Petal Seekers Garden Journal-Spring Has Sprung Or Has It?

I know it's not officially spring but spring has sprung for me. I have cut back my roses and my panicle hydrangeas too and I'm ready to see them come to life. All in time I guess. I can't believe the abundance I've already seen around our little farm even though it's unofficial. It's like opening a gift at Christmas when I walk around our flower farm each day to see what new things have popped out of the ground.

Maybe you're not ready to get out and work in your garden yet but you can still plan what goes out there. To me, this is one of the most exciting steps of having a garden and flower farm. What will we sow? What did I kill last year? Do I want to try again? I feel like my plans are always bigger than what I can do. I buy way too many seeds but I always have hope to get them planted. I order things all year long-yes, seriously. I order my seeds in July/August for the next year. Bulbs I order by May or before- so many suppliers will be sold out of things I want if I don't plan well in advance. Sometimes I miss out.

Have you ever heard of cool season flowers? Well, this is the time of year you want to plant them in your garden. Maybe you know about cool season vegetables-it's really about the same. You can also plant cool season flowers in the fall too but they usually require a bit more care to keep alive-but not always. Cool season flowers thrive in temps that the warm summer annuals do not. Things like snapdragons love cooler weather-Nigella, Foxglove, Larkspur, Dara, Dianthus and I could go on and on. I learned all about these flowers and what they like from many sources-one being Lisa Mason Ziegler's book Cool Flowers. Lisa's book opened me up to the whole flower farming community-yes it really is a community.

The picture of me above is with Jenny Love of Love N Fresh Flowers of Pennsylvania. Jenny is a farmer/florist-meaning she is a flower farmer and she takes her blooms and designs for floral work like a traditional florist. I got to meet her at a Regenerative Farming Conference at Kentucky State University Research Farm where she was the keynote speaker.

It is just so wonderful to meet people that are so passionate about what they do and are willing to share what they have learned so I can be successful too.

Yes y'all, spring has sprung at Petal Seekers. I've waited all winter. It's time to get to work. See you soon!