When the availability list starts to shrink instead of grow, I know that it is mid-August and we are nearing the end of our season. Deep sigh...but we still have a few more incredible weeks of full harvest and beautiful flowers. The nights are getting cooler but the days are long and warm, perfect weather for thriving flowers.
Like the humming birds that fill the air I am drawn in by the colors of August. Deep summer flowers are vibrant and lush, the colors rich and saturated, spanning the warm side of the color wheel and accented by the last of the blue flowers--lavender, scabiosa and the last flush of delphinium. Deep crimson and hot coral zinnias call in the hummingbirds and they zip around our heads as we harvest, their urgency infectious and we cut and cut and cut. In the next few weeks we greet a few new varieties and say goodbye to some others.
Celosia
Wow, how is this for a deep saturated color! Only celosia can produce these neon hues--amazing. I love to contrast it with the bronze tones of Diablo and Chocolate Susans, the gold notes of suns or heliopsis and just a touch of verbena or lavender scabiosa. I just love painting with flowers.
Cosmos
This little flower is so popular that even though we have been cutting it for weeks I have not mentioned it here because we have had more demand than supply. It is so delicate and lovely so I can understand why. The perfect white flower to accent all the rich deep jewel tones of August.
Cleome
We are nearing the end of the cleome harvest now. If you have not tried this unusual flower yet I hope you get the opportunity. It is so gorgeous, long lived and has a clean fragrance, very similar to freshly cut cucumbers.
Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia
A cousin to Black-eyed Susans and Chocolate Susans this rudbeckia has the same chocolate kiss center but is surrounded by wine colored petals. Gorgeous--makes me crave a big glass of Cabernet Savignon and some dark chocolate.
Euphorbia Marginata
This is our most outstanding crop of euphorbia ever--I am euphoric over it! Each stem is well over two and a half feet tall with branching side stems that culminate in these beautiful white laced margins. Such a delicate finale for a long strong stem.
Betty's Blues Lavender
We planted three new varieties of lavender this year and this one if my favorite thus far. It has a beautiful deep blue velvet blossom on strong stems. This lavender will not disappear in a bouquet.
Lemon Bee Balm
In the mornings RT has to dodge the humming birds to get to this flower. He says it is their favorite flower on the farm. I like to too, it has a fresh fragrance, ethereal color--lavender melting into jade green--and it reminds me of something Dr Suess might draw.
Limelight
The hydrangea, like so much on the farm this year, have all bloomed late. The limelight is just starting this week but it is really taking advantage of the cool nights and the flower heads are stunning.
Lysimachia Gooseneck Loosestrife
Another sign of August, loosestrife blooms in deep summer. This fresh dainty head opens into a cone of white star-shaped flowers and lasts forever. The deep green leaves are the perfect complement to this lovely flower. I keep handfuls of it in jars all over the house.
Annual Scabiosa Lavender
Gosh I think I have to gush over this scabiosa--it is just lovely. The heads are so unusual, like huge lavender berries accented by a halo of blooms on long stems. My favorite this week.
Annual Scabiosa Red
Here is the sister to the lavender scabiosa and these unopened buds really do resemble ripe berries that burst into clusters of scarlet blooms accented with white confetti.
Sunflowers
The Italian for sunflower is "girasole" which translates as turns with the sun. Each morning I look out the bedroom window and see the rows facing east, greeting the dawn. Each evening the heads turn west and catch the last rays of the setting sun. "Molto romantica"--pretty romantic--this beautiful flower is aptly named.
Teddy bear Suns
So every time we harvest teddy bear suns that song by Don McLean "Starry Starry Night", his tribute to Vincent Van Gough, runs over and over in my head. Vincent is one of my personal heroes and I love his sunflower paintings. As a child admiring his work, I thought that flowers like Vincent's sunflowers only grew in France. Now I can grow (and paint) them.
Verbena Bonariensis
Another "blue" flower, the verbena is in full flush right now and it looks like a lavender cloud floating above the black-eyed susans in the field. I love the contrast this flower provides--the perfect punch to accentuate big golden orange flowers like rudbeckia, heliopsis, sunflowers and zinnias. I always plant some on the south side of our big red barn because I so enjoy this play of warm and cool, red and blue.
Viburnum
The viburnum berries are prime right now and we have a lot of them. They hold very well and are an interesting textural addition. Get them before the birds eat them all!
Grasses:
Explosion Grass
We will be harvesting the last planting of explosion grass soon. It is at the perfect bloom stage--tight lime green heads mixed with riper heads opening into bronze fountains. A very exciting textural element.
Tapestry
Our new millet is called Tapestry. Very much like Highlander millet it has much the same color and texture. Tapestry differs in its seed head structure, rather than one long simple head, the seed head resembles clusters or knots of seeds. It almost looks as if it were braided or woven, hence the name Tapestry. I simply adore it.
As always, please consult your email and fax for full availability.
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