What's Fresh April 2, 2012

 

Spring has definitely arrived at Bindweed, just ahead of the Easter Bunny!  And we are ready.  RT, Carey and I have been out trimming, cutting and harvesting and this is what we have for your Easter Baskets.

French Tulips

This is a field shot of Maureen, a very long white French tulip in the greenhouse.  If you look in the upper right corner you just might see our resident Easter bunny, RT.

Grand Style, a long stemmed big French tulip

Big Smile, a long stemmed yellow French tulip

 Happy Generation, a yellow tulip with deep coral stripes

Happy Generation, close-up

Menton, another large French tulip, shell pink and salmon with pink undertones. 

Mystery Yellow tulip.  Really.  This is not a tulip that we ordered or can identify but would love to know what it is because it is a great tulip.  A bit shorter and more compact than Big Smile this tulip has really great foliage, sturdy with this striking yellow edge.

If anyone can identify this tulip variety, please let me know.

Orange Queen, large yellow orange heads with deeper orange accents.

Gavote, a new tulip for us.  It is a smaller tulip but gorgeous.

Gavote, close-up side view.  Gavote is the perfect combination of deep purple and gold.

Sorbet, with very delicate pastel tones this tulip is perfect for spring celebrations.

We have just a few more Spring Green this week.  

Parrot tulips

Flaming Parrot tulip, I wait anxiously for this tulips every year.  It just delights me.

Super White Parrot

We have Super White and White Parrots at the moment.  There is very little difference between them.  The super white is shorter and has a larger head, the white parrot is taller with a more slender profile.

Hyacinths

Carey took this photo of me carrying in newly harvested hyacinth.  We have purple, pink, peach and yellow, harvest with the bulbs intact.

Ranunculus

We have assorted bunches of ranunculus, in the center you can see a bundle of green centered ranunculus.

Anemones

We are still harvesting purple and white anemones daily.

As always, please consult your fax and email for full availability.  Call or email to pre-order for Easter Week.

What's Fresh: March 16

It may be overcast and cold outside but inside the green houses--Spring is here!
RT is cutting tulips every four hours. 

Rococo Parrot tulip

Apricot Parrot tulip

Rai Parrot tulip

We have a colorful selection of hyacinth.

Peach,  Pink  and Yellow.

Clearwater White French tulip

Atilla Purple French tulip

Yellow French tulip

Blue and White anemones and assorted ranunculus.  In the top left corner are the newest Bindweed trial, Green Ranunculus.

Pussy Willow

For full availability please consult your fax and email.  Feel free to call or email an order anytime.  Deliveries to Sun Valley on Monday and our good friends at Go fer-it are happy to deliver just about anywhere between Boise and Jackson, Monday through Friday.

Bouquets

I am so confused!  One morning we wake to blue skies and the fields look like pans of brownie batter.  The very next day the rows are blanketed in white and frost coats every twig!  So to combat this case of weird weather blues I assembled some of my favorite spring bouquets from the farm last year...

 

 

 ...and these beauties I put together today.

 There may be snow on the ground and skies full of lead, but color and hope for the spring ahead are right here.

Greenhouse Experiment: Anemones

Every year we do a little research and development on the farm.  This year we converted one of the hoop houses to a heated greenhouse, doubling our early production real estate and heating costs.  Last fall we sectioned off half of one of the greenhouses with a plastic wall and planted anemones, ranunculus and hellebores.  It has been such a mild winter that I have had fresh flowers in the house for weeks and we now have anemones coming out of our ears!

 This is a great shot of the greenhouse division--anemones on the right, ranunculus on the left and RT placing transplants at the back.  He removed the plastic "wall" last week to make ready for new transplants but it was just behind all the greenery.

 We spent a long day in various squat positions last week transplanting over 3,000 new starts.  It looks like RT does all the work here but only because  he is NOT to be trusted with the camera.  I was right there with him--he removed the transplants from the plug tray and placed them and I set them in.  We filled the first greenhouse to capacity with snap dragons, Bells of Ireland and matricaria.

 Then we moved to the newly converted greenhouse and planted a long row, 100 feet, with the same varieties.  The ground in the middle of this photo is full of tulips planted last fall.

RT is demonstrating the most difficult planting position--the up against the greenhouse double knee side stretch.  It's a killer!