What a run I had on the most magnificent tulip collection. There were some real stunners this year, and even when they were fully opened, and even starting to go by, they were beautiful. The beauty in aging. Now everyone has to wait until Mid February, if all goes to plan, for another, hopefully much longer, tulip season. It is always sad to see them go, but knowing what is next on deck makes it that much easier for me to bear.
So you ask, what is next. Well, low and behold, the anemones are blooming. Go figure. The stems are short, but the flowers are beautiful, and an even bigger surprise, the ranunculas are full of buds! This is a crop I had written off because the corm were last year’s that I had saved, the mice were enjoying eating the new sprouts and yet, there are strong flower buds, so by Friday, I should have some amazing stems of color. Not only anemones and ranunculas are going to be blooming, but the Icelandic poppies have got a gazillion buds that are starting to show color. I am keeping my fingers crossed that these blooms will keep you happy until the peonies start.
So when are the peonies going to start? Wish I knew. Farming isn’t an exact science, we are at the mercy of Huey the weather god, dealing with first low temperatures then on to “are you serious?” high temperatures to “God I wish it would rain.” Last week I got the perennials hand watered. They are not hooked up to the irrigation because of the well, and they are perennials, but they got a good hand water soak, two days running, then compost and mulch and they are looking much better. Almost happy.
The annual cut flowers are slowly getting planted out, and hand watered until they get established enough to use the irrigation. They are really starting to put on growth. I am starting to see more green than black now, or should I say yellow with all the pollen on the weed mat. The sweet peas have finally gone in, and this week is the big push to get everything else planted in the garden. This will be quite a feat, especially with the predicted heat so it will be early morning planting and late afternoon planting when the hours are cooler for both the plant and the planter.
Also, as an aside, make sure you note the newsletters because I will post if there isn’t going to be a flower day due to lack of flowers. Hopefully there will be a steady stream of flowers available.
Until next week. Allie