The Beauty of Local Seasonal Flowers
As the season shifts from harvesting and delivering flowers to preparing and planning for the next season, I scroll through my photos for inspiration. I am humbled by the shear beauty and joy I was able to share with my CSA members and bouquet recipients. One of the best things about local seasonal flowers is the unbelievable variety of shapes, sizes, and colors not available elsewhere. Here are just a few of my favorites.
Spring Season
Tulips are one of my all time favorite flowers. They come in the most glorious shapes, sizes, and colors, each with their own unique features. I completely understand how some people in the 17th century in the Dutch Republic (the Netherlands) became obsessed with tulips and set off what became known as Tulipomania!
I grow a wide variety of specialty tulips with something for everyone.
This was my first year growing orange tulips. Like many people, I think of orange as a fall color. However, the double fringed “Sensual Touch” tulips were a magnificent surprise. These tulips may change my mind about orange as a spring color. “Sensual Touch” tulips are packed with so many petals they could easily be mistaken for a peony or a rose.
They also mixed really well with many of the other tulips I grew, especially the darker pink tulips!
Narcissus a/k/a Daffodil
What do you think of when you hear “daffodil”? If you are like most people, you envision the bright yellow daffodils. I discovered a whole new world of fragrant narcissus a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I hope you were delighted with the selections this year. Two of my favorites were “Pink Wonder” and “Ice King”. Their transformation, from cutting to composting, reminded me of the story of the Ugly Duckling. Not so pretty to start but oh soo beautiful in the end!
“Pink Wonder” started out a muddy yellow
(not a favorite) but within a few days it transformed into a stunning apricot/peach framed with white.
“Ice King” started out a very bright yellow (ok, but again not a favorite) then it faded to the most gorgeous creamy white. Not only was the color beautiful but that frilly center put it over the top.
Both varieties felt like getting two different flowers from the same stem.
Summer Season
The summer season brought a wide variety of local seasonal flowers and foliage in a range of colors.
The bouquets were filled with sunflowers, hydrangeas, lilies, snapdragons, and more. Some of the later season CSA members even got some Zinnias that survived the marauding groundhogs.
While all the summer flowers were beautiful, among my favorites were the Lisianthus. The white, the apricot, and the honey pink were all gorgeous. Lisianthus are often called the rose of summer, but for me they have more to offer…they are certainly as beautiful as a rose, and they last for weeks in the vase…a flower lover’s dream.
Local Fall Flowers
Dahlias, dahlias, and more dahlias! Growing dahlias is an exercise in patience. It is easy to forget the utter beauty that will arrive in late August, when you plant the tubers in the ground in mid-May. All summer long you enjoy nothing but a field of green. But, as the dahlia season begins to unfold, they grace us with colors in the softest pinks and blushes, the boldest reds and bronzes, and everything in between. It is then that I remember why I grow and share these beauties with all of you. From the stunning dinner plates down to the tiny poms there is something to love about each and every one of them.
It is so hard to choose a favorite, but I grew two dahlias that stopped me in my tracks every time they caught my eye. The first dahlia was “Miss Amara”, a formal decorative in the most stunning shades of peach, apricot and yellow. The second was “Crichton Honey”, a ball type in the most sublime apricot/peach tones. I had limited stock of these varieties this year but I hope you received at least one of these beauties in your bouquets.
Seasonal Favorites
I definitely had a moment with the apricots, peaches, and oranges this year. Some of my favorite flowers were in these color palettes.
Did you have any particular favorite flowers this year?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section, write a review on one of the CSA share pages, or even send an email with a testimonial to share on the website. However you choose to communicate, I’d love to hear from you. All thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Thanks to everyone for a great 2021 season! I hope you all enjoyed your local seasonal flowers from The Petaled Garden!
