I always find a stark beauty in Winter: bare branches dark against the sky; sunlight that is both softer {nowhere near as warm} and harsher {everything is so bright, especially if there is snow or ice}; stars that dance across the sky at night with greater brilliance.
And yet, when color starts to return, those first tentative blooms giving way to a riot of blossoms in the trees and on the ground? My heart sings. After a long dark season of hibernation and dreams, the time has come to make the world bloom once more.
If you’ve been around a little bit, you remember that I started flower farming after leaving my job at the Library. {And if you’re new: hi! I’m so glad you are here!} As I learn more about the flower farming process, as well as the vast array of possibilities, I am growing my empire {pun intended}. And I have big plans for the 2026 growing season!
We are starting things off with pansies again: 3 varieties of them, in fact. And y’all, they are so beautiful. I love walking outside and being greeted by a long row of profuse blooms. Local florists think they’re beautiful too: we’ve been cutting more pansies every week! I am already planning ahead, making note of what has worked this season and what I want to change and/or expand for next year. {It might seem early, but I’ll have to order the seeds in July and get them going again by September for overwintering – that’s the secret to getting such luscious, glorious blooms}.
Once pansy season ends, I’ve got quite a few plans for Summer blooms. And the common denominator is color. Yes, there is an elegance to white flowers, but I love the range of color available {and color has sold well for me in the past, hopefully that continues}.
I’ve got 3 different colors of cornflowers, aka Bachelor’s Buttons, growing. The blue version grows as a wildflower locally, so I’m hoping these intentionally planted ones thrive. And I’m very excited to see the pink and burgundy blooms! The one other time I grew these, I ended up with light purple in the mix, and that’s when I realized they come in colors!
Zinnias are, of course, a Summer must-have, and after dabbling in single color growth last year, I’ve returned to my mixed roots. There is something extra joyous about a large patch of brightly colored zinnias. The first set of seeds have been sown, and I love watching the germination sprouts pop up and start to form rows. I will stagger-plant more later, to help extend the cutting season.
When I won an Eden Brothers gift card last year, I purchased liatris bulbs and they did so well, despite being planted later than “should be”. I had high hopes for this year, but it would seem that there’s a mole/vole-creature who ate very, very well all winter. I do have some liatris greens emerging, but nowhere near what I planted. Depending on available space, I might throw more zinnia seeds in those beds – the more zinnias, the merrier.
The chocolate mint is ridiculously happy, as you can see. It is now much taller than in this picture, but still as dense and lush. I’ll be able to cut it soon!
Other growing plans for the Summer include several new things: pink poker statice and “sun balls“, most notably. I’ve also got decorative basil and will hopefully have better luck growing useable amaranth this year. {Lesson learned: amaranth does need to be pinched, or it will grow 9-foot tall. Oops.} Chances are also good I will try a late Summer/early Fall run of marigolds.
We also have several flowers in bloom that are not part of the farming project, but they’re so beautiful they need to be shared.
If the success of pansy season continues, this promises to be a beautiful – and busy – year of growing flowers. I can’t wait! And of course, I’ll be sharing the blooms with you along the way.
What is your favorite flower?
Do you prefer white or colored blooms?
Rebecca, this whole post is cheery and springy! These flowers are gorgeous. I love color in a garden, lot of color. 🙂
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Thanks 🥰 I am so in love with the pansies especially this year! And yay for Team Color! 😀
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I wonder if bachelor’s buttons were used for buttonholes? Beautiful shots!
My favorite domesticated flowers to look at are tulips, I think, but for wild flowers…Cahaba lilies or Louisiana iris. I used to have a stand of Louisiana iris near me but I think a prolonged freeze (2.5 weeks) killed them. Here are some shots of both:
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Thanks! 🙂 And that’s a great question about the buttonholes – I’ve done some surface-level searching and don’t see anything about it, but it would make sense to me.
I do love a tulip! I can’t wait to have permanent bulb beds/plantings 😀 Those Louisiana iris are gorgeous! It’s so fun to me how similar and yet so different the wild irises are from the “domesticated” ones 🙂
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Ooooh! Flower season is wonderful! I’m worried that tonight’s expected frost will be the end of the flowering trees’ buds. I’d say that Pansies are one of my top favorite flowers. They’re so cheerful, plus they can take quite a bit of cold weather. They tend to self-seed in unexpected and delightful places. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a Pansy spring up where it doesn’t belong!
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Hopefully the trees made it through the frost! We had a surprise + surprisingly heavy frost this past Sunday night/Monday morning, and I think it may have zapped a few of my teeny zinnia sprouts.
Good thing I’ve got a lot of extra seeds and plans to stagger sow already!
Pansies are very prolific self-seeders for sure, haha … These are, unfortunately, all hybrids {the only hybrid seeds we buy/grow!}, so they would not self-seed the same as they grow now. But I’m sure whatever popped up would be pretty regardless 🙂
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Your pansies look lovely. It sounds like you have plenty of growing plans to keep you busy and I can’t wait to see pictures of the end results. Its just annoying that something stole some of your bulbs, which has definitely happened to me before too. I also cant wait to see your cornflowers as you know how I’ve struggled with those 🙈 the change in that rose is incredible and Ive always loved irises. My overall favourite is dahlias though. And I may have recently brought two more (whether last years will return remains to be seen). I like coloured flowers, especially when you get a mix of them or shades within one bloom. We have a pink and white rose and it looks stunning when it blooms. I also love lilies but never get them as the pollens bad for cats
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Oh I do love dahlias! One day I want to try growing those too 😍 And yes! Multicolor blooms are so so fun. 😍😍 The cornflowers have beautiful greens, so hopefully we get beautiful blooms soon 🤞 for the both of us!
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So far I’ve brought the ones I’ve had 😂 I hope you get to grow some one day 🥰 here’s hoping 🤞some of my things are definitely growing I just cant remember which is which now as the writing on the labels ran 🙈
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That’s always a fun surprise, when you just don’t know what is where 😂 We have to try and keep up with our tomatoes especially, since the greens all look alike until fruit appears. But yay for growing! 😀
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[…] that occurred. There was however a diverse range of content, from random Tea Time chatter to a flower farm update, and the first in a new bookish feature. We also got a very exciting year-in update on the […]
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