Well. Last Week was a Week to be Sure.
What a ride this past week has been! We had frostmass the previous Friday which, as you remember, wiped out all the the dahlias and the summer annuals. And it has been non stop since. You might also remember that I was slowly entering panic mode because the tulips were supposed to be shipped on Oct 6, or week 41.
I called the bulb company on Tuesday morning having not heard anything about my order. They were sounding shall we say a tad bit stressed, running behind schedule. I was told that my order had been pulled which means that it is now in the warehouse waiting packing. When I receive the invoice it will be shipped. OK. I get that, so I spent the week getting all the dahlias dug and put in crates safely in the cave until I can deal with them.
The garden is looking very different now. All the dahlias are dug, all the annuals are cut down and soon the rest of the garden will get cut down.
BUT!
Friday morning in my email at breakfast I got an invoice for my tulips so I thought super, they should arrive Tuesday or Wednesday. Nope. Around 3:00 the Fed Ex truck drives in the driveway and low and behold, tulips! So I put aside the dahlias for a few minutes, to take care of the tulips, which are all now safe in the cooler starting their chilling requirements. Phew. I still won’t have tulips to offer for Valentine’s Day but I will have them before March.
This week’s project is to get the crates sanitized and hopefully by the end of the week planted. The cooler is going to be a very busy and full cooler by November. After all the tulips and dahlias are taken care of, then the rest of the garden can be addressed. It isn’t going anywhere.
What do I have to do for that? Well, the landscape fabric has to be pulled and folded, the irrigation lines need to be rolled up and labeled, compost needs to be added to the beds and the remaining perennials need to be cut down and added to the berm. Oh, and I still have nine peonies to plant, another 2500 tulips to plant and I am sure I am forgetting things.
I did have time to create two table pieces for a celebration of life this past week though. The colors are very autumnal, large enough to make a statement, but small enough not to overwhelm the buffet tables.
As you can see, I have been a busy flower farmer.
Before I forget, this week coming will be the last week for the open flower shed. The flowers are still beautiful, but I just don’t have the selection and volume. Don’t fret though, I will still keep you entertained with the flower farm goings on.
I will pass this on to Steve so he can write his ditty and get this published.
Don’t forget to stop by the flower shed and say hello! It will be the last open shed until February 2026!
So until next week. Allie. I dream of flowers, and sometimes they are nightmares!