Waiting for the blooms...

I've been waiting, at first patiently, but as more time passes I become much more anxious... waiting for those first blooms.
Yesterday, even though it was freezing cold outside, I went to pull a few orders, I cut through three blooms... :-( I was so sad that the first blooms I saw, although still nestled quietly inside the leaves of the plants waiting for just the right moment, were blooms I had to cut off so that I could ship a couple of plants to customers. But the one heartening point was that it made me realize beyond a doubt there will be blooms aplenty again this year.

We are planning on scheduling our Iris Festival during the Memorial day weekend this year. So instead of spending lots of time and money on gas you can just stop over and browse the garden and enjoy a delightful day of iris exploration. It will definitely be an amazing site.

We have also setting up a couple of Mother's Day packages available on our web site.
Oakhill Garden

Snow showers = May flowers?

Yes, I said Spring was here but... I know I saw snow mixed with the rain earlier this evening on my windows!

We had a great week of weeding in the garden and it all ended on Friday. And then ... the rains came... I was going to entitle my post April showers bring May flowers ... but then I saw snow! Once again .. snow in April .. so does snow in April bring great flowers in May? It has definitely been one whacky year for the weather conditions.

I drove by and talked with a few other gardeners today -- growers of daylilies, siberian iris, hostas and several other plant types. Learned a few interesting tidbits and maybe some ideas for making our garden grow even better. One of those tips I will share with you now .. they grow some of their daylilies amongst their pine trees and the daylilies love it!! I was surprized to hear that the daylilies love that sandy, acidic soil underneath the pines .. but I guess they do .. and the needles make a great mulch .. keeping the weeds and some bugs down. So if you have pine trees around but you don't want to move your daylilies you could still use the needles for a mulch. Anyway, I thought it was something interesting!

Spring is here -- Finally!!

This has been our first full week back working in the garden. The strength of the winter took it's toll on the timing of our first ventures into the garden. The winter showed it's head with downed naming sticks and a very muddy plot. Although Iris are very hardy plants -- we never want to proceed into the garden too early -- iris don't like to have their roots compacted with wet soil -- so hardy yet so delicate -- just like their blooms.

I also sent the first of the spring shipments out -- just today. I know so many people have been waiting for their orders -- and finally they will begin arriving.... This week we could ship long bearded iris -- so those are on the way. Next week it looks like we will be shipping iris and daylilly orders!! It seems every year people are jumping for joy at the first sign of sun -- forgetting the possibility of just a little more winter -- well the time is here -- it really is Spring.

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