People often ask us if we plant Spring flowers in the spring.  Maybe just run out in the first beam of sunlight in a sundress and sprinkle some seeds, dance around with an old tin watering can, and voila!  A field of flowers! 

   Y’all likely know better though.  I don’t look good in a sundress and Spring flowers should be planted in the Fall.

  The more difficult varieties that we grow for the farm (ranunculus, anemones, etc..) require tunnels, supplemental heat, constant management, and years of trial and error, which is why there is a niche for us to fill.  But, there are a ton of easier varieties of flowers that are every bit as beautiful and magical that don’t require a black belt in floriculture and the time to plant them is pretty much here!

  This Saturday at 10 a.m. our easy to grow “Bulb Sale” will go live on our website.  This is for Local Pickup Only.  We’ll be listing various varieties of tulips and daffodils (and hellebores). 

  The tulips will be the very same gorgeous varieties that you’ve seen out in front of the farm store each spring.  Cold conditions stimulate long stems in tulips, so it is advised that you put the bulbs in your fridge for a month before planting, but because we are selling varieties with extra tall stems, you can possibly get away with skipping that part.  We tend to.  

  Daffodils are a largely underrated flower due to the proliferation and over-saturation of the standard yellow variety.  BUT….there are so many lesser known varieties that are visually fascinating and magically fragrant and we find them to be some of our favorite flowers each year.  They bring us a lot of joy in early spring.  We’ll be listing a few of our favorites tomorrow as well.  Plant them now and they’ll multiply year after year with zero maintenance.  Just make sure to let the foliage die down naturally in the spring after flowering.  When they die back on their own, all that energy moves from the leaves and flowers, back down to the bulb which is what will power next year’s growth!  So cool!

  Though they aren’t bulbs, we’re also adding hellebores to tomorrow’s sale.  Such an easy and fabulous plant.  They love shade and the deer don’t eat them.  What more could you want? They bloom towards the end of winter when you need a pick me up and their beauty is of the moody and rustic kind which is fitting for the season.  We have thousands of them planted in our 2 acre woodland and they bring us a good bit of joy to walk through and observe their beauty.  Some of our top designers go bananas over these.

  For non-locals, we have a whole array of “cold hardy seeds.”  Above the smiling picture of Rachel in the “nationwide shipping” section of our website, you’ll see “cold hardy seeds.”  Click on that and you’ll find 33 varieties of flower seeds that can be planted right now and without any fuss or cold management on your part, they’ll flower in the spring.  Lunaria, sweet pea, scabiosa, white lace, purple kisses, nigella, poppy, larkspur, foxglove, and more.  So many beauties! Just make sure not to mistake them for weeds and accidentally pull up their first shoots of growth when they germinate. 

   If you are local, these are all stocked in our store, so you can pick them up on your next visit without needing to pre-order.  

  If you have a Japanese Maple in your yard, you have to plant Lunaria seeds under it.  Possibly my favorite part of each year is to walk out on a crisp spring morning, to be greeted with the early rays of that low flying sun, perfectly illuminating a scene where a brilliant red maple is surrounded in purple flowers.  It’s unbeatable.  We literally put chairs out in the yard facing it and just sit there, sometimes with friends, just taking in all the beauty.  So good!  

   So, poke around the site to see what flowers will make you as happy as the lunaria make me and get ready for the sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.  

  I hope you have a happy weekend!

-Steve