Could it BE any hotter?
The weather's been intense here in Brooklet, GA. How can it be so hot and dry and still so humid?? Summer always reminds us that living in the South means embracing unpredictable weather. Needless to say, some of the flowers are on the struggle bus at the moment. Although Wednesday, after sowing some seeds, we did receive a little rain shower blessing with a rainbow to top it off.
July has been farm cleanup month. Compost has been delivered, and we are actively flipping beds trying to get in the last summer sowings of sunflowers, zinnias, celosia, marigolds, basil and amaranth. We direct sow most of these this time of year, and they will usually flower a little sooner than usual in this kind of heat. Just a reminder that it's not too late to direct sow (just keep on top of that watering, friend!)
Good news is that the dahlias have started flowering - hallelujah! The tubers go in the ground in May, and we wait all summer for them to start showing off. We always have a few rogue overwintered tubers that pop off blooms early in the season; but the GOOD ones, we have to wait for. Sadly, we did lose about a third of our dahlia tuber stock this year due to the extreme heat and drought, and they are flowering a little later than usual. However, dahlias are very resilient and once they are established, and we start harvesting, they just keep on keepin' on with the blooms until frost! Beautiful Kona was the first to arrive.
We also have a large stock of heirloom chrysanthemums that we are excited to see bloom this year. Some propagation babies are still waiting to be planted out. Several of our mum varieties are new to us this year, so we'll see how well they do! Heirloom mums are much different than the bright, short mums you think of at Lowe's during the fall. Instead, they have very unique blooms on tall stems that last up to two weeks in a vase - we love that!
We're already planning for the 2027 growing season, and we'd love for you to reply to let us know what you're hoping to see in the near future - we might just grow it for ya! We'll share more about our 2027 plans in the coming weeks.
