What’s Growing on in the Garden: May 2024

June has arrived, which means that summer is not far behind! I can hardly believe that spring and most of its quintessential flowers have come and gone. In May, we said goodbye to the last of our specialty tulips, narcissus, and other spring bulbs and had a quick few weeks with the peonies. Working with these flowers is always such a treat, and it is bittersweet to see them go. Spring flowers are some of my absolute favorites, and I miss them, but I also look forward to other flower varieties that will still come this season. Before moving on, let’s look at what grew on the farm last month.

Thanks to our new cooler, I worked with the specialty tulips from April through Mother’s Day. Now that I have this essential machine, I can’t imagine growing cut flowers without it! The cooler has genuinely revolutionized our flower production. In addition to the tulips, lilacs, ranunculus, anemones, and other spring delights we included in our spring CSA subscription bouquets, our members were treated to fragrant narcissus and Iceland Hummingbird poppies.

As the tulips and narcissus faded, a new wave of spring blooms emerged! These included baptisia, geum, bluebells, irises, and one of my perennial favorites, peonies. Baptisia, a versatile perennial whose flowers, leaves, and seed pods we use in our bouquets, is a farm favorite. Seeing the bees buzzing with excitement as they visit each bloom is a testament to its popularity among pollinators.

I planted geum last season and was delighted to have a bountiful harvest this year. I love the dainty peach and orange blooms, which add a bit of whimsy to each bouquet. They have an excellent vase life, too!

Bluebells are also new to the farm this year. I love the color and shape of the flowers, which looked lovely in our arrangements. However, I have since discovered that some growers find these flowers aggressive wanderers in the garden, so I must keep them in check.

In May, both bearded and Siberian irises came into bloom. It is always a delight to see these beautiful flowers. They don’t always last long in a vase, but their beauty and star quality are hard to resist. I love seeing them tower in the garden in mid-spring.

Mother’s Day came in mid-May, and we put a lot of energy and time into creating a pop-up event. We offered mixed arrangements, special order arrangements, and bunches of our specialty tulips, fragrant narcissus, and Iceland hummingbird poppies. It was a joy to welcome visitors to the farm and share our flowers to celebrate our community’s moms and mother figures.

After saying goodbye to the last tulips and narcissus, the peonies came in to steal the show. These fluffy-petaled wonders are such a joy to behold each season. The fact that they are long-lived perennials that appear each year with little care makes them all the more endearing. There is nothing like a vaseful of peonies to brighten a room and your mood. Sadly, as quickly as they come into bloom, they fade. We get to enjoy these magnificent flowers for just a few short weeks.

It won’t be long before we also say goodbye to our ranunculus, anemones, and poppies. It has been an unusually warm spring, and they are not keen on growing in the heat. They will be replaced with succession sowings of zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers, which will be more appreciative of the warmer temperatures. This transition mimics the changing seasons and reminds me to stop and savor these moments as they are fleeting.

Besides the harvesting that has kept me busy, May was also a month of planting. The rest of our direct-sown seeds and all the seedlings we started indoors weeks ago were planted. Dahlia tubers were also tucked into the soil. Besides planting, tasks such as installing our (first ever!) irrigation system, placing our netting on our blueberries, and tackling the many weeds that have popped up kept us busy. My to-do list in May and June always seems endless, but there is a feeling of quiet satisfaction when completed. And all of the labor, the literal labor of love, becomes worth it when I lay eyes on each bloom or taste fresh produce, all grown here on the farm.

While I reminisce and remain in awe of all of nature’s beauty that has gone through my hands this season, I also look forward to all that is yet to come. That’s what’s been growing on here; what’s been growing on in your garden?