John and I pour over seed catalogs beginning in September, to identify the absolutely most wonderful plants to grow for the next year's flower bunches. After his hanging baskets, flower bunches are John's most exiting product. He loves to make them colorful and unique, and he almost always adds herbs to the bunches so that they smell as well as look wonderful.
This year John hired a wonderful young woman (Stephanie) to help with the greenhouses and garden. Steph was a real weeder, and took excellent care of our cutting garden until she had to leave for college. Here are some pics:
In addition to the cutting garden, we grow glads, dahlias and sunflowers in a field setting near the pond and brook on the property. Each year it seems that one variety does much better than the others and one variety does much worse. This year, the sunflowers were strong, but the dahlias bloomed late due to a cool and wet June/July. The glads were a huge disappointment. Many turned brown before opening and it seemed only the orange and red were able to overcome the weather conditions. Of the more than 1200 bulbs John planted, only 10% were salable.
As long as the frost holds off, we will have beautiful flower bunches for sale. We have done table centerpieces for weddings and anniversary parties, and provided gorgeous, colorful arrangements for birthdays and anniversaries, to brighten a hospital or nursing home room, as well as for sellers holding open houses. Our bunches have also given to clients by our real estate agent and friend, Amy, and placed at the cemetary in honor of loved ones. We sell them in our store daily and at the farmers markets we attend in Springfield.
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