Fall flowers

I grow flowers with the intention of making arrangements for inside. Then I feel bad cutting the lil' guys & don't do it. A frost warning made me nervous & now I have a cute fall bouquet to enjoy.

Cutting flowers

My flowers are finally getting big enough that I don't feel bad cutting a few for an arrangement.

Spring showers

The weather delivered rain as promised. I love watching it from our side porch. Everything looks super green.

Rain video

Ooooh, a little bit of thunder!

I am super happy to see the ferns we planted next to the side porch growing. It makes it seem like a little forest.

And some columbine from seeds that my friend Aprille gave me came up too!

Allium and Iris

I'm pretty sure I take this same photo every year. I can't help it! These alliums are just so impressive.

I would love to get a time lapse video of one of these blooming.

The iris are blooming too which are also impressive! (sounds like a great band name "Allium and Iris"

Flower shopping

It's plant shopping time! It's so much fun to go and see the huge selection of plants and flowers and pick out what we want for the season.

It might be flower shopping time but it's not flower planting time. I just heard we have a frost warning so they are all going into the greenhouse to wait for warmer days.

Spring flowers

I know I take these same pictures every year but I can't help myself. I just love these different varities of daffodils we have planted.

I got a little carried about with the Layout app and made a "daffodil quilt".

The hyacinth are blooming too.

They win for the best scent.

Crocus

The thing I love about crocus is they are the first flower to pop up after winter. (Is the plural of crocus, croci?!) They push through piles of dead leaves and cruddy brown leftovers from last autumn with their cheery petals.

You can be assured that soon after the crocus you will see the daffodils, then hyacynth and then the tulips. When you see them and robins hopping around the yard, you know spring is on it's way!

The groundhog and flowers call for an early spring

I love this time of year when Wegmans carries bunches of daffodils. They are so affordable and just scream spring. How do you like my peacock vase? Aaron thought it was a turkey.

It really does seem like spring. There are some wee crocus peeking out in the front yard. I picked a couple of them and put them in water...

And they bloomed! I really think we are in for an early spring. Punxsutawney Phil indeed did not see his shadow this year on Groundhog Day so spring should be here any day!

Milk glass vase

Since I had all my milk glass out, I thought I should fill one with flowers. Did you know milk glass has been around since the 16th Century but only got it's name in the 20th Century?

Walking in a warm winter wonderland

Maybe it's an apology for the bitter cold winter we had last year but this December has been unseasonably warm. Today is was 69 degrees... breaking records for the area.

I felt really bad taking my window boxes out to make room for Christmas decorations because the flowers were still blooming!

It's so warm, the pugs have traded in their Christmas sweaters for Christmas t-shirts.

Holiday flowers

As we came upon Pike Place Market I started seeing people carrying huge bouquets of flowers.

They were holiday bouquets with pine, holly berries and pinecones.

They were so reasonably priced, if I could have taken one home on the plane I would have. I am known for carrying unreasonable things home on the plane with me.

I'd like to recreate arrangements like these at home. Note to self, here are some more ideas for holiday flower arrangement inspiration.

Giant dahlia

File this under the "We forgot we planted it" category. About two months ago we noticed a very large stalk growing in one of our flower beds. Aaron thought it looked "weedy" and was tempted to pull it. Then a similar one revealed itself in a mirrored spot across the yard. Too coincidental. Soon we discovered some very large buds on the stalks. They were the size of golf balls!

Every day I came home from work eager to see if they had bloomed. But no. They took for-evah! I swear one small petal would slightly unfurl a day. We joked they would bloom and die all in one day and we would miss the entire show.

Finally it happened! The buds opened up into giant blooms. We had dahlias!

Here is my hand to try and show how ginormous these flowers are. But wait. I have little hands.

Here it is next to my head! The dahlia is as BIG AS MY HEAD! I think it might be a Hollyhill Big Pink Dahlia.

Hmmm. It doesn't look as big with this photobombers head next to it.

Fall flower arrangement: Football Mums

In 2013 I was at the Lamberton Conservatory for an Instagram meetup when I spied a collection of big poufy flowers. The sign said they were Football Mums. Aaron bought me some bulbs and we planted them that fall. The first year there were a couple small blooms. This year they really went to town. Lots of big round blooms. There are two different colors - pink and orange. They make a delightful fall flower arrangement.

Zinnias and the coolest bud vase

My mom found this cool glass bud vase for me. Actually it comes in two pieces and she found them separately at yard sales. There are 25 individual vases fused together into one display. I wonder if the owners broke the other piece or just didn't know there was more to the display?

Zinnia clippings from my garden look brilliant in the vase. This is the first year I have planted zinnias. I started them in my greenhouse in April and then transplanted them in the front yard. From what I can remember these were globe zinnias. I'd like to try dahlia zinnias next, as they get really big blooms.

They really took off and they are as tall as me now. Zinnias do well in the hot summer weather. I love how bright they are and in so many different colors. I'll definitely be planting these again next year. They tend to reseed themselves so it will be interesting to see if any come up on their own.

Orchids

Last Fall, Aaron ordered me a big pack of orchid bulbs.

It took awhile to plant them all but the work is paying off now.

Everyday another orchid expodes onto the scene.

Lots of colors and variety.

I had a little fun with the orchid pictures and the app Layout.

Spring in Rochester

Spring in Rochester. One day it's nearly 90 and the next there is a frost warning.

Luckily my flowers ignore the weather and just keep on truckin'.

Spring gardening

We hired some gardeners. They get paid with treats and belly rubs.

They take a lot of breaks though.

This one didn't even try to do work. Never even put his hat on.

Despite their lacksadaisical gardening methods there were some impressive flower displays in our yard. Like this allium.

And our peony bush.