Fill Your Gardening Tank With Flowers
Season 5, Episode 42, August 30, 2023
On this week’s episode, we talked about how flower farmers are changing our flower worlds, helping to bring new varieties of cut flowers into our gardens and homes.
We thought of this topic last week, and then Dee realized that Ladybug Lane Flower Farm is not too far from her, so she visited it during the week. Then she went back with her daughter and granddaughter on Saturday to pick another bouquet of flowers.
She said the garden and the owner, Jennifer Husmann, filled her tank. Now you know where the title of this episode came from.
Our topic also brought to mind two books about cut flowers. Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart (Amazon link) was published way back in 2007 and Slow Flowers by Debra Prinzing (Amazon link) was published in 2013. I think both authors would say a lot has changed since they wrote those books!
Dee further filled her tank by ordering tulip bulbs from Eden Bros. (affiliate link below) and talked about using Plantskydd repellent (Amazon link) to keep voles from digging her bulbs up.
I found a related article in Modern Farmer on Sunday, the day we recorded: US Flower and Foliage Growers Look to Revive a Wilting Industry.
And that flower farmer who loves her pansies? I couldn’t remember the name of her farm when we were recording, but I looked it up. Check out Three Brothers Blooms on Instagram for so many pretty pansies.
For our vegetable garden topic, we talked about orb weaver spiders who come to visit every year in late summer. They look creepy, as spiders do, but are perfectly harmless unless you are a stink bug or other insect that gets too close to a web. You can find more info about these spiders in this article: Orb Weaver Spider - Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
Then check out Dee's blog post about her orb weaver: Three for Thursday, a lady in waiting - Red Dirt Ramblings®.
On the Bookshelf, Dee discussed a new cookbook, My Vermont Table by Gesine Bullock-Prado. (Amazon link).
Then in our dirt I talked about the NYT article: Pressing flowers, by Margaret Roach. The author she interviewed was Linda P. J. Lipsen who wrote Pressed Plants: Making a Herbarium (Amazon Link). It’s out of print but more copies are expected soon.
Down in the rabbit holes, I visited the most recent video from Joolz Guides - London History Walks on YouTube. Joolz and his sister visited places in London they used to go with their mother, who recently passed away. It’s a sweet memory walk, which made me think what such a walk would look like for me and my siblings.
And that’s another episode! Do you regularly visit a flower farm near you? Do you follow a flower farmer on Instagram that we should follow too? Let us know in the comments!
And now for the business-y stuff
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For more info on Carol, visit her website or blog, May Dreams Gardens.
For more info on Dee, visit her website, Red Dirt Ramblings.
On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
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I have learned so much from you both too! About all things gardening. I’ve been following Dee on instagram. Going to look you up and follow along!
I follow Lisa Mason Ziegler, mainly because she is in the same zone as North Texas, 8A, where I garden. AND, I’d love to have a garden like Dee’s! Maybe some day, says me wistfully. 😀