Booking 2015 Weddings with Dahlia Love

I thought I would offer up Dahlias as today's fantastic Fleur du Jour as both a way to really make us miss, I MEAN LOOK FORWARD TO, summer and as a way to say I AM NOW TAKING BOOKINGS FOR 2015 WEDDINGS.  

While many people think of Dahlias as fall flowers, which they most certainly are, Dahlias here start blooming at the tail end of June and early July. Different varieties are earlier or later by nature in showing off their remarkable blooms. Some variability also results from how early or late spring arrives and from how "on time" I am with putting the tubers in the field. Last year it was cold longer and I was later. That said, I cut the first flower on July 7. If you are planning a wedding before July, no need to worry as plenty of amazing flowers bloom before the dahlias!

For couples looking for late summer and fall weddings, Dahlias can be a lovely addition to bouquets, centerpieces and other floral designs. As a rule, I like to limit my full service weddings to one a day so as to give the best of myself and my flowers. I will add bulk flower orders for DIY brides who are making their own arrangements and will put together bouquets or other wear and carry pieces for the same day for my "Something In Between" brides if I feel I can do so with the quality I demand.  So, as we wait for dahlias together, please contact me soon if you, or someone you know, are looking for your 2015 wedding florist. Congratulations to all the BEAUTIFUL  wedding couples and their families.

More June Blooms

The bright yellow yarrow in lower right puts real zip into any bouquet. Yellow and orange red hot pokers can be seen in the center of this grouping.

In the previous Fleur du Jour I highlighted the bright and smashing red hot pokers, which actually come in many shades from red to orange to yellow as well as mixes of the above.

Today I want to share a lovely pink and yellow combination from June, in which the yellow red hot poker and amazing yellow yarrow work beautifully with the season's pink dianthus, pink larkspur and pink Canterbury bells.

Last year I cut 295 stems of the truly striking yellow yarrow known as Coronation Gold for early summer bouquets, and saved another 125 stems for fall cuts.

By the time I take the fall cuts, the once bright yellow flower heads are a perfectly muted golden tone for the fall palette.

With first cuts of Coronation gold yarrow made on June 10th last year, we have just over 120 days (and much snowmelt) to go to 2015 blooms.

Fleur du Jour - Red Hot Poker that's not always red

Red Hot Poker at Butternut Gardens

One of the more interesting June blooms here

at Butternut Gardens is Red Hot Poker, or

Kniphofia. It comes in several varieties, not all

red, in spite of their name. 

They range from red to orange to yellow, and some are multi-colored. Their bright colors are fun to work with. Last year, one of my DIYers found the Red Hot Pokers particularly useful for the Fiesta theme which also featured potted succulents.

Last year I made the first cuts on June 10 and

followed up with 497 more, while still leaving

a number in the field.  So, here's to a speedy return of the Red Hot Pokers, somewhere around 120 days from today.

Red Hot Pokers run the gamut from red to orange to yellow.

Delphiniums mean June!

Let's keep the color coming as we dream of spring and summer flowers, and give the nod for today's Fleur du Jour to our wonderful Delphinium. From soft, light blue, to royal blue, to deep, rich dark-as-night blue our many colors of Delphinium add gorgeous color to complement or strike a contrasting note with other flowers. Let's not forget that we also have access to white and lavender Delphinium as well. Last year's first Delphinium cuts were taken on June 3rd and we had beautiful blue blooms the whole month through for a total of 354 stems. What's fun about Delphinium is that every year I always get some late summer and fall blooms to clip and add to our strong late season colors.

A splash of color to a summer bouquet

Zinnias are Coming!

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

I choose today's Fleur du Jour - beautiful and bold Zinnias - to brighten up this white, wintry landscape. I cut thousands of Zinnias each year. They are one of the best cut and come again flowers going for summer and fall. Last year's first Zinnias popped open on June 10th and continued to frost, gracing bouquets and arrangements for a good 4 months. In 2014 I cut 3,242 stems of one variety alone (many different colors). It was not the best year for "zins" but I would say that was certainly good enough! Based on last year's first cut date, only 128 days to beautiful show-stopping Zinnias! Wow!

Whacking out here with today's Fleur du Jour

Ok, so we have super cold temperatures, snow on the ground, more snow expected tomorrow and even colder temperatures after that. It is time to pull in the big guns for today's Fleur du Jour. Normally that would mean a fantastic ohhhh ahhhh photo of some supernatural dahlias or sunflowers or ANYTHING to bring Spring to mind. After all, I initially started my Fleur du Jour as a way to bring hope for Spring by figuring out how many days remained until we had certain flowers in bloom based on last year's bloom time. Ah, but what is normal these days, anyway? I think Super Bowl weekend calls for something a bit different, indeed! This cactus bowl has been sitting in my family room for at least a decade. I tend to utterly neglect houseplants so, when one of my children gave me a houseplant as a gift eons ago,  the cactus bowl (CB) was a great choice. Upon initial receipt, some God awful flowers had been hot glued to the top of the green cactus in the store to make it look like it was in bloom. Yes, it was colorful, but it didn't fool ME! Not at all. Those flowers were as fake as fake could be. I do believe my child was quite loving in choosing a plant for me. For that I will always be thankful. Of course, I have had thoughts of neglecting the famed CB for good, but it is likely to become one of those things that gets distributed once I am gone. I am loyal to a fault. 

So, instead of total neglect, I took a different route. The pink flamingo and garden gnome seemed the perfect additions for this Arizona theme. They have been hanging out in the CB for 4 or 5 years by now. Charming with the southwestern motif on the bowl, n'est-ce pas? Enjoy the winter weather or get yourself somewhere warm and sunny.  More bona fide fleurs coming in future posts, I promise.

Fleur du Jour - Just show me the dirt!

Since I started Fleur du Jour as a sort of countdown to Spring and fresh garden flowers, I find it necessary right about now to remind everyone of the simple beauty of soil. Is it not the soil which nourishes the plants, holds the roots, houses the microfauna, holds the water, and feels so incredibly wonderful as it runs through our fingers? I don't know about you, but we just had two snowfalls, are completely snow-covered, are expecting more snow in another day, and then one or two more snow "events" (some event, huh?) in the upcoming week, so I am suddenly really missing the beautiful brown soil and welcoming spring green grass, which grows between my flower rows. Since I am in a suburban neighborhood, I try to make my flowers fit in, hence the 4' flower rows separated by about 30" rows of suburban-familiar lawn. Even with the loss of space to lawn cover, this little flower farm that could, known as Butternut Gardens, cranked out nearly 45,000 cut flower stems in 2014. Here's to nice, warm organic soil! Hope to be working it by mid March, which means only 49 days to dirty hands and fingernails. Yahoo!

Fleur du Jour for Post Blizzard 2015 hope for spring - Anemone

Anemones from Butternut Gardens enjoying the company of Scilla.

Everything outside is white. Except for the leafless trees. How patiently they wait for spring. A lesson to teach. Blizzard 2015 has come and gone, leaving less snow than predicted, but a sizable cover nonetheless. Nestled among the snow I have five low tunnels harboring Anemone and Ranunculus. Today's Fleur du Jour - Anemone - should be coming along by mid-April, if not sooner.  Sometimes when it is frozenn outside, the soil under the plastic low tunnels is still in the 50's. Last year I only planted red Anemoe and red and white bicolor Anemone.  This year I have added some more subdued colors as well - perfect for weddings. Enjoy the snow, if you have it. Only 70 days to Anemones. Not long at all.