Where do I begin?  I'll try to fill in the gaps since my last post, a whopping five months ago. 

Spring 2019 was overflowing in blooms, there's not much I would change about it.  Aside from adding some additional netting to keep my blooms straight, trialing a few new varieties, and eliminating some poor performers. Overall, I am pleased with our 2019 spring performance and crop choices and am ready to gear up for spring 2020. 

​The flower stand has been an enormous hit.  It delights me to fill the stand for the community and receive supportive and enthusiastic feedback, I absolutely love the flower stand.  

We added our sweet "Why Not Wednesday" delivery specials this spring which was another big hit.  We love delivering our blooms to your homes and workplaces and will bring this back next spring as well. 

Summer came on quickly but I feel it's been pretty mild compared to the last, or perhaps I am more conditioned for it this year. We are currently enjoying a little cool front which has been a beautiful blessing and has me dreaming of fall.   

In the hustle and bustle of spring, when I was swimming in blooms, I missed the boat on seeding mid-summer blooms.  I will make a note of this and improve upon this next year.  I am currently transitioning the fields for fall, and  pulling early summer annuals to make room for fall seedlings that are currently growing in the greenhouse.  In doing so, I have hit a lull in blooms for the first time this year. I have late-summer blooms budding up and ready to burst, the early summer blooms are tired and ready to be pulled, and I am limited on mid-summer blooms that should be ready for market during this transition. 

I have scaled back on deliveries to The Southern Hotel in Covington and Attic to Awesome in Abita until the late summer blooms arrive.  It was difficult to make the call, however, I feel the best way to get our blooms to the most amount of people is to continue to stock Acquistapace's and our on-site flower stand, which sat empty for a week while I sorted things out and made the final decision to pause delivery to two locations. 

Sunflowers are on my mind as I plant out in weekly successions.  Our first crop, the green sunfill sunflowers, have bloomed and I am over the moon delighted with them.  I have already seeded another succession of these lovelies.  Look for our many varieties of lovely sunflowers to fill our bouquets in the months to come. 

Our dahlias are creeping along, Louisiana heat is a bit much for them.  Therefore, this year I transplanted them from the field to fabulous canvas planting pots and placed them under an oak tree for filtered light.  So far they are looking super healthy, growing tall and budding up.  I expect to have these lovelies this fall.  A few have already bloomed and were added to our delivered market bouquets, wow, what a statement they make.  ​

Wow, I don't know where to start, it's been a whirlwind week since my last post.  The flowers are blooming in complete succession and it has been a glorious experience.  Harvesting every morning is back in full swing, and it's only February.  

The flower stand has been a big hit.  It is such a great feeling to be able to stock the stand and have the community come by to grab some of my beauties.  The chatter on social media, sharing of my post and encouragement from you all has warmed my heart and nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. 

Although so much is blooming, part of what I do is continue to plant out to prepare for seasons ahead.  After a few days into a mass planting of eucalyptus, I needed a little escape.  It was a flower-crown making kind of therapy for me.  The rain started up just as I finished my crown, I think this was the permission I needed to take the day off from planting. 

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K

The arrival of two new blooming varieties this week.  Blushing Beauty Tulips and Iceland Poppies are the topic of the farm. 

Armani tulips should be next up and several other colors of poppies will begin to open. Blessed are we to have so many wonderful blooms in February.  We really didn't expect this many until spring.  So far, hyacinth, daffodils, tulips and poppies.  A few random anemones have also shown up, although still shooting out short stems in these early stages.  It's so very lovely to walk out each day to see what is blooming and how long if the anemones are producing long stems.

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K

I'm blessed to announce the harvesting has begun and I have not been this happy all year.  Even harvesting in the cold, rainy mornings you will hear no complaints out of this lady!  I do believe it's on, let the flowers commence and continue throughout the year.  Here's what's up so far. 

Blue Hyacinth.  So fragrant, just one bloom will scent up the entire room.  In love. 

White hyacinth, a little shorter than the blue but equally as fragrant.  This is our first year growing hyacinth and you can bet they will make a regular winter appearance at Covington Bloomery!  

Chromacolor Narcissus.  What a cheerful and deliciously fragrant little lady in the yellow dress.  Keeper. 

Sir Winston Churchill Narcissus.  I wish the photo was a scratch and sniff.  Out of all of these, this one.. this one right here has the MOST delightful fragrance. Love. 

I'll be back next week with news on our latest blooms.  

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Ya'll.
​-K

Crop Update.

​Our blue hyacinth gearing up for a spring showing.  

Iceland Poppies starting to bud up. 

Our peony trial is moving right along.  The challenge isn't for them to grow greenery, that is definitely possible in our zone. It's whether or not we will get blooms in our heat, fingers crossed.  

A sure sign spring is coming, our Narcissi are beginning to bud up.  :)

Last but certainly not  least, the first blooms of our Anemone have arrived. 

It's been a long flowerless winter, I am so ready to see this farm light up this spring.

Until next time, 
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
-K

Meet David Austin's Tranquility Rose.  We have chosen this beauty as the latest addition to this years rose line up.  Pure white rosette blooms with a magnificent apple fragrance. We simply can not wait to be blessed with it's first bloom this spring and will most assuredly post it here on the blog. 

We have the pleasure of many 2019 weddings already on the books and one can never have enough white rose varieties when booking wedding work.  I'm currently doing research and considering whether or not to add a few more roses to our already phenomenal line up.  We shall see!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K

This week on the farm. 
Another shipment of David Austin bare root roses arrived.  Hooray!  I have a slight addiction to ordering roses.  They have already been planted and are busy growing roots and getting ready for spring growth.  

The peonies I planted out a few short weeks ago are emerging.  Peonies do not like hot Louisiana summers and typically will not bud up.  I am working on a micro-climate for them by planting them in an area that will provide them filtered sun during the peak of summer.  I'll keep reporting on these little gems as they progress and we can all do the peony shuffle if we get blooms!

My studio remodel is coming along.  Insulation went in this week, the wood panel walls are scheduled to begin in two weeks.  It wont be long and I will be sharing photos and writing about the completed studio.  Many joy filled hours will be spent creating flower art in this space. I have been dreaming about this for so long.  It is near reality!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K

We've added bi-weekly and monthly flower subscriptions to our line up.  Along with spring, you now have a bigger selection to suit your needs.  Additionally, we've added delivery in St. Tammany Parish for an additional fee.  As always, pick up at the farm is no cost. 

Oh the weather outside is frightful, my fields are so delightful.... 
It's the peak of winter in southern Louisiana and I am feeling truly blessed.  Our fall planted crops are thriving in the fields.  From bulbs to seedlings to the direct seeded wee ones, everyone is healthy and happy.  Including me. 

Here's a first look at our tulips emerging.  All the way from Holland, we imported the bulbs and planted out this fall.  The varieties are to die for, I am in love with each of them.  

Armani - a deep luscious red, yum. Blushing Beauty - So named for it's blushing color, blushing rosy red fades to canary yellow at the edges of the petal, simply irresistible. Camarque - begins as pale yellow with raspberry flames and matures to ivory with raspberry striations.  I'm in love!  Daydream - a 1980 hybrid with varying shades of soft apricot and warm orange with a rosy glow.  This one is fragrant, ohh, la, laa! Impression Mixture- A mixture of the most unbelievably large hybrid tulips, colors are  soft apricot, salmon, pink and rose. These are the giants of the tulip patch!  Toyota - vibrant hot pink with delicate white edges.  Smashingly gorgeous. 

Along with the tulips, our daffodils are emerging.  Sir Winston Churchill, Misty Glen and Chromacolor.  White with pale yellow, white with white center and white with orange. I simply can not wait for these guys to bloom and spring to have arrived!

These flowers look too perfect to be real, Ranunculus!  Planted out as corms this fall, our ranunculus are thriving and healthy, growing essential roots to support the lush blossom that will grace us this spring. Amandine cream, La Belle Gold and La Belle Pink are our selections this year. 

Also planted out as corms this fall, Anemones!  De Caen Mix. These poppy-like flowers are a mixture of vibrant reds, blues, purples, yellows and whites.  

Oh Snap!  Snapdragons, getting tall and already time for me to pinch them back.  Amazing how quickly these little ladies shot up.  They are enjoying our mild Louisiana winter and will bloom in the spring.  We are growing two varieties of snaps this year -  Madam Butterfly and Potomac. 

And then there's BLUE.  Hyacinth, in shades of blue.  Oh how I love true blue flowers.  Getting plump and happy,  moving right along and on target to bloom early spring. 

I enjoyed sharing with you the progress of some of our spring crops.  We have many more out there doing equally as well.  I'll save for another post and will continue to post our crop updates.  Be sure to check out our Spring Subscriptions so you too, can enjoy five weeks of generously portioned bundles of blooms this spring. 

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K

There's something so very romantic about a winter wedding and ahh, the reception with a warm toasty fire going.  A little jazz music and a lot of happy folks celebrating the love of the united couple. Simply marvelous.

Last, but not least, in our series of seasonal wedding colors for 2019, here we are with our top five favorite winter wedding color themes and the winter blooms they were inspired by.  

Gold, Green and Navy
I can see bridesmaids dresses in coordinating  shades of blue and green, love this look.  I'm dreaming of Blue Cerinthe, Eucalyptus and Winter Jasmine.  

Ivory, Gold and Black
In Louisiana, you don't have to look too far to find anything Black and Gold, a big plus for this color combination.  Gold bridesmaid dresses would be absolutely stunning.  For the winter blooms that inspired me, Black Beauty Hellebore and English Gold Prim Rose. 

Wine, Cream and Sage
Another beautiful paring. Pieris Japonica and it's clusters of wine urn shaped flowers, Double Cream Hellebore and Eucalyptus. 

Ivory, Silver and Black
Stunning combination, I see jeweled gowns with this one.. oh, la. laa. Black Beauty Helleborus, and Narcissus Silvery Chimes and Ivory Pansy. 

Taupe, Sage and Wine
Bold and beautiful mix. Wonderland Deep Purple Alyssum,  Silverdrop Eucalyptus and Fragrant Hellebore. 
​

That is it for our 4 season, bloom inspired wedding color picks.  I enjoyed this series and hope you all did as well.   Drop me a line to let me know, I love hearing from you all!

Until next time,
Peace, Love and Flowers, Y'all.
​-K