The Last of our Summer Flowers

THE FARMHOUSE

highlights from this year's cut flower garden

Last week I picked a big bunch of flowers from our garden and made my last bouquet of our summer cut flowers. And literally just in time!!! The temps are dropping fast around here (in the 20’s last night!) so our summer flowers are done for. I just wanted to pause and enjoy the end of our summer cut flower season. We’ll be back to the bathroom remodel and the Poplar Cottage reno soon, but for now, let’s just talk flowers. I’m sharing which varieties were highlights in this year’s garden (aka the most successful flowers we’ll be planting again!) and lots of photos of the fall garden because I’ll take any excuse to share colorful green photos before before the short, cold, grey days of winter are upon us :). Can you sense that maybe I’m not ready to embrace the new season?

We shared a big summer tour of our garden this year here and you can read more of what we planted there. It was a big year for this space and we took extra care planning and tending the plants for a big photoshoot we did with Better Homes and Garden (the spread should come out in March 2022!). Overall we did 3 veggie beds and 3 flower beds (plus the raspberries, grapes, pear tree, and cherry tree). And I loved the mix of edibles and flowers. There was always something pretty to look at and something ready to pick as a snack.

Here are a few highlights from the garden this year…

Dahlias

This is my second year growing Dahlias and I will forever love their big, colorful blooms. There’s so many different kinds of Dahlias - shapes, colors, sizes - that I don’t think I’ll ever tire of these beauties. We planted one whole garden bed with Dahlias (about 24 plants) with tubers bought online. I didn’t have much success pulling up the tubers and storing them in our basement over winter last year, but I’m going to try again this year.

Helianthus

We got 4 SunBelievable Brown Eyed Girl plants from Monrovia this Spring and they just produced and produced all season long. Just when I thought they were going to give up, the bush would have a resurgence and give us more of these cheery yellow flowers. I’m a sucker for an old-fashioned variety and these are just that - right at home at our 1912 country farmhouse.

Cosmos

Cosmos are one of my very favorites. They are so delicate and lovely and just keep producing and producing (if you dead head!). Our’s got some sort of powdery mildew on them this year so weren’t as prolific as last year, but they were still lovely and perfect for cut bouquets. We planted from seed (bought at Johnny’s seed).

Zinnia

2021 will go down as the year I fell in love with Zinnias. They’re great because they’re easy to grow and produce a ton of flowers all season long, and this year I fell in love with their blooms too. In the images of the bouquet below you’ll see some fun varieties and unique colors. We planted these from seeds this year from Johnny’s Seeds.

Aster

Every year I try one or two new varieties and these asters were a fun one! I just love the whimsical flower and soft colors. They didn’t bloom until September but the wait was worth it! These were also planted from seed directly in the garden.