But it Feels Like Summer . . .

This time of year we get warm spells that make us think it’s time to hang up our winter coats and start shopping for bathing suits but don’t head for the beach yet!  When it comes to flowers, our minds are racing to those pretty summer flowers but it’s just not time yet. We still have a wonderful Spring to enjoy full of daffodils and tulips, ranunculus, anemone and all their flower friends that like it cold.

In my last blog I talked about daffodils but I forgot to mention a thing or two . . did you know a daffodil will continue to open if you cut it when the bud has started to bend over? Just pop it in the fridge if you want it for later and take it out a day or so before you need it. It will open beautifully and spread out your bloom time. In the pics below you can see the full cycle of opening.

Also, the best way to gather daffodils is to pull them up from close to.the ground rather than cutting them and you’ll have longer stems.

While it’s not time to plant those summer blooms, it is time to THINK and PLAN for what’s to come. Now’s the time to grab a seed catalog and choose your seeds, time to buy your seed trays and seed starter, and time to get your beds ready for planting. I’m spending way too much time in books just looking at lovely flower beds and gardens. One of my goals this year is to make the farm prettier. I love long rows of flowers in bloom but we’re trying to make spaces even more inviting and cozier. I’ve actually built 4 raised beds behind my house just so I’ll have my own just-for-me cutting garden just outside my door.

If you’d like to have flowers to cut all summer long, but aren’t quite brave enough to plan it out on your own, our Grow Your Own Cutting Garden workshops in early April might be just right for you. We’ll teach you all about growing cut flowers and we’ll also help you seed a tray of 72 flowers that you’ll grow and transplant into your own flower bed.  The workshops are April 8 or April 10 which are pretty safe dates to start warm season annuals. They should be ready to plant out when danger of frost is over in May.

We have chosen varieties that are easiest to germinate and grow into seedlings including sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, basil, celosia, marigolds, and  even purple hyacinth bean to grow up a trellis.

Check the links below to see all that we’ll cover in these hands-on workshops. We’d love to have you join us. There’s always lots of flower talk and just good talk in general with folks who love to garden and grow and that’s my favorite part!

April 8 Grow Your Own Cutting Garden

April 10 Grow Your Own Cutting Garden

Next week we’ll be talking about flowering branches! They’re ready to burst into bloom any day now and we’re more than ready to welcome them!