Incredible Allium

Allium often gets overlooked and doesn’t get the recognition or praise that it should in the garden. It’s a flower that people typically plant into their gardens and tend to forget, because it’s so low maintenance. Allium is one of those wonderful bulbs that you can plant into the ground and just walk away from. Can anything be better?!

Their perfectly formed little balls on top of their stem give them a whimsical and lollipop look. Shown below, the contrast of the purple of the allium with ninebark is unusual and stunning. The perfect contrast for true garden design.

Here at PepperHarrow, we use allium for all kinds of things. In the spring, we use them in bouquets for market, weddings, and sell them as single stem flowers (artists love them!). Towards late spring, they dry on the stem and transition into lovely ‘fairy wands’ as Adam calls them. Once dried, they can be hung upside down and stored for fall/winter use in wreaths, or also spray painted in all sorts of gorgeous colors to make an interesting dried bouquet of colorful flowers.

Flower Farmer Winter Activities

People have been asking us, what does a flower farmer do during the winter on the farm? Most think we’re just relaxing, resting and preparing for the coming year, which does have a little truth to it. It’s been a little nice to get some extra sleep and not have to bust our tails from early morning to late at night. It’s certainly a welcome reprieve from the craziness of the typical growing season in all its bountiful glory.

Seed and Dahlia Ordering

It’s so invigorating and magical to sit down and look through seed catalogs and dream about the amazing flowers your’re going to grow the following growing season. I compare it to reading a great book, which I may also be doing a bit of at the moment. It takes me away from reality and let’s me have a little slice of the dream. This is a little part of my bliss during the winter, sitting back and picking out the most interesting, beautiful flowers that I want to grow. There are so many different ones to choose from and they’re all so wonderful in their own way. Many times I have to have Adam come in behind me and take some out, because admittedly, I get a little out of control. I want them all!

I look at ordering flower seeds and dahlias a differently than most (I think, anyway). I tend to look at the type of flower seeds would add a little sparkle or something unique to a bridal bouquet or in massive floral installation. Typically, I know the event work that I already have planned for 2019, so I start growing special little floral details that will enhance what I have planned to put together.

Who do we order seeds from? Retail seeds places I order from include: Renee’s Garden, Swallow Tail Gardens, Botanical Interests, Select Seeds (love their heirloom varieties), Johnny’s Select Seeds, Seed Saver’s Exchange and Baker Creek.

Who do I order dahlias from? Well, we have our own stock and sell tubers online, but for new ones I look to add, I generally to to: K Connell’s, Kelly Flower Farm, Little Farm House Flowers, Summer Dreams Farm, Swan Island Dahlias, SkyFall Flowers, Hidden Hive Flowers, and so many more. Someone needs to stop me! If Adam only knew how much money I’ve dropped on adding new, beautiful varieties to our farm…

Dahlia, Chrysanthemum, and Scented Geranium Cuttings

I have a little secret. Is it okay that I tell you this? I couldn’t completely let go and relax too much over the winter. I had to have some green plant goodness in my life to get through the winter. It just gets too brown and gray here and I need something to keep myself occupied and also something to keep my spirits uplifted. It works!

Every year we dig up our dahlias and I always keep a few back to put up and keep inside under grow lights. Same thing holds true with our heirloom chrysanthemums (mums), and scented geranium. I just dig them up, stick them in pots and put them under grow lights. They keep growing their little hearts out, while I trim them back and take a little cuttings off, sticking them in soil and keeping the soil moist. I have hundreds of little babies growing and it just makes me so darn happy!

Planning and Setting Goals for the Growing Season

This is the time we take to re-align and re-set ourselves on what priorities will be for the next year and how we want to grow our business and focus our time for 2019. Unfortunately, this is tied heavily to the business side of the farm, including the dreaded taxes. One of my least favorite, but necessary tasks.

The garden bed mapping and seed schedule is setup and planned out during this time. This helps keep us on task with the plants that need to be started and when. Harder than you would think during the height of our growing season, especially as we get into the June seed sowing.

We also use this time to meet with other creatives to stir up new ideas and work on possible collaborations, set our class schedule for the year, speak with a lot of prospective brides and hold several consultations, and participate in speaking engagements at area garden clubs. These activities are some of my favorite, because I love classes and I love speaking with others about things I’m passionate about.

Floral Design and Photography

Winter time is when I really have some great opportunity to play with flowers. Even though I’m not growing them at this time, I indulge myself by buying them from our local florist and put together beautiful designs, bouquets, flay lays, etc. This gives me a great opportunity to be creative and to also play with my camera as I’m taking photos of the things I make.

I use this time to brush up on my photography skills, playing with my ‘good’ camera. Adam and I shoot with a Cannon Digital Rebel. We love it, but we get a little rusty during the summer and often are busy, so we just use our iPhones for quick pics.

Farm Clean-up and Organization

Occasionally we get a very warm day in the middle of winter. It’s always a fluke and we never know when it’s going to happen, but it always does. A few weeks ago, over holiday break, we had a warm, 50 degree day. We used it as an opportunity to clean-up our seed starting area, pick up tools that were left around the farm before the first snow hit, and also tidy up the event space. Not gonna lie, it was a mess, but from what I hear, we’re not alone.

It’s crazy how little things laying around in a disorganized manner can make you mentally feel untidy. Such a great feeling to get it all neatly arranged and little bits of things picked up. We also use this as a ‘family day’ and get the kids in on the action too. Not saying the kids like it, but lots of hands make the the work light and it actually turned out to be a great way to spend time together. Who knew!?

XX Jenn