Our Green Winter Oasis
In our propagation house, despite frozen grounds, we nurture vibrant dahlias, cold-tolerant seeds, and new varieties like sapponaria and love grass. The fluctuating temperature challenges patience, but the anticipation of a blossoming season keeps us excited. Stay tuned for the floral wonders! 🌱🌸 #SpringPrep #FlowerFarm
The ground may be frozen and covered with snow, but inside our propagation house, it’s filled with lush, verdant plants. It’s our oasis while we wait for the spring to really start going. Can you imagine the warm, moisture rich, plant smell as you walk into this place? It’s the stuff dreams are made of!
What do we have growing right now, you ask? So much! Admittedly, we kept some of our dahlias from going into hibernation. We grabbed 10 tubers (or more) from each variety we wanted to build more stock from, potted them up and started the process as of November 1st. We’ve been taking cuttings all winter! Shown below is just a few of the cuttings that we have in the prop house. We have so many now, we had to send some to an overflow space. Just awesome!
If you’re curious about what I’m talking about, or how to do this, check out our YouTube video for more information: Taking Dahlia Cuttings
We also have tons of seeds started, but mostly seeds that can take a bit of cold. Flowers like snapdragons, statice, strawflower, and agrostemma are great for this. They don’t mind getting a little chilled, as long as there’s not direct frost hitting them. They’re perfect for early season, because we can stash them in our unheated greenhouses.
Some of the new seeds we’re trying this year are these hollyhocks. I’m in love with their pretty little frills and the colors are gorgeous. We’re planning on adding these by the Flower Cottage to add a cottage garden effect. I can’t wait to see how they turn out.
Another new variety of flower we’re growing this year is sapponaria. This dainty annual will add a little extra sparkle to bouquets we sell this year. I just love the airiness and pretty color it’ll add. From all indications, it’s going to be a smashing success, but you’ll have to tell us what you think!
Our friends, the Hong-Elder Boys, prompted us to try out love grass this year. We sowed the seeds and it’s starting to come up! It seems to be pretty slow growing at the moment, but I’m hoping to give it plenty of time to grow before putting in the ground.
Below is a picture of the seed starts in the prop house. We observed that seeds germinate a little more sporadically, because the temperature in there isn’t regulated as easily and can generally has a pretty wild fluctuation of temperature…anywhere between 65-85 degrees. The seedlings prefer to be around 70 degrees or so for best germination. However, I just visited the prop house again tonight and saw many, many new little seedlings popping up. I have to keep reminding myself to practice patience, which really isn’t be strong suit.
We’ve been starting seeds day and night and it’ll be this way until the end of June. It’s officially growing season time for our flower farm! I can hardly wait to have flowers again to bring into the house, share with friends, and to work with for floral design. Although it’s only been a few short months, it feels like forever ago that we had flowers.
Happy growing, our friends and feel free to let us know what special things you might be growing this year. We’ve already found so much inspiration in what people have shared with us already! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for following along with us.
Jenn XX
Incredible Allium
Allium, a low-maintenance garden gem, often goes unnoticed. Its whimsical, lollipop-like blooms bring unique charm to the garden. At PepperHarrow, we use allium in spring bouquets and transform them into enchanting 'fairy wands' as they dry. Discover the versatile beauty of this overlooked flower! 🌸🍭 #GardenGems #AlliumBlooms
Allium often gets overlooked and doesn’t get the recognition or praise that it should in the garden. It’s a flower that people typically plant into their gardens and tend to forget, because it’s so low maintenance. Allium is one of those wonderful bulbs that you can plant into the ground and just walk away from. Can anything be better?!
Their perfectly formed little balls on top of their stem give them a whimsical and lollipop look. Shown below, the contrast of the purple of the allium with ninebark is unusual and stunning. The perfect contrast for true garden design.
Here at PepperHarrow, we use allium for all kinds of things. In the spring, we use them in bouquets for market, weddings, and sell them as single stem flowers (artists love them!). Towards late spring, they dry on the stem and transition into lovely ‘fairy wands’ as Adam calls them. Once dried, they can be hung upside down and stored for fall/winter use in wreaths, or also spray painted in all sorts of gorgeous colors to make an interesting dried bouquet of colorful flowers.