What's In Bloom?

May went by at the speed of light, didn't it?  And now we're going into June, another busy gardening month!  Here are a few of the late-spring bloomers that we've been enjoying this week:

Love-in-a-mist.  Sweet blue flowers with feathery foliage, followed by wonderful purple-tinged pods that dry beautifully.

Money plant, with blooms & early pods.  Later the pods will dry into silvery, papery discs.

And yarrow, lighting up this spot in the garden.  It's another flower that finds its way into bundles & arrangements once it dries.

We hope you're enjoying the moments in your garden too.

Morning Star

Anytime you come out to The Farm is a good time to stop by Morning Star Mercantile & Cafe too.  Look for Katelyn, Gail's daughter, and tell her we sent you by for some carrot cake!

Buy One Get One

We're having a plant clearance:  buy any plant/shrub/tree, get another of lesser value FREE!   (e.g: buy a $7 shrub, get a $6 shrub free)  There is still a very good selection to choose from.   

And inside the shop…well one can only say… “Summer’s coming!”

How To Dry Peony Flowers

Wow, what a bumper crop this year!  Gorgeous!

 Ever thought about drying your own peony blossoms?  Well, if you've got the flowers growing in your garden, we'll talk you through it!   Just cut a few stems of blossoms.  Doesn't matter if they're wet from all these rains--just shake them gently in a downward motion while holding the stem just under the head (so that it doesn't break).  It's okay to leave some leaves on the stems.

Gather three stems into a bundle, staggering the blooms at different heights.  Don't be tempted to make larger bundles--any more than three will slow down the drying time.  Twist a rubber band around the stems and trim the stems off even at the bottom.

Straighten out a paper clip so there is a hook at both ends.  Insert one end of the hook into the rubber band holding the stems, then hang the bundle from the hook at the other end of the paper clip.

There ya go . . . any questions, be sure to let us know!  You'll be enjoying your peonies all year til they come back around again next spring :-)



Pretty Much Picasso

Here's a new petunia from Proven Winners called Pretty Much Picasso. Amazing what hybridizers can do!  We'll be keeping an eye on this one to see how it performs this season.  What have you found new for your garden this year?

Plant Swap at The Farm

Okay, all you fellow gardeners!   Tomorrow, Saturday May 8th is our first-ever plant swap!    We hope you've surveyed your garden and found a few  plants that you'd like to trade for something new and different.   If you missed the details, check out this post about the plant swap at The Farm.

And even if you're not looking for the plant swap, come on out anyway.  There's still a great variety of plants for sale in the greenhouse and the gardens are looking so pretty this week--the peonies are blooming!

Openhouse Report

Fabulous bleeding heart in the lover's garden.  

Openhouse was wonderful! So many of you stopped by and it was great to see everybody.  You never know who you're going to run into-- friends who visit every season, friends bringing their friends, or  new friends who have driven across our central Illinois area just to see The Farm.  The shop was full of gardening questions, catching-up conversations,  and laughter . . .  lots of laughter!  It sounded like a party!

And with lemon poke cake and orange lemonade--well, yes, we'd say it was a party!

If you weren't here, be sure to make plans to come out this next Saturday for our first annual plant swap.   Always something going on at The Farm!

Open House Today

We're opening the house for you today!   Beautiful, healthy plants in the greenhouse just waiting for their new home in your garden . . .  and you don't want to miss  early spring perennials putting on their show out back . . . the bleeding heart is fantastic this year!  So come on out to see us on this glorious first day of May!