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Oh the forecast doesn’t look very warming this week coming. Down right frigid they say. My only worry is the little heater in the bulb room not keeping up to the sub zero temperatures but the temperature alarm is set and can only hope the temperatures don’t dip below 35. I’m not worried about the bulbs dipping below that, in fact after this cold spell we are going to drop the temperature down to 40, it is at 45 right now. What I am worried about is all the dahlias that are stored in there that shouldn’t dip below 40.

Last Monday was the first day of tulip crate hauling. The first 4 crates are in as well as a crate of narcissus. They are all looking really good, especially the narcissus that I can see the flower buds and they are putting on growth.

Because if the frigid cold temps forecasted I hauled in tomorrows crates in this afternoon. It is better for the bulbs, better for me and better for the house because I didn’t have a door opener, he was busy scraping ice off the driveway before tonights snow.

Some of the seeds have started to germinate which is always exciting. The red tone yarrow is up, the pink shades not so much, but it was old seed so I need to get some more in my travels. The eucalyptus is up, pansies starting and the echinops looks like I will really be able to see it versus thinking I am seeing it start to germinate. It is a very fine line. Later this week I will start the cool annuals.

Remember I told you all last week that I was bad because I hadn’t pulled the ranunculus and anemone out of the high tunnel and and I was lamenting their death? Well the other day I went in and pulled the corms. They look good! I think that because the soil was soooo dry that they somehow survived. The real test will be when I soak them to sprout in the middle of next month but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

That is about all that is happening here at Lottarock at the moment. I will be back next week with more tales to tell I am sure. Until then,

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

Yay! It is nearly here, the day that the first crates of tulips get pulled out of the cooler and into the dirty room. I have been slaving away the last two days tidying up, making space and just getting ready. Besides the four weekly crates that will be getting pulled, I will also be pulling a crate of narcissus and eventually crates of hyacinths. The hyacinths need a few more weeks of chill time but soon.

So this is an experiment this year forcing narcissus and hyacinths. First it depends if I can pull this off. No reason I shouldn’t be able to but I always worry, and the biggest question how will they be received by my lovely flower people. The cost of tulip bulbs is just going up and up, and I want to be able to offer other spring flowers to help relieve the winter blues, or whites depending on the day.

The perennials have been sown, now it’s a waiting game for germination. They do take their time it seems. The cool annuals get sown the week after next. I still have to get the tunnel ready for those seedlings but I have time yet. My first oops of the year is not cleaning the tunnel back in November when I had nice weather because the ranunculus and anemone corms are still in the beds and with all this cold weather they more than likely are smelt. Damn. Luckily I have enough I had saved from last year that were in crates, but the nice ones in the tunnel…well…It is supposed to be above freezing this week for a few days so I guess I will dig around and see if I can salvage anything. Ugh.

Everything is ordered for this year’s growing. All the seeds are here, the shrubs have been ordered, chrysanthemums ordered, willows ordered and the last? of the perennials have been ordered. It is going to be one busy spring. It will be an exciting and busy spring. Bring it on, I am ready!

That is enough for now, I will be back next week to regale you with more happenings at Lottarock. Until then,

Allie

I dream of flowers, do you?

As I sit here writing this the snow is flying outside and it is hard to imagine that spring is “right around the corner”, but in reality here at Lottarock, it is right around the corner. True.

Remember that litle wooden crate I brought in back on Dec. 15? It is the one on the left.

If you look carefully at the pic on the right, you will see flower buds! See, spring is right arond the corner. This means that I can start to pull another crate or two of muscari to have flowers soon, how soon I don’t know. Pretty damn exciting if you ask me. Add some greens, a few branches and viola! a posey. Who has a birthday coming up in a week or two?

The other reason that spring is around the corner is that a week from tomorrow, the first crates of tulips and a crate of narcissus will be coming out of the cooler and into the dirty room. My goal is to have tulips and mixed bouquets for Valentines day but who knows. I will keep you posted.

The seeding bench is cleared off and tomorrow the seeding of the perennials, pansies and eucalyptus will be sown. Yes, my vacation is over and back to flower work.

Since it is a new year, I guess I should have 2025 flower goals. It is already going to be a busy year with everything that I have ordered. New beds have to get dug, but first a donkey shelter has to be moved, stumps pulled and rows made before I can and get everything in the ground. I would love to have more flower lovers joining us here at Lottarock so if you know anyone who loves flowers and would like to join us, send them along, or better yet, bring them along and get a floral gift. My last goal is figuring out how to add photos to the newsletters that I send out to really pique your interest the night before open shed day. Technology, argh.

I will pass you off to Steve now, so until next week,

Allie, I dream about flowers, do you?

Projects are slowly getting ticked off the to do list before the end of the year. The seed order has been placed, and has started shipping, but since it is ten days until the big day who knows when it will arrive. As long as it gets here by early January it is fine with me.

I still haven’t cleaned up the high tunnel but since that generally doesn’t get planted until mid March or so, there isn’t a huge rush, and there will still be plenty of nice days to play in there before it is needed.

What I have done is hauled a mini crate of Muscari into the dirty room. This crate is one that I summered over from last year. Kinda like overwintering, but summered over is more apt for this case. It has had thirteen weeks of cooling so it should be ready to go. Now is the waiting game. If this experiment works, oversummering, then bulb forcing, other than tulips could take an interesting turn. Only time will tell.

The narcissus that are in the bulb cooler are looking really good as well so they might start being pulled early January, the first crates of tulips will be pulled the middle of January and if all goes to plan, there will be spring flowers available in February. I, for one, can hardly wait.

It has been quite a year here at Lottarock, and i want to thank you all for your support, from helping out moving crates after surgery, moral support telling me yes, I can do this, and especially for all of your support enjoying my flowers. It means the world to me and I thank you all from the bottom to the top of my heart.

I am going to take a few weeks off blogging, you all are busy, and there really isn’t much happening in the flower world yet, but soon I will be back rested and full of exciting floral news about happenings.

Until 2025, have a wonderful holiday season, a happy new year, and I will be back in January.

Thank you for everything, Allie, the one who dreams of flowers.

It has been a very quiet week here at the farm, not that that is a bad thing, but when one is so used to running around trying to do things, well, it’s odd to say the least.

But what I have done is map out the new growing area and everything will fit. And more. Is that a big phew, and a shopping extravaganza! Tomorrow the crabapples get ordered, and the seeds for the 2025 growing season. After that, I will just have to sit around twiddling my thumbs and eating bon bons until the first bulb crates are pulled mid January. Bummer.

Next week will be a break in the blogs until things start up again and I will have lots to share, hope that is OK with you all.

So last wek we had a hicup in posting the blog, we forgot the link so Steve reposted it. Personally I like how he did it the second time better, you everything was right there, so we will continue to do it that way if we (Steve) can remember how he did it. Hopefully he will still be able to add his ditty because I know many of you love reading that, maybe even more than what I write?

Anyway, that is all for now, I’ll be back next week. I dream of flowers, do you?, Allie

It was a busy last week of November, but I got it all done. The cutting garden is all tucked in. Between prepping for Thanksgiving I finished getting the last of the beds composted and leaf mulch on top, the peonies got weeded and handfuls of leaves were put on top, two aisles had wood chips added and I was done by 4. Then the remaining tools were picked up, the garden tidied and the gate was shut. Phew.

The digital seed catalogs are rocking into my in box and I am thinking about what I am going to grow for the 2025 season. I must show restraint in ordering but it is so easy to get carried away as the days continue to get darker earlier and the snow is on the ground but now I only have 10 rows of annuals to work with and three of them will be taken up with dahlias…a half row for chrysanthemums….I have my paper map sorta mapped out…what can I do without? Now that is an interesting question to ponder this winter.

I am very excited about the changes to the donkey paddock next spring. I don’t know if Ursula and Esme will be that excited, but I sure am. Think of it, rows of woody plant material to use for bouquets. It adds such a special element I think…

I missed the pansy sale on Monday cause I was so busy in the garden. Oops. Well I don’t think all is lost because I have seed left over from last year, but I was so looking forward to trying some really cool varieties for next year. I’m sure it was far more important for me to be upside down in the garden anyway than on the computer ordering more seed.

My next big project is clearing out and getting the high tunnel ready for planting out in February. It shouldn’t take long because it isn’t that big a space and seriously nothing has happened in there since June so it is a bit of a wreck. I did drop the sides down before the snow so that at least is good. I just ned a nice sunny day to get in there…

I am going to send the computer over to Steve so he can fix all my mistakes, and he can write the entrance ditty that is so popular.

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

Allie

Well this is my last post for November. It is hard to believe that this time next week it will be December. How does the time fly so quickly? Probably because I am always so busy.

As of this writing I have all but two rows of the annual beds to get prepped for next spring. If I can get my butt in gear with this colder weather, it will happen. I would also like to get some leaf mulch on the peony beds before Thursday, we will see. The forecast isn’t looking fabulous….

So there has been talk here at the farm about expanding the flowers. You know that I have been adding more perennials to reduce the amount of work while slowly cutting back on the number of annuals, don’t worry, there will still be plenty of flowers, I am just thinking of my body for the future. The next step is to add more shrubs for cutting and now crabapples. Once they get planted the amount of work involved will be nothing like planting ten rows of annuals every spring. Three different varieties of shrubs have been ordered and my wish list for crabapples is on deck. Steve and I paced out the space this afternoon and it isn’t nearly as big as my dreams…hmmmm, it will work out, then I have the lilacs I am going to move into the same area….it will be tight…but it will work.

I have ordered the chrysanthemums for next year’s stock. I was cutting flowers up until the beginning of this week. Just enough for my final bouquet for me before I have to resort to buying flowers (egads!) until the tulips come in, which should be mid February. Here is this week’s bouquet. Check out the dried sunflowers. The birds ate all the seeds and left me with these beauties.

Other material used are the branches of the spirea, and the sea oats with the last of the chrysanthemum flowers.

After Thanksgiving, my next task is to get into the high tunnel and get it cleaned up, composted and getting it ready for the cool flowers that go in early March. If it is a sunny day it will get quite warm in there despite there aren’t any ends on it. Late December I will be starting the fancy pansy seeds that I will hopefully purchase tomorrow that have been selected as cut flowers, yup, pansies as spring cut flowers as well as starting the perennials that I have seed for. Not much rest, but enough.

Meanwhile, I am planning for 2025…most importantly, what am I growing and where the hell is it going to go. I am planing for a very floral year so get ready and stay tuned.

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

PS. Steve doesn’t dream of flowers but he is very patient of my dreams and goals.

Needless to say that I have been a very busy flower farmer since I wrote to you last week. But all the critical things are done for the year! Yay!

Last Monday and Tuesday all of the tulips were crates and put in the cooler. Was that a feat and a half that was, the hardest part was getting the planting medium wet. I was one muddy mess by the end of the day, but by Monday evening I had planted 2000 bulbs. Tuesday afternoon went much faster having to only plant 750, and because I got smarter on Tuesday wetting the medium went faster because I used hotter water.

So all of that project took Monday and half of Tuesday. But I’m not done yet. Wednesday the weather gods were cooperating and 2750 tulips were planted outside in the raised beds. That was nearly an all day project.

So with that project done, a huge yay, and thank you to Steve who helped, all of the very early spring is taken care of so if all goes to plan, the first crates of tulips should be pulled from the cooler mid January for tulips to be had mid February.

Not that I am resting yet. Although I am really wishing for rain that we so desperately need, I am taking advantage of the beautiful weather by getting the beds prepped for spring. So far, half of the summer annual beds have been composted and a nice layer of leaf mulch added on top. This week I hope to finish that project up, and if the weather still holds, I will get the perennial beds mulched with composted leaves. Meanwhile I am also watering much of the plant material that was planted late this year since we aren’t having any rain. They say rain on Thursday? I certainly hope so.

As you can see my list is getting smaller, but still have things to do. I am looking at seeds for next year, dahlias and woodies as well. I know, I am cutting back I tell Steve, somehow I don’t think he believes me.

So until next week, I hope you all can get out and enjoy the weather because I certainly am.

Allie. I dream of flowers, do you?

I have been back from our grand adventure for a week plus now and going by my ever growing list of things to accomplish before the snow flies, I feel as though I am making headway. The majority of the garden is cut back now, except the row of chrysanthemums that are essentially done, but every time I think I will cut them down the honey bees are all over it, buzzing contently so for the moment there is still color, but everything else is cut down and composted. Beside the mums being cut down, I just have to put down compost and leaf mulch on the beds…

But this week is designated tulip week. Starting tomorrow, the tulips are going to start to get planted. Yesterday I divided all the tulip varieties in half, 250 for the crates, and the other half for the raised beds. About half of my order substituted so it will be interesting come flowering time. Hopefully they subbed me with some nice varieties. Only time will tell. I figure it will take me about a week to get everything planted. Then, back to the garden to get the beds covered.

The weather has been in my favor thankfully so it has been quite pleasant to be outside doing all my chores. I wish it would rain though. We are about five inches in deficit and it worries me going into winter so dry. The pond is looking mighty low right now. Hopefully we will get a good snowfall, as much as I am not a big snow fan, we do need it for ground protection and ground moisture.

Despite all the garden work, I did manage to make a bouquet for a friend who needed it for a thank you. I think it was the end of the flowers officially, but given the task, I am sure I could create something if needed.

I also managed to get in last weeks #windowframethursday. This is the end of the mums for being cut. The rest are for the bees.

I like this because it truly does say November. It includes forsythia branches and viburnum with berries for fall color, mums, mignonette, miscanthus and cerinthe. As you know, all grown here at the farm.

So that is about it for now. I have to save my energy for this weeks tulip planting.

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

I”m back from a lovely three week vacation, I know, you missed me right? Steve and I had a fantastic time in South Australia, doing an Outback Adventure in an area that we couldn’t do 14 years ago with the road closures because of the rain. The first few photos are of my favorite, Australian flowers. When I was living in Australia I would gather armloads of these and stick them in spaghetti jars, (much like now with the spaghetti jars). Back then one would never see Australian native flower bunches for sale. Thankfully that has changed. I bought a bunch for our hotel room the first week were in Glenelg just cause I could. The staff must have thought I was nuts.

We were able to go to the Adelaide Botanic Garden our second? day in Australia which was wonderful, but even more so because Dale Chihuly, the glass artist, has an exhibit there of his work. I am only posting one photo because it is floral, but the installation was just amazing. The colors and designs and how they fit into the gardens…but enjoy this one.

After a week catching up with friends, doing museums, wine tasting, doing touring, we set off on our adventure. What an adventure it was, a truck converted into a tour bus driving the outback of South Australia seeing the sights. The only sight you get to see is of the Sturt desert pea, that was still blooming in Coober Pedy and is South Australias state flower.

But as you can tell, we are back. Arrived home after a 26+ flight on Wednesday evening. Thursday I cut back and dug all the dahlias, got them in crates and into the cave because it was gong to get cold. Friday got all the rest of the tender stuff I needed to get out of the garden. Saturday I rested and today all the dahlias are safely put to bed in the cooler.

Next week the rest uf the garden gets cut down, netting stored, landscape fabric lifted, folded, labeled and stored. Irrigation then gets lifted, labeled and stored. Then, it will be tulip planting time. Yay. After that? spreading compost and mulching the beds getting ready for spring.

I did an experimental planting of chrysanthemums this year, cause I could. When I had ordered the cuttings I didn’t realize we were going to be away for the month of October, but last Friday, this is what I harvested that hadn’t been affected by the freezes that had occurred when we were away. Looks pretty good I think. Planning to do more next year so all you flower lovers will have more to enjoy.

So enough of me rabbiting on. It is good to be home.

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