Fresh Cuts: April 29

Poppy Love

Coral Icelandic Poppies "Champagne Bubbles"

I adore poppies.  There are poppies scattered all around the house so they are visible from every window.  I delight in their contradictory nature--petals seemingly fragile and delicate but suffused with strong deep color--kind of like punked-out ballerinas.  I dig'em.

Our greenhouse Icelandic poppies are loving the cool night temperatures and are blooming profusely.  These poppies are specialty hybrids, created as cut flowers and have tremendous vase life.  I get at least a week, if not ten days in the vase.

White Icelandic Poppy

Red Cap Parrot tulip, pink Giant Hyacinth and Icelandic Poppy bouquet

White foxglove--digitalis

We have a fantastic crop of white Foxglove--creamy white bells dotted with wine colored freckles on 3 foot stems.  What's not to love!

Snapdragon "Chantilly" pink

 We are also cutting the first crop of Chantilly snapdragons in lipstick pink.  That is not the official color but I grew up in the sixties and that is the color my mother wore/wears.  And if your mother wore this particular shade of lipstick you know this color exactly!

Tulips, tulips, waves and waves of tulips.

We are harvesting the second wave of tulips, those planted in the hoop house.  The foliage and colors are very robust.  These tulips are very happy and healthy.

I just slipped out and took photos of some of the tulips in the hoop house.  These varieties are blooming right now:  Maureen, Superlife, Perestroika, Impression in Red, Pink and Apricot, Golden parade, Parade, Clearwater, Hocus Pocus, Mariette, Big Smile, Neon Lights, Oillioules and parrot tulips, Rococo, Flaming and Red Cap.  If I do not have a photo of a particular variety here please follow this link to the official Bindweed Tulip Chart.

"Red Impression"

"Apricot Impression"

"Clearwater"

"Mariette"

"Maureen"

"Pink Impression"

Parrot tulip "Rococo"

"Ollioules" and "Toyota" tulips

Two new varieties have just come into bloom--Ollioules, on the left, and Toyota, on the right.

Toyota is a rosy pink with yellow frosting on the edges of each petal.

"Ollioules"

Ollioules is a soft pink lavender that appears silverish when first cut.  (I can describe it but am not too sure about the pronunciation, French is not one of my languages.)

Please refer to your fax and email for current availability and have a gorgeous flower filled day.

Fresh Cuts: April 22

This is an insect hotel--people all over the world are creating habitats for bugs, the good bugs.  Good bugs are referred to as beneficial insects because they either provide a service or create a product.  Like bees, they pollinate myriads of crops and create honey.  Other insects--like lady bugs, lace wings and praying mantis, prey on crop destroying pests.  As farmers we try to attract these beneficial insects by providing habitat.  Habitat for these beneficial insects is disappearing so people all over the world are creating "hotels" on their farms and in their gardens.  Follow the link to see some of these enchanting creations.  I think Carlee and I need to make an insect hotel.

She was here last week "helping" on the farm.  I dug out the last of the tulip bulbs in the greenhouse and Carlee collected earthworms.

It absolutely delights me that this Barbie loving/future princess/queen of all things pink LOVES to play in the dirt!!  You would not have believed the ring she left in the bathtub.

Even though it has been a cold week there are signs of spring--if you know where to look.

We received thousands of seedlings yesterday and began planting them in the newly cleaned-out tulip beds in the greenhouse--out with one crop and in with another.

Tomorrow we will have a crew here to help with the plants in the beds outside.

In the meantime we are busy harvesting tulips from the hoop house.  The Impressions have begun to bloom first so we have red, pink and apricot Impression tulips.  (You can follow the link to my post of our 2013 varieties for good photos.)

We also have orange, yellow and white French tulips.  We have Flaming Parrot, Red Cap Parrot, Salmon Parrot and Rococo Parrot tulips too.

We have daffodils, Icelandic poppies and giant hyacinth.

 

This crop of Icelandic poppies is our best EVER.  We tried a new variety, Champagne Bubbles, and timed them to bloom early.  They are stunning, they love the cool and are bursting with life and color.

 

We have a beautiful crop of white Foxglove.  They are divine! 

 

The Chantilly snaps we planted on Ground Hog's Day are just beginning to bloom too.  We only have a bunch or two this week but soon the greenhouse with be full of snaps.

As always, please check your email and fax for full availability and have a gorgeous day.

Fresh Cuts: April 15

Query:  What do frustrated painters/farmers do when they are too busy farming to paint?

We "paint" with our cameras--well actually I use my iphone.

Even though the wind was raging the skies were bright and I put the sunshine to good use.

The vile weather put a stop to all work outside so I got a little design time.  I was taught that redheads should never wear pink, or orange or red...but I like breaking the rules.

I think the orange and magenta tulips, the coral poppy, the pink salmon parrot and the rococo parrot tulips were made for each other.  They strike the perfect counter point for one another and the red tones in each flower create a delicious harmony.  (I just wish I had some purple tulips to push this even farther.)

Obviously we have tulips and poppies this week.  I pulled some buckets out of the cooler so I could show you some varieties available this week.

Pink parrots

Rococo and Red Cap parrots

I am a little smitten with Rococo--I just devour the deep saturated color.

We have a few different varieties of yellow--Big Smile and La Courtine, which has a red stripe on each petal.

Avignon, which ripens to a fabulous deep mango.

Clearwater, a lovely clear white tulip.

Temple of Beauty, a deep coral lily-tipped tulip.

Super Life, one of our new varieties this year--hot pink to magenta.

Super Life open and fully colored.

We have gorgeous Icelandic poppies, our best crop ever.

And we have daffodils, the first blooms harvested outside the greenhouses this spring.

Please check your fax and email for current availability.