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It feels like every time I write here I mention how intense farming is - HAHA! It really is true. The season got off to a super bumpy start with crazy spring temp fluctuations which led to some crop failures (my ranunculus and anemones were a complete loss) - not a cheap flower to grow, and definitely a hard hit to take in the spring at a time when everyone is anxious for flowers.

Thankfully the poppies were spectacular and I had something to work with come late April, early May! This was my first season starting my own Icelandic poppies - They sure are tricky from seed! I sourced from Johnny’s (they call it Champagne Bubbles) and I really appreciated the chance to grow individual colors. I usually order plugs (Farmer Bailey or Henk at Onings) and plant out in November but timing has to be perfect and I’m not always great at that part of fall farming…I plan to write an overview of how I started them in the coming weeks.

Next came peony season which I always describe as fast and furious, blink and you’ll miss it, buckle your seatbelt insanity. I am glued to the farm for two weeks, harvesting multiple times a day and storing, counting and grading stems. It is beautiful and insane!

“Normie” peony

Next up was stock, foxglove and delphinium among other things…All the really good stuff that late spring brings…

Then we hit summer. I’ve never had such a rough and quite frankly bad crop of zinnias, mostly my fault in terms of where and how I planted them…The Japanese Beetles did a number, weeds really took hold and I opted to not plant into fabric (OOPS), I never got them staked etc. On the flip side, the strawflower were amazingly prolific and beautiful. Will be greatly increasing production of this forgiving, multi use plant (can be used fresh or dried!)

American Basketflower (Centaurea americana)

July brought new flowers to admire - Including this new-to-me American basket flower, which I believe also comes in purple. This workhorse cranked blooms for a solid month, was so prolific and tall with many branching stems, and the pollinators LOVED it - I will definitely grow again. I got several DM’s from designers wanting to work with it after I posted on Instagram! It adds a lovely texture and the creamy white color blends with almost everything.

My next succession of zinnias which began blooming in late August was quite healthy and prolific, thank goodness. I have my go-to’s - The Queen series (especially Green!!!), Zinderella Peach, and Benary Salmon. I also tried a pink cupcake mix that was a hit, as well as a packet of the Dawn Creek breeding mix - Wow they are doing some amazing work and I sure hope some of the seed I saved will bloom in similar shades. Here are a few zinnia pixx…

Another total winner for me this year was Celosia, specifically the specialty varieties from Floret - Plume shaped, in lovely light pastel shades - I sold as many as I offered to designers and tried to incorporate them for texture into all my bouquets. The colors are so good and I am excited to see how my seed saving goes with these varieties as well.

It was a very strange year for me, dahlia wise. Late to get them into the ground, I felt like I was constantly behind - The burgundies started blooming right as we had our (early) first frost, so they were basically a total loss - hopefully tuber production didn’t suffer.

New varieties that knocked my socks off were…

Coseytown Gale - Can’t say enough good about this new variety introduced by Coseytown Flowers. Tall strong stems (and lots of them), gorgeous color, Cranked from mid August to frost consistently. I hope she makes good tubers which I think is one of LeeAnne’s criteria (the breeder).

Salmon Runner - I sourced from Fivefork Farm and loved loved loved this flower - The color changed mid-late September from peachy pink to dark reddish pink. Strong tall stems, consistent producer, bugs didn’t bother with it much, blended nicely with fall colors. A real keeper!

Anne Hyde - not new to me, but I took the best care of it this season and it flourished. I love the shape and color, it adds a lot of texture when paired with ball-shaped dahlias, and cranks stems. I will take better care of this one in 2023!

So much more to come in the coming weeks, this post is long enough! Thanks for following along!