The End & The Beginning November 17, 2009
It’s a sad truth: this was the last season I would be growing in the garden I’ve written about here on this blog for two years. I knew this and yet the thud of my heart falling to the ground as I began to rip out the plantings I had tended so diligently for the past two growing seasons still surprised me. I was very attached to my “Jardin de Jennie”. Here’s what it looked like at the end of its existence. The hard frost on November 5th had killed everything in the vegetable plot anyway so that wasn’t so difficult to rip out. It was the ornamental beds full of perennials and my three darling Metasequoia trees that made my shovel pause in its destruction.
Vegetable patch after the hard frost
All Gone!
Exploring Ambience November 12, 2009
My floral design class at the moment is all about exploring different design “ambiences”, or moods, really. The past two weeks have had very contrasting ambiences: exotic and natural. I much perfer the natural, but the exotic was fun to try.
Exotic Ambience
Natural Ambience (Floral Wall Tapestry)
On another note, the last of my own cut flowers ended this past week with our first hard frost on November 5th. I still had just a few bunches to sell at the farmers market that I managed to harvest just before the frost, but that was the last of them for this year. Time to start planning for next season and possibly growing cuts in a hoop house of my very own!
A Bit of This, A Touch of That October 21, 2009
I’m once again taking a floral design class, and I’m also finishing up my flower growing season. As a result, I’m getting quite an odd collection of design samples to show you. Rather than put up a bunch of snippets, I thought I’d put a collection of them together in one post. Forgive me if this seems a tad unorganized.
autumn mille de fleur
hydrangea & grapevine wreath
The Pie Patch October 13, 2009
Quite some time ago, I put up a little post about getting a new community garden and my own plot in it started this past spring. I dubbed it The Pie Patch because I planted mostly things that would go well in a pie: currents, loingonberries, rhubarb, and gooseberries. I realized the other day that I hadn’t taken a picture of the plot in awhile and wanted some to document growth after the first season. You’ll notice the rhubarb is on a rampage! I’m going to give the young shrubs some extra TLC later this fall to get them through their first winter by putting a burlap windbreak around them and mulching with a thick layer of leaves. Can’t wait to start baking those pies next year!
Going, Going…Gone? October 13, 2009
The last few days of the 2009 growing season are really eeking away. The weather has been chilly and generally damp since September and I was certain we’d get an early frost. Our expected frost date in this area is October 15th. We’re just about there, and truth be told, I’m ready for it. My garden was just plain disappointing this season. I’m not beating myself up about it. I’m just ready to put it to bed and forget all the heartbreak. Usually I scurry around putting blankets on things I want to protect from the first frost and squeeze out a week or two more of growing, but this year I’m unexpectedly anxious to get to ripping out the annuals and cutting back the perennials so I can focus on planning for next year.
Click “more” to see a series of photos that show the progression of my garden’s growth this season.
ASCFG National Conference October 13, 2009
Last week I attended the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers annual national conference on Long Island, New York. What an amazing treat it turned out to be, and I really could go on forever about the passionate attendees, the knowledgable speakers, the spot-on demonstrations, the beautiful tours, the kindred connections that were made, and generally how generous and energetic this whole organization is. I’ll refrain and keep it to this: if you are someone who is interested in starting or already have a small cut flower production going (“farm” may be too elaborate for some of you and that’s okay) with the idea to make some money at it, you need to join ASCFG and you should make it a priority to attend next year’s conference and perhaps some of their regional meetings as well. The exchange of ideas and information is invaluable, not to mention a heck of a lot of fun!
A Visit to Landcraft October 13, 2009
Delightful Landcraft Environmental is both a personal garden for entertaining and a showcase for the wholesale nursery next door run by its creators, Dennis Schrader and Bill Smith. Dennis was kind enough to show a group of us from the ASCFG around and to answer my volley of excited questions about his rather exotic combinations of plants throughout the masterful garden stuffed to the gills with details, destinations, hideaways, rustic art and sumptuious textures. It’s well worth a visit!
PASA Dinner @ Longwood October 12, 2009
This past Saturday I had the privilege once again of doing the floral work for the PASA (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) fundraiser dinner at Longwood Gardens. This event is quite special, featuring ingredients sourced from local farms and served by the outstanding catering staff at Longwood in the Main Conservatory just as the autumn sun is setting. This year I not only arranged all the flowers and created custom name tags, but I also grew/picked all the flowers myself. What fun to be a featured grower at this delightful dinner!
