Raising Flowers and Horses
September in the Home Garden
The calendar says September. Labor Day is over. My nieces have headed off to college. It’s truly the end of summer. To be honest, this summer felt a bit like an endurance test–drought, long stretches of intense heat, and even a bout of Covid just as I was set to head off for a few days away with my family. If you had asked me in July, I probably would have said this summer will never end. Now that it is actually almost over, I feel a little sad.
What Does a Flower Farmer Do in the Winter?
I often get asked, “what does a flower farmer do in the winter?” It’s a good question. It’s often cold, sometimes the ground is covered in snow, clearly there aren’t any flowers to harvest, so what does a flower farmer do in the winter?
My first thought is a quote I often see bandied about: “Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; because gardening begins in January with the dream.” Josephine Neuse, author of The Country Garden.
My winter has been a little different.
Frost and the Power of Endings
As I looked out my bathroom window this morning, I saw the tell-tale sign. It looked like a light dusting of powdered sugar all over the yard. My yard is in a hollow, lower than my flower field, and the coldest temperature the night before had only been 37; there was a chance my flowers were spared. A brisk walk up to the field told me what I already knew, my remaining flowers had been kissed by frost. It makes sense, it is October 24 after all, pretty much on the nose for our expected frost date. Still I’m never quite prepared for the end of the season. It feels like a Sunday afternoon after a holiday weekend, when the kids leave our home headed to their far-flung cities. I’m tired from the celebration, grateful for the beauty and communion, and already longing to do it all again.
Flower Farming Secret for the Home Garden
Flower farming reminds me of the childhood game of hopscotch. Every turn in hopscotch requires some quick plotting as to where you will put your feet. Every week of farming feels the same. Each time I feel like I’ve gotten a handle on the week’s “issue,” a new one pops up that requires a whole fresh round of problem-solving skills.
First Times
When starting out as a flower farmer, there are so many firsts–the first seed started, the first bouquet sold, and the first crop disaster survived. I like firsts because they put me in the mindset of a child, a place of curiosity and wonder about what this first time will be. Yesterday I had a beautiful kind of first, my first fall-sown, cold-hardy annual bloomed. It was also my first blue flower.