Lisianthus and dahlias, oh my!
Greetings!
As the week comes to a close, we’re feeling quite thankful to have emerged from Tuesday’s massive storm relatively unscathed. We lost some pawpaw trees and a few other trees fell around the farm, but all of our flower crops managed to stay upright and undamaged. It could have been so much worse, and we were incredibly fortunate; many area farmers were hit much harder than we were.
This week we had an unexpectedly large number of florist and restaurant orders, and it seems like the vast majority of our time was spent harvesting. We were pleasantly surprised to have so many orders during what is typically a very slow week each year.
When we weren’t busy harvesting, we managed to seed buckwheat in the high tunnels where we grew ranunculus this spring and caught up on weeding. Jenna and Karen trellised dahlias in the nick of time before Tuesday’s storm, and did an amazing job— not a single plant was knocked over by the rains! Next week we’ll plant lots of lettuce, sunflowers, and marigolds, and we’ll seed our fall carrots.
Dahlias and lisianthus are coming in strong right now! This will be the first week we bring them to market, with more to come in the coming weeks and months.
Lisianthus has arrived! Our answer to the rose, these blooms have an incredible vase life and are drop dead gorgeous in bouquets or on their own. We’ll be harvesting tons of them for the next couple of weeks!
This week I’d like to introduce you to Regina, our delivery driver.
Regina started working with us in 2020, managing our farmer’s market stand and running our DC and Baltimore florist deliveries. If you visited the market in 2020 or 2021, you most likely interacted with her and got a glimpse of her kind, jubilant personality.
This year Regina stepped back from her role managing our markets, but she continues to do deliveries and help out behind the scenes. I always look forward to seeing Regina on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We’re always stressed out when she arrives at the farm as we’re loading up the van with flowers and ensuring that everything is accounted for and going to the proper destination, but her presence is calming and reassuring. She’s always willing to be flexible and is always understanding when something goes awry. I don’t know how she does it, but she manages to drive all over the region for us and never complains. Always positive, always patient. Regina, we’re lucky to have you!
Regina, holding some of this week’s market bouquets.
We’ll have some blue and lavender bouquets at the market this week, along with some peachy themed bouquets and brighter, yellow and burgundy blooms. We’re trying to bring several color schemes to market so there’s something for everyone!
We’re back at the JFX market on Sunday from 7:00-12:00.
This week’s market stand will feature bouquets, bunches of celosia, cosmos, DAHLIAS, foliage, foxglove, LISIANTHUS, rudbeckia, scabiosa, snapdragons, and yarrow. The produce selection will feature edible flowers, celery, cucumbers, spring mix, and the first harvest of shishitos and basil!
This week’s large bouquets feature dahlias and lisianthus, and the small bouquets each have a dahlia. The first to market of the season! Look out for more in the coming weeks.
The flowers are stunning right now, and summer produce is rolling in! Stop by your local farmers market this week and pay a visit to your farmers.
Wishing you well,
Amelia and the rest of the Two Boots crew
This week’s bouquets feature an incredible array of the best blooms for the moment.
Spooky, a keen hunter, patrols the fields all day long.
Harry, who would appreciate if we had more time to play with him.