was no longer cooling. It was blowing air, but not cooling, and the temperature was rising, and I had lots of wedding flowers being held for pick up as well as the regular flowers. After searching online to see what we could do, nothing, I started calling repair people. Apparently window air conditioners are considered disposable and they don’t repair them. You can imagine my panic and language. So. Because it is a 18,000BTU air conditioner not many people cary them locally. Like, nobody. So I went online and ordered one. To be delivered in 4-7 days. More bad language, but what can I do. Around noon, Steve goes down and pounds on it again, and he got it to cool. Isn’t he my magnificent hero. Meanwhile, I have now purchased another. The next morning I get an email from where I ordered the new aircon from and it has been shipped, and will be delivered the next day! Yay! I now am the proud owner of a back up aircon unit in case of emergencies. We think that with all the storms raging through it did something to the controls so we also now have it on its own surge protector.

Now that July is here, I will be doing Japanase beetle patrol as well as slug patrol. Isn’t flower farming beautiful?

Anyway, I leave you with a photo if a tiny posie of the sweet peas that “I’m not growing this year”…

So until next week, have a safe and fun 4th of July.

Almost forgot, The flower shed will be closed on July 5. I will be open on July 2, but not the 5th.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Happy Summer Flower Friends

It is finally summer, what I wait all winter for, and it is here! yay! And the summer flowers are trying hard to rock in. It is a good thing I have plenty of transition flowers to tide me through until the real summer flowers get here.

The peony harvest is done, but I still have many colors available. The zinnias I really think are going to be a bust this year. Argh, friggin slugs. I had a snake in the garden with a frog in his mouth, I bopped the snake gently and he released the frog. I told them you guys need to work together to help with the rodents and slugs, not eat each other. Let’s get it right please. I need them to do their jobs! Stop whinging Kerwin, lots of the other flowers are doing just fine…Zinnias? I try to remain hopeful.

The bed that I let go to seed last summer is my earliest row to come into flower in the big garden.

Bulplurum, orlaya, buckwheat, oops, feverfew

Also in the self seeded row is lots of Nigella, most of it has already been harvested, lots of verbena b getting tall more feverfew…it pays to have a messy garden sometimes.

The dahlias are looking OK. I have slug damage, maybe some rodents enjoying that succulent growth, but many of them have had their first pinch, and the week of the 4th when we have houseguests, the rest of the stakes go in and the corralling begins.

Dahlia rows

In case you are wondering, each pink flag on the stake is a different variety, four tubers per variety was the plan. Not all plans go the way I want them to, but there will be plenty of dahlias. Fingers crossed. I always cross my fingers with big crops like this. Especially this year where everything seems to be a bit more challenging.

But have no fear. There will be plenty of flowers. The yarrow is coming in nicely, the Red Hot Pokers and Eremerus are looking grand,

Eremerus

So I leave you now, a big storm is getting closer and I need to get this out before I lose our dismal internet. The last photo is of last week’s harvest wagon. See. Lots of color and varieties.

Harvest wagon.

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

Summer is nearly here!

The official start of summer is this Thursday, not Memorial Day, or the first of June, but Thursday, and the weather is going to match it. We have had such a lovely cool spring, I know, we had some hot days, but those are going to feel mild compared to the three H’s that are coming this week. Yup, the Hazy, Hot and Humid are going to descend so I better enjoy the cool of tonight while I can. This heat will blow the peonies so fast it will be scary, but I have harvested plenty and they are all enjoying their time in the cool. Speaking of which, if it is truly going to be as hot as they say, I will more than likely have the flowers in the flower cave on the open flower days. Just follow the signs.

Staying nice and cool.

A riot of colors are being cut from the gardens now. I have almost every color under the rainbow, and it is such a beautiful thing. I don’t know if I will have a riot of zinnias this year because of the slugs, but everything else is looking good. The tunnel is full of color and the perennials and more of the cool self sown flowers are just going out of town.

Riot of color!

So what is planned on the farm this week besides keeping up to the watering? Well early in the day I will get the watering done and I got a bunch of perennials that need to go in the ground. The space is all prepped, I just have to get them in. Tomorrow should be cool enough to work in so I will get those planted and mulched. That is the plan anyway. The rest of the week, getting a path wood chipped before 10 each morning. Then trying to stay cool. Harvesting will also happen early or after dinner at night, but honestly by then I am pretty zapped so early morning harvest it will be. Fingers crossed. I have to choose my times working wisely, paths can wait till cooler days if they have to. The third and last batch of the zinnias will also go in the ground. Fingers crossed that these take. They are small but if I don’t get them in the ground soon I will miss the season. Ugh.

I leave you with last week’s #windowframethursdays. I just love this creative outlet, I hope that you all enjoy seeing them.

So until next week, stay cool flower friends.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

And the Variety Changes. Again.

Before I start up with my Sunday afternoon ramble, I want to thank you new subscribers to Lottarock. This is the weekly newsletter that keep you up to what is happening on the farm. This is different from the newsletter that goes out the evening before each open flower shed day, which reminds you of the hours and what will be available in the shed the next day. The blog post, which this is, is much more chatty, and the newsletter to the point. Again, Welcome.

So long tulips, hello peonies. I have been harvesting peonies by the arm load twice a day, and with the warm weather, I check them three times a day, and when I am harvesting them it is by the arm load.

Peony harvest

So many colors, shapes and sizes to choose from. I would say so far I have harvested about half of the crop, so there are many arm loads left to harvest. I don’t expect to be running out of peony offerings anytime soon.

All of the seedling are in the ground. Yay. Well, not quite all. I had to do another sowing of zinnias because the first batch was devoured by the slugs. Damn things. I am now setting out beer traps with PBR, (Pabst Blue Ribbon for those of you not in the know). The slugs really go for it so if I have to spend 10 dollars a week buying PBR to get my flowers to grow, so be it. Most of the dahlias have sprouted above ground, so now their irrigation can be turned on. Before I know it I will be putting in more stakes to start trussing them up.

In the harvesting department I am still cutting the anemones and ranunculus, and now added to that is the phlox, some dianthus, as well as orlaya, nigella hopefully by Friday the feverfew and agrostema will be added to the list. One has to love the diversity of what is being harvested now. Speaking of diversity, check out this bouquet that I made just cause i could. Tulips, iris, peonies, daisies, valerian and beauty bush to round it out. It is now sitting in the kitchen going strong.

I participated in a pop up on Saturday that was a lot of fun, and got to meet more flower lovers. I had my normal offerings, buckets of flowers, arrangements and posies, but during all my conversations I started to call the posies starter posies. If you don’t know where to start with your flowers, start with a starter posie and add to it from the many offerings and create your own masterpiece. I think that is a cool way of looking at it. You can also just enjoy the posey as it is. Anyway.

I am running out of things to say, so I will leave you here with last week’s #windowframethursday.

The first of the garden roses, with peonies, honeysuckle and Calycanthus “Athena”

Until next week. Allie

Welcome June!

And welcome new flowers. Tis the end of the tulip season. My goodness you all certainly showed your love for tulips this year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My best year yet. Hopefully you will like next year’s tulips just as much, because the order has been placed.

Things are progressing on the planting end. All of the dahlias are in, all 200? of them? It seems like a lot of them but we all seem to love them at the end of the summer for their vibrant colors and shapes. This week is the big push to get the rest of the summer annuals in. It seems as though I have a slug problem and they are eating every bit of soft plant tissue. I hate slugs, the slimy gross disgusting things they are. I will take a snake any day. Speaking of snakes, I have one living under the weed mat in the garden, he certainly won’t go hungry with all the moles I seem to have, but getting back to slugs… I thought marigolds are resistant to just about everything except Japanese beetles, but may dear, the marigolds have been stripped to just stems. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the root systems are strong enough to support fresh growth, otherwise another sowing will have to happen and that might be pushing it. I might be putting out beer slug traps throughout the garden to trap the buggers.

I have been slowly harvesting peonies. My first harvest is Red Charm.

A deep beautiful red

I suspect that with the warm temps that we are to have this week I will be harvesting peonies about three times a day. I have also just started the Itoh Canary Brilliants which is that lovely yellow. Oh yes, it’s peony time. If you want a special quantity, variety or color you might want to let me know so I can have them ready for you. I have a bunch on hold for a wedding at the end of the month, but if you have a big event or birthday coming up and you want peonies better let me know. Just shoot me an email.

There are more flowers to be had than just peonies, just so you know. The anemones are going strong, the ranunculus are finally rolling in, the little phlox are getting harvested as well as some of the dianthus. Lots of buds showing, so things are looking promising. This is this morning’s harvest from the back garden.

Color! Oh my!

It has been a fun week. I had a big order of flower go out yesterday which is always exciting.

End of the tulips, and lots of spring flowers going out for an order.

I actually got to do my #windowframethursday this last week. As much as I try, that Instagram post doesn’t always happen, but this time it did. I had lots of fun with this, playing with colors and texture. I won’t show you today’s photo, but it still looks good, the flower cave is a great space to hold flowers this time of year.

I opened up the petals of the tulips to give them a bit more wow factor and so you can see the inside of the tulips. Also with geum and golden mockorange.

So, I guess that is about all the news I have today. As always I look forward to seeing you at the flower shed on open days. Also, I don’t want you to forget that I will be at the DubHub pop up next Saturday from 10-4, or until I sell out. Fingers crossed. There are going to be a lot of amazing artists there so do come along and say hi. (and shop!)

I’m the goofy one in the bottom right holding flowers.

So until next, keep dreaming of flowers, cause I do. Allie