Happy Friday! I hope things are going well in your part of the world.

It’s been a bit tricky here, not sure what’s going on with things, but feeling out of sorts and a bit off center. I’m sure things will straighten out soon. No motivation, and all I want to do is sleep….this isn’t very conducive to gardening and doing flower arrangements. There’s always an adjustment to be made when school ends, I didn’t think there would be one this year considering school hasn’t been in meeting in person since March 15th, but apparently, here I am…..trying to adjust…. I think I may also have a bit of an ear infection, the doctor did some looking and some poking, so for now it’s ear drops for a few days then a re-check and see if things are better.

The garden is slowly coloring up. Of course it’s fun to do our nightly walks, see what’s popping and what’s sharing it’s colors.

Sometimes something will be sharing it’s color and I’ll think “well, how am I going to use that? It’s not the right height….or it’s too thick…or…” But then as it grows and changes, it will make sense to use it in some way. There’s always some sort of hidden potential!

An example of that is the Peppermint Balsam, getting it’s name from the candy cane stripped looking bloom, that starts at the base and opens to the top. It’s not very far along yet, but I’m keeping an eye on it to see what it does. Right now it’s kinda short….not something I’d put in a market bouquet!

Another one was the Lemon Balm, I almost ripped all of them out. It started out just fine in the greenhouse, but it seemed flat to me, almost ground cover like when I put it in the garden it was just flat leaves laying on the ground – it was odd. It was free seed I received from an order I placed with Rare Seeds. I thought perhaps that I didn’t end up with what the package said it was….but I’ll be darned – I was out there yesterday and noticed it’s at least 12 inches tall now and very happy! It will prove to be a very nice greenery.

One thing about having 1,400 seedlings, is that often times things get over looked because I’m busy fussing over something else. It was the same way in the greenhouse, checking on the six shelves and missing something, I had to very purposefully and systematically look at things and focus or I would miss something that needed extra attention. Sometimes I would do it on purpose so I wasn’t obsessing about the same plant, just push it to the back and let it do it’s thing and be surprised when it did well.

Both the Eucalyptus and the Lavender were this way for me this year. I put the seeds in soil in January and just pushed them to the back, I know they are slow, I know they are low germination, and I know they like it warm and dry. And I really, really wanted them, so I had to push them to the back to let the magic happen and keep busy so I didn’t fuss too much. I have three Eucalyptus plants, about 8 inches tall right now. They are being held over in the greenhouse, I pinched one to see if it would branch more….which it really hasn’t done much of anything spectacular – other than not die! The two others that are not pinched are completely different, one is branchier, one is just growing on a single stem-ridiculous! But at least it’s growing, perhaps I will get some branches this year! They will be held over in the greenhouse or perhaps the garage for the winter.

The Lavender is doing very well, bushy and happy! I bought Lavish Pink plugs from the supplier in New Brunswick, which are super happy and hardy, I started the English type via seed. We’ll see where it ends up and how well it ends up doing.

I have some confused Zinnia’s, sad & confused, they want to party, but it’s just not going well for them, and I’ll have to snip their heads off for the better of the plant. Poor guys!

The Goditias are starting to color up – it will be fun to see how they do this year. Last year, like everything else, they were thinner – I think they were a different variety – so not sure if it’s the weather or just the different variety-but it’s probably both!

Unfortunately, I’ve lost track of what several plants are…..I feel kind of silly for not knowing what is planted where….I’ll know when they bloom, but right now, they are new to me plants and I have still yet to find a system that is very good for marking plants. I had them marked, but my little tags faded and I can’t read them anymore – ridiculous I know!

I’ve been watching one thing growing really well, thought it was a Black Eyed Susan, the first clue should have been the single stem going up, the second clue should have been the long skinny bloom on top – but no, the thing that made me second guess what it was – the fact that the skinny bloom appears to be purple. ((insert eye roll and face palm…)) Statice — that my friends would be Statice, indeed not a damn Black Eyed Susan.

Often times if I check my list, I can jog my memory as to where it is planted. I did take pictures along the way, but with the Bee Balm looking so much different then when I first planted it, it made it a bit tricky–I had to do several rechecks to make sure that indeed that is where I planted those damn flat looking – worthless to me – bee balm that have indeed shot up while I wasn’t looking and filled out to be amazingly green useful healthy stems. Perhaps I will get my list out and do some process of elimination and see if I can figure out what things are – or just let things keep growing and be surprised!

The story isn’t over yet, there’s still more to tell, more to see, more to learn. It’s so sad the season is so short here–I say that, and by the time the end of the season arrives I’m exhausted and ready to put the garden to bed in the fall.

I remember last year the Orlaya came to their end and I was sad it was finished blooming, but I left them in the garden to do their thing – and they surprised me with cute little green seed pods that looked like stars that still looked great in an arrangement. I didn’t plant them this year, and I miss them, so I will be sure to bring them back next year!

I was super excited to start three subscriptions this week, and they all three seemed super happy. I had a call for several arrangements this weekend, but then she changed her order to only two, I’m thinking she is hesitant because of the price. I get it — $80 is a lot to spend on flowers for a back yard graduation, but it’s okay, this year I am confident enough to say “she’ll love what she gets for only 20$”, going to the grocery store these days you can’t find much for less than 20$ in a sleeve and you have to bring it home and arrange it, this will be all finished for her and ready to put in the center of the table! Next Friday will be the big kick off at West Coast Pops – subscription pick ups, sweet pea bunches, and farmhouse bouquets….I’m still a bit nervous, but I’m sure it will all be just fine! We go to visit the space tomorrow and meet with one of the owners of she shop. It’s nice to have a location for pick-up, I hope that I can provide enough flowers if there is interest outside of the subscriptions. It’s all a little bit of a dance to make the business end of this go smoothly, it’s not just sowing the seeds, tending the rows, cutting the flowers…there’s a lot that goes into this endeavor!

Anyhow, enough of my rambling for this beautiful Friday is meant to be spent outside — tending the rows, transplanting some goodies from a friend, transplanting some Gerbera Daisy’s, and anything else that pops up while I’m out there! Thank you so much for stopping in, I think I’ll be doing a mid-season video of the gardens this year. I have a few friends that have been avoiding much visiting due to the COVID shut down, and always love to see the garden. Until next time – hugs to you and yours!