Happy as a Coneflower Farm

Today I planted poppies, one of my very favorite flowers to grow

These are the final heirloom mum varieties too bloom and they all bloomed at once over the weekend because of the very warm weather. I always feel like the later varieties are the best varieties because they benefit from cooler temps and less bug pressure……….accept for this November which has been hot, humid and aphid-y. After I pick these there will be no more fresh flowers until late winter. You can find these at this week

I have some good news to share, I will be starting in 2023! I am humbled and grateful to have been invited back after a 5 year hiatus. I’ve been going it alone for awhile and truthfully I am so ready for some help in getting more of my flowers out into the community. I celebrated today by planting 400 pineapple lily bulbs, am I crazy? No, I’m hopeful, hopeful that some of the less traditional stuff I grow like pineapple lilies and bearded iris and gloriosas will fall into the hands of more florists. This is a big change for me as I will no longer be doing my weekly route. I’ve thought long and hard about this, it’s just what I’ve been dreaming of….more time growing, less time selling. Thank you Stephanie, Ashley and Julia ❤️

Second round of mums are starting to bloom. Mum varieties differ quite a lot in bloom time, some are super early, blooming in September, and other are very late, blooming in November. Mums can be hit or miss when growing, some years are good some a disaster and many a mix of both. They have a very long growing season starting in the spring when they’re planted and require mid summer pruning which is a bit more nuanced than you think, I discovered this this year. So much can go wrong over that time and they are really susceptible to aphids (something I’ve had a big problem with this year). Mums come on the heels of dahlia season which tends to overshadow them but it shouldn’t because a good mum is just as valuable as a good dahlia (and will last longer)

Time to start early spring flowers. I set my ranunculus and anemone corms out to soak this morning, making the cats’ day. Sometimes when I think of all the things I need to do to prepare for spring I get overwhelmed and do nothing. So I like to just start without thinking, then I’m committed

Heirloom mum season is almost upon us. This year I will be selling my mums through . I’m hoping Stemz can get my mums out to more people in more places than I can alone. Keep an eye out for them in the coming weeks

Early fall flowers….it’ll all be over before we know it (hopefully it ends with a frost and not a hurricane). This is my 30th week of harvesting and selling flowers, whew, I’m tired! There are a few florists that hung in with me all season, every week, thank you to them , and

Dahlias and peonies and roses get the glory but an arrangement wouldn’t be complete without the little accent flowers. Growing these secondary bits is an important part of what I do. These arrangements include nicotiana, boltonia (a native), celosia, foxglove and tw**dia

I spent about 3 hours this weekend hand watering my roses. It hasn’t rained in weeks and although I have drip on my roses it just honestly doesn’t cut it. I was seriously going to pull them all out but decided I would try to actually CARE for them before I tossed them. I juggle a lot of balls around here - kids, pets and thousands of plants - it gets really overwhelming at times. As I get older, I feel the need to simplify and I think part of that is pulling out high maintenance stuff and replacing it with low maintenance stuff but…the roses are already here, why not give them one last real try (I mean can I in good conscience rip out 25 David Austin Queen of Sweden rose bushes 😬)

End of summer arrangement: dahlias, quinoa, marigolds, celosia and forsythia foliage

These are the days when I start to get really tired and lose my fire for growing things. So many hot days, so many w**ds, so many bugs. But the monarchs are still out and the Japanese beetles have finally given up on the roses. Better days are ahead and hopefully better flowers too

I thought I’d try growing some cleome this year for cuts, I love it in the garden. The individual flowers are so interesting, the unopened ones remind me of little baby squid 🦑 . When I first began farming, the farm I worked on used it as a cut but I can’t remember anything about how that went. Well, they smell like skunky w**d and have some mean thorns (I spent a very long time getting one out of my finger). It’s good enough for me but not something I’d sell

Dahlias, a flower I love and sometimes hate. I overwintered them this year which seemed like a good idea until this summer turned into an inferno. I have a few that are doing okay but most were struggling to put out nice blooms. I cut those ones down and am crossing my fingers that they won’t rot before the fall. I suppose leaving them in the ground is not really a great idea and will most likely dig them up and store them again this year 😡. This dahlia is Sweet Nathalie, she’s tough in the heat and not only has beautiful flowers but dark healthy foliage. She also overwintered like a champ as opposed to many other varieties which rotted

Still harvesting stuff over here and boy has it been miserable in this heat!

This first cutie is Ptilotus, an Australian native and new to me this year.

Next, Asclepias which I planted in between my peonies in the early spring, they’re beautiful cuts and excellent for pollinators.

It’s been many years since I grew strawflower successfully in my soil (grit) but they did pretty good this year. Love the pinks!

Picked the last of the pineapple lilies, a very long lasting flower and one in desperate need of division this year which I will be doing soon. Lavender is my favorite.

Gloriosas in full bloom

I have struggled with dahlias big time over the years but I’ve found some good varieties and have adjusted my expectations for them. They still rot often and get eaten by voles and can be a huge $ pit if you’re not careful. So, my philosophy is to grow just enough that I can manage, bag ‘em to make sure they’re really good quality and keep them out of my lousy soil and in raised beds. The burgundy variety, Rip City, in photo #2, I’ve had for 10 years! There was a point where I almost threw them away but I figured it out. If you’re growing dahlias in the south remember, it’s not you, it’s them, you have to keep trying until you find the right one 😉

Not quite what you imagine a flower farm to look like right? Well this is the reality of saving seed. I’m saving sweet pea seed this year which means a lot of ugliness, a lot of aphids but also a lot of ladybug babies are being made. This is my early flowering crop of sweet peas. Today I collected mid blue seeds. You have to wait until the pods turn brown but you can’t wait too long or the pods will burst open and the seeds will go everywhere. It’s a messy job and it makes me kind of crazy but fresh seed is worth it!

Local bouquets are up in my shop this week
http://shop.happyconeflowerfarm.com

The season is changing, late spring flowers are very wildflower-esque. I can’t imagine growing just one variety of flower and although there are flowers I love above others, a lack of variety would be so boring! Peonies and sweet peas and ranunculus and anemones will be back again but now is the time for less tame things

I love to try new things but I fail at it A LOT! Here’s one new thing that seems to be working out so far this year though, trollius. It’s related to ranunculus and I bought it without doing any research. Once the plants arrived I realized it doesn’t like to be hot (oops) but does like to grow on the edge of bogs. Luckily, I have two bog gardens so I popped them in there with my sarracenia and they seem to be very happy. They are still small plants and haven’t been very productive so far but the stems are tall and the flowers last so there is potential.

I’m finally able to harvest my smokebush! It’s been 5 years since I planted it. In the 2nd year it was knocked down during a hurricane so I cut it back, it recovered during the 3rd year, in the 4th year I left it alone so it would flower in the 5th year….whew! It reminds me that good things take patience and time

Local bouquets went out this morning, finally! I started delivering bouquets within a 5-mile radius of my farm last year and it was a lot of fun. But this year, lots of the early spring crops I intended to use for bouquets were ruined by some uncommonly cold weather we had during January and March. I had to push my local bouquet plans back a few months. Growing is an art, a science and a lot of luck, you must be flexible. So many thanks to locals who waited patiently

My very last iris bloomed today ‘Downtown Brown’ - one I’ve killed before 😏. It’s a stunner and I’m glad I gave it another try. I’m building quite an iris collection, I can’t seem to stop myself. I have a few plants of some that were expensive, others that I was able to buy wholesale, some that were happy mistakes and others that were freebies. I’ve named as many as I can here, lots of lost tags over the years. Some aren’t sold anymore so I’m glad to have them. All came from . The last iris is my very favorite, and unfortunately didn’t bloom this year (sometimes that happens after you divide them). I could look at it all day 😊 l am truly sad that iris season is over, I’m not sure there’s another flower that makes me quite so happy

Local bouquets are back! This week’s bouquet includes peonies, snapdragons, penstemon and verbena. Delivery to your door within a 5-mile radius of my farm in Pittsboro on either Friday or Saturday morning. Check out my shop to order by Wednesday

http://shop.happyconeflowerfarm.com

Happy Mother’s Day!! A little flashback to when my babies were still babies, they’re heading to middle school next year. It has been an amazing journey so far and I look forward to the rest of it.

I was feeling overwhelmed with the work that comes with Mother’s Day this week so I took a little self-care break to make a tiny flower arrangement inspired by new book. I think small arrangements are super practical especially if you have limited space or just a few blooms. So go get yourself a tiny vase and pick a few flowers and foliage from your yard!

Lots of flowers heading to local florists this week for Mother’s Day. This year I haven’t been able to provide local bouquets like I did last year due to some heavy crop losses over the cold winter but you can still find my flowers for your mom this week through these amazing florists ❤️

Some of the first itohs I have picked have been monsters! I chased my cat around with them until he was still so I could use him for scale

This is what I wait for all year, the sweet peas to bloom! I love hanging out with them 🥰