Lisianthus Voyage Series

The Voyage series is the cream of the crop! Known as the Alyssa series in Europe, it is popular for it’s large ruffled flowers. It can be on the shorter side and the seed is one of the more expensive seed available, but I’d say the extra cost is worth it.

Lisianthus Voyage White Improved 2

Our best selling white lisianthus at Snuck Flowers, it has gorgeous big blooms. Thanks to Brianna at Artisanal Blooms for the photo! I grew it years ago and loved it. (I just don’t do a ton of white on my farm now)

Lisianthus Voyage Champagne 2 or 3

Light, fresh, and pretty, Voyage Champagne (2 or 3) is a winner. I grew this my very first year growing lisianthus and it did so well. It has a green center and is peach with yellow and green tones. It comes in both group 2 and 3.

Lisianthus Voyage First Love 2

First Love has enormous white with just a blush of pink petals. I had a second flush in early September on some plants that got a little extra water, so I think if treated right they are a good candidate for repeat flushes.

Lisianthus Voyage Light Apricot 2

I saved the best for last. I love Voyage Apricot. It’s wavy apricot petals are to die for, and it leans a little more pink than Celeb Apricot or Voyage Champagne. When we did a very informal survey with 9 varieties, this was the over all winner by a wide margin. Dark centered.

We will be growing Voyage Blue next year and I’ll be sure to add a review with photos when we have them. The entire Voyage series has my recommendation!

Lisianthus Celeb Series

The Celeb series has some of the largest blooms I’ve ever seen on lisianthus and they are sooo incredibly ruffled. This was my first year growing any of the Celeb series on our farm and they are here to stay! The Celeb series varies from 24-36” plus inches. There are varieties in bloomtime groups 1 through 3. We grew 7 of the 40 or so varieties available. They also seem to be sturdier than others because of their thick ruffled petals.

Clock wise from top: Celeb Grape 2, Celeb Mint Green 2, Aurora Pink 1, Beige Neo 1, Rouge 1, Apricot 2, Center: Queen 2

Celeb Mint Green 2

We’ll start the one I was least impressed with, Celeb Mint Green. I had wanted to try some green lisianthus since I saw some gorgeous ones at a Utah Flower Day event. They were so unique! The entire reason for growing the Mint green was for the color and they ended up being a white lisi with a green center. Not what was pictured at all! Growth habit was good, flower was well formed, but it was still a let down. If you’ve got a good recommendation for a true green lisianthus, I’d love to hear it in the comments.

Celeb Rouge 1

When our order for Celeb Honey Pink seed was canceled I choose Celeb Rouge as a replacement based on the slightly warmer tones in the breeders photos. Like the Celeb Mint green the photos were not a good representation of the varieties true color. But!!!! I did really like this one. It is incredible similiar to Corelli Rose, but the flowers are a little larger and it’s a group one so if you are looking for a classic pink lisi to stagger bloomtime, you could grow them both. Dark centered with a very slight deepening of color on the edges of the petals.

If you like this, you might like: Corelli Rose

Celeb Beige Neo 1

Beige Neo was one of the first to bloom and one of the tallest of the 29 varieties we grew this year. The color is mix of beige with blush, definitely a color I think of as a florist color. If you grow for weddings or floral designers this is one to grow. Dark centered.

Celeb Aurora Pink 1

Maybe because I grow so many dark centered varieties Aurora Pink seems like such a breath of fresh air. Its a warm blush with touches of cream and light green, almost opalescent. It’s a good blending flower, looking great with both pinks and peaches.

Celeb Grape 2

One of my new favorites! Celeb Grape is a warmer lavender than Mariachi Lavender or Megalo Orchid. It has big round ruffly blooms and is very prolific, like all the Celeb varieties. It definitely stands out in a sea of pink and apricot lisi.

Celeb Queen 2

While all the Celeb varieties have big blooms, Celeb Queen has the largest blooms I’ve ever seen on a lisianthus. They have true main character energy. And they really are the perfect blush with a burgundy center. In one of the photos you can see the size difference between Corelli Rose, Mariachi Carmine and Celeb Queen. It’s common to have 4 inch blossoms on these babies.

If you like this, you might like: Corelli Light Pink, Voyage First Love

Celeb Apricot 2

My favorite lisies are always the Apricot ones so it’s no surprise that I loved these ones too. Celeb Apricot has a very round form, almost carnation like. It’s color is similiar to Voyage Apricot only a little more yellow than pink leaning. They hold up exceptionally well in the vase and seem to have even more petals than other Celeb varieties.

If you like this, you might like: Voyage Apricot

If you’ve grown any of the Celeb lisianthus and have one to recommend I’d love to hear about it in the comments. We are going to be growing Celeb Honey Pink, Metallic blue, and Blue Chateau next season.

Best Garden Yet: September Edition.

September might be my very favorite month in the garden! The weather is mild without all the drama of springtime fluctuations, the bees are humming along and geese are beginning to head south. The dahlias are typically hitting their stride, and the fall blooming perennials are showing up to add something new to our late season bouquets. It is the best time to soak up the last full month of garden abundance.

If we spend a little extra time in the garden this month next spring becomes easier, here are some tasks to consider.

Outside

  • Weed. Catching those weeds before they go to seed means you’ll have less to contend with in the spring. It’s also easier when the ground is soft from autumn rain storms.

  • Deadhead. If I let all my self sowing plants go to town I would have a mess in the spring. I make sure to remove any spent old blooms in areas that I do not want more of that plant. I’ll leave a selective few for reseeding.

  • Collect seeds. While you are deadheading save some of those ripe seed head to either share or sow in next years garden. Here are some of favorite seeds to collect- Rudbeckia triloba, Silene Blushing Lanterns, Milkweeds, Ammi (Queen Anne’s Lace), Nicandra (Apple of Peru), Bell’s of Ireland, Lovage, Celosia, Zinnia, Cosmos, Chocolate Lace flower. Keep in mind that if harvesting seeds from a hybrid your seeds may not produce the same exact flower next year. I like to buy my hybrid seed new each year so that i have consistent results from my favorite cut flowers.

  • Divide and transplant mature perennials. Maybe a plant has out grown it’s space, or maybe you just really love it and want more of it for your yard or maybe you just want to move it to a new spot, which ever it is September is one of the best times to dig and divide plants. They are less likely to get heat stressed and if done early enough their roots can settle in before the cold times come.

    • To do this dig a circle a few inches out from the perimeter of the plant with a shovel or digging fork.

    • Once you’ve dug all the way around, begin lefting the shovel or fork to prying the plant from the ground, trying to take as much of the roots as possible.

    • Once the roots are loose, lift the plant out of the hole and take a good look at it. If there are lots of healthy roots you can divide the plant into several sections. Typically the bigger the sections the sooner you’ll get a bigger, blooming plant.

    • A handy rule is to divide spring and summer blooming plants in the fall, but wait for spring to divide fall bloomers.

  • Clear out any diseased annuals. Powdery mildew always hits this time of year. The spores overwinter on plant material left in the garden, so the better we clean up the less disease pressure we will hopefully have next year. Cleaning up before the frost hits means the plants are less crumbly and easy to remove in my opinion.

  • Prep any empty space for next year. Your spring self will thank you! You can also sow some winter kill cover crop. That way it germs and grows until it gets killed by the frost, making a nice mulch for the rest of winter. Some winter killed options, such as oats, field peas, oilseed radish, and mustard can grow late into the fall, enduring several hard frosts. Others, such as buckwheat, Sudan grass, and pearl millet have less frost tolerance and will die off earlier as temperatures drop below freezing.

Rudbeckia Triloba

Inside

  • Take notes. Write down your observations in your garden journal or a note app in you phone. Did you love a certain variety? Did you realize your irrigation needed adjustments? Did you notice when a pest moved in and that you need to spray eariler next year? Did you run out of filler or focals at a certain time? Write it alllll down! You can spend sometime researching this fall and winter and make a note of adjustments on your calendar for next season.

  • Prep for any preorders. Snuck Flowers at Snuck Farm opens for preordering of spring seedlings on October 1st. Also some dahlia growers do a preorder for tubers in the fall. Knowing what you’d like to try and how much space you have will help order just what you need.

  • Double check any bulb or peony orders so you can make sure to prep your spaces before they arrive.

  • Hang up some extra bunches of flowers for drying. Celosia, gomphrena, statice, and strawflowers are all good flowers to try. Hang them upside in a warm dark space, most garages make an excellent spot.

Seeds to Start

  • You can direct sow any winter hardy “cool flowers” pretty much anytime now til the ground freezes, they’ll come up when the temps are right for them. I like to fall plant nigella, ammi, larkspur, bells of Ireland, chocolate lace flower, bachelor buttons, agrostemma, and bupleurum.

  • It’s also a good time to transplant any cool season seedlings like pansies, snapdragons, feverfew.

I hope you enjoy your September in the garden!!

Best Garden yet: February edition

February always feels like the month between us and spring. However, there's lots of fun Garden related things we can do in February. 

Like starting seeds! This comes with a warning though.  Don't get ahead of yourself, this is not the time to start everything willy-nilly. With the greenhouse program that I run, we start hundreds of thousands of seeds over about 6 months. Each seed does the best when started at just the right time for it to thrive when planted.

Greenhouse in early February

Outside- Inevitably we have a few warmer days in February. Use these days to do the following 

  • Water your bulbs and any low tunnels that you have, I like to wait until we have a night above freezing to do this. Also give any newly planted perennials a nice drink if we have a drier winter.

  • Take measurements for any new garden beds that you want to create if you haven't yet. 

  • Towards the end of the month it gets safe to start pruning. I like to start with my berries and roses. 

  • Take note of any perennials that you want to divide. It's a little early to start dividing, but having it on your plan makes it easier to remember next month 

  • Inventory any irrigation issues. I planted a bunch of peonies in the fall and they will all need new drip irrigation. Getting numbers on that makes it easier to order what I need so I am ready to go when the weather gets good.

  • Take a sample of your soil if the ground is not frozen.

Cleaning up the raspberries in February

Inside

  • Look over any of January's tasks and see if you have any you still need to do. 

  • Set up your seeds starting area. Success starts with the right tools. A heat mat with a thermostat and lights will make you a hundred times more successful. They don’t need to be expensive or fancy, my heat mat and thermostat are from Amazon and I used shop lights from a big box store when I used to start seeds at home

  • Organize your seeds- see this post here 

  • Make a timeline for when you need to start each variety of seed. Write down the quantity you want to start, how many weeks they need to get to transplant size and the ideal transplant date you're shooting for. Remember if you use the soil blocking seed starting method, to shave off a little of your time to transplant.

  • Get plant sales on your calendar. At Snuck Farm in Pleasant Grove we have one for cool season plants on April 12th and warm season on May 10th. We will have so many fun cut flower varieties to choose from! I’m especially excited for the hellebore varieties we have growing.

  • Order supplies for things like irrigation, and pest control so that you have them when you need them.

Seeds to start 

  • Any cold Hardy flowers that you want to plant out in March can be started now. Things like snapdragons, scabiosa, rudbeckia, feverfew, cynoglossum, agrostemma, straw flower, winged everlasting, sweet Annie, foxgloves, godetia, monarda, and dianthus.

  • Cold hardy vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and kale can be started indoors now.

  • And there is definitely still time to get those direct sown cold hardy seeds out in the garden. Bupleurum, bells of Ireland, larkspur, Ammi, agrostemma, chocolate lace flower, nigella, bachelor buttons, icelandic poppies, and saponaria 

  • Some direct sown vegetables that are appropriate to put out in February are garden peas and sugar snap peas if the ground can be worked. Cilantro tossed out now will come up when it is ready.

See you in March!

Garden Planning: Conquering the Seed Stash

We all have them. For some its a bagful, for some its a boxful, for some its even more. I’m talking about seed stashes. All those packets that seduced us from the pages of our favorite seed catalogs during the cold gray months of winter. The new varieties that call to us like sirens, the old favorites that trigger our hoarding instincts… next thing we know we have more seeds than we can grow in our space.

While not the crime of the century, I mean, seeds are relatively cheap, no one wants to waste precious gardening funds. So let’s chat about how to take care of that existing seed stash and how to make the most of your seed budget going forward.

PURGE

Okay, we all know that most seed stashes have a few packets that are a little past their prime. It’s no fun to expend the energy and supplies on starting seeds only to find they are no longer viable. So the first step is to identify which seeds will grow. There are two ways to do this-

  1. Each seed packet should have a date of when it was packed. Plant seeds vary on how long they can be stored. Johnny’s Selected seeds has a fabulous chart on how long each variety can last with proper storage. Toss any packets that are past the ideal time frame. For example, you have a packet of Snapdragons from 2014 and Snapdragons can be stored for 3-5 years. It’s probably best to toss them.

  2. Say you have seeds that were saved from your garden or gifted from another gardener, or maybe have lost their packaging so you may not know just how old they are or maybe they are right on the cusp of the storage guidelines. You can do a germination test by selecting ten seeds, placing them in moistened paper towel, and placing the paper towel inside a plastic bag. Find a warm spot for the bag and let the seeds germinate. If 5 of the 10 germinate you know the rest of the seeds should have about a germination rate of 50%. This means maybe you sow them at double the amount of the seedlings you are hoping for. You can also do this test on packets of seeds that weren’t stored well or at the end of their normal storage range.

During this stage I also like to make a pile of varieties that were interesting at one point but now I have no desire in growing again. These are great to swap with friends or give to a new gardener.

ORGANIZE

This might be my favorite step! There are lots of ways to organize your collection. Here are two of my favorites-

  1. Sort by variety, then type and season, then method of sowing. A couple of examples- all the snapdragons would be together, and then with other cool season flowers that are started indoors. Zucchini would be with other summer squash with warm season annual vegetables that are direct sown. With this system I like to keep my perennials altogether. I also will sort them according to the role they play in bouquets, all the fillers together or all the line flowers, so I can see where my gaps are.

  2. Another way is sort them all according to the date you will be sowing them. This is how we sort the thousands of seeds at Snuck Flowers. That way when it is time to start them I just have to grab one bag and I have them all. As an example we start all the cosmos and marigolds on the same day so they are in a bag together.

INVENTORY

Now that you have tossed all your old seeds and organized the remaining it is time to make an inventory that you can keep with the rest of your garden planning notes. Here is a simple sheet to record variety, amount, life span, and any notes.

Once you have any idea of exactly what you have you can make informed decisions about what you want to grow and what you may need to purchase for the up coming season.





Best Garden Yet: January Edition

January is for dreaming, dreaming of all the new blooms and plans to come in the new year. Planning is a big part of the garden prep in the beginning of the year and we are going to have a little Garden Planning series to follow along with soon. In the meantime, here are some things to think about doing to start this year’s garden off right.

Outside-

  • We’ve had a fairly warmish winter thus far, your ground isn’t frozen you could work on any garden clean up that has yet to happen. Do try to stay off your soil in your planting beds if it is wet, walking or kneeling on wet soil can lead to compaction, not a good thing for your plants.

  • Talk a walk and notice the plants in your neighborhood that look good right now. Evergreens, grasses, and trees or shrubs with colorful or peeling bark add winter interest to our gardens.

  • If it is unseasonably dry and warm, water your bulbs, especially if you are growing them for cut flowers and need long stems. When you water, try to do it on a day where the nighttime temps stay above freezing and don’t forget to unhook your hose before it freezes again.

  • If you don’t have measurements of your garden space, grab a tape measure and get that info for your winter planning session.

Inside-

  • Take some time to dream about what to grow this next year. Make a wish list of plants to research. Pin some inspiration photos. Look through your saved posts on social media. Was there a bouquet or arrangement that you want to recreate? A tomato variety you are dying to try?

  • Look over your notes. What went well? What issues did you have? Take some time to research solutions to your garden problems. This year I’m going to invest some time in figuring out how to avoid powdery mildew.

  • Get a plan together BEFORE you buy seed or start any seed. This is a big task and I’ll have some thoughts for you in the following days.

  • Organize your seeds BEFORE you buy more, I’ll have a post on that too.

  • Inventory any tools or supplies you need, it’s nice to have them on hand when the weather gets good. Things to check- netting, plant tags, watering cans and nozzles, replacements for leaky hoses, seed starting materials, etc.

  • Read a gardening book, check out some gardening magazines from the library. I love me a copy of Fine Gardening or the Garden Gate.

  • Divide your dahlias if you haven’t already.

  • Start seeds that really need to be started this early, but don’t start any others.

  • Invest in some learning opportunities. Check out the Utah Flower Conference, the Utah Food and Farm Conference, or Urban and Small Farms conference.

Seeds to Start-

  • Only the long game seeds like lisianthus, trachelium, or slow growing perennials. Pay attention to the timing.

  • Direct sow any cool season hardy annuals. They will come up when the conditions are right. Some options are bells of Ireland, larkspur, bupluerum, ammi, nigella, daucus dara, and icelandic poppy.

I would love hear your plans for this years garden! Have a happy new year!

Best Garden Yet: November Edition

Are there even things you can do in the garden in November?!? There sure are! While it’s pretty chilly in most areas of Utah there are little things you can do to make next season the best yet.

Outside-

  • As long as the ground hasn’t frozen it’s not to late to plant bulbs like tulips, crocus, daffodils, and alliums. If the weather has been dry make sure to give them a good drink of water to settle them in.

  • If you haven’t yet, clear out any diseased foliage from any perennials. Powdery Mildew spores will hang out all winter on infected plant material. Removing this debris will help you get a head of it next year. Trash the foliage, do not compost it.

  • Make sure you’ve cleaned up any peony foliage. Even if they look good, peony foliage should always be cleaned up in the fall. They are especially susceptible to a lot of disease like botrytis and those diseases will over winter and affect your plants next year if not removed. Again trash the plant material, don’t compost it.

  • Sow some cold hardy seeds. They’ll emerge when they are ready with almost no work from you. See below for some suggestions.

  • Feel free to leave your healthy perennials and grasses, and even fallen leaves. You’ll provide habitat for beneficial insects and even food sources for birds.

  • Forage in your yard for any evergreens that would look fabulous in holiday trimmings. Spruce, pine, fir, holly, boxwood, juniper, Oregon grape, and arborvitae are good options for wreaths and swags.

Inside-

  • Take some time to write down how things went this season. What flowers bloomed their heads off? Which tomatoes were your family’s favorite? What disease always seems to strike your zinnias? Later in the winter you can take some to do some planning and research.

  • Take inventory of your seeds. Toss any that are too old, just keep in mind that different varieties last longer than others. You can find a great seed storage guideline here. You could even organize a holiday seed swap!

  • Take an inventory of your tools too. Are there too many of some and not enough of others? (I have about 28 pairs of snips, but desperately need a new 2nd digging fork). What needs to be sharpened, fixed or replaced? Plan to work on them after the holidays and put any needs on your Christmas list.

  • Order your seedlings for next spring. Locally you can get cut flower starts at Snuck Farm in Pleasant Grove. It’s a program I run during my winter downtime.

  • Divide your dahlias and get them tucked away for winter. Dahlias like to be stored between 40-50 degrees and do well packed in vermiculite or wood shavings.

Seeds to start-

  • Direct sow any of the following, even if there is snow on the ground. A lot of cold hardy plants need some cold temps to germinate, it’s called cold stratification. Bells of Ireland, nigella, bupleurum, larkspur, Agrostemma, Ammi, chocolate lace flower, and Icelandic poppies all do well direct sown in most northern Utah climates.

Happy November! I hope you enjoy a little cozy indoor weather with a seed catalog or two.

Best Garden Yet: May Edition

YAY for May!! May is such a fun month in the garden, the threat of snow is gone for most of us, unless you are gardening in some of the higher elevations here in Utah. I've made a list for you according to what I do here in my zone 6a/7b garden. By no means is it exhaustive, but it can give you a good idea of what you can plan to do this month in your garden.

Sego Lily Flower Farm in May

Outside-

  • By the first or second week you can plant out most of your warm season tender annuals. Some that you might wait on are celosia and peppers that like nights over 55 to 60 degrees. These can be planted later in the month.

  • Dahlias can go in the ground safely, plant them about 4-6 inches deep. Even if we have some cooler weather in the beginning of the month they will still be working to emerge and should be just fine.

  • Keep weeding! Your July self will thank you for staying on top of those pesky weeds.

  • Pinch your cool season hardy annuals. Pinching involves removing the growing tip of a plant to encourage branching. Some cut flower varieties that benefit from pinching are snapdragons, agrostemma, godetia, trachelium, dahlias, marigolds, cosmos, zinnias, basil, and celosia.

  • Take some time to enjoy your garden! Sit on a bench, swing in a hammock, have a bonfire.

  • Add a birdbath, birds make excellent pest hunters. Welcome them to your yard with a place to drink and bathe as it warms up.

  • Scout for pests like aphids. A strong jet of water from the hose can be a good way to handle an early infestation.

  • Put netting on your cut flower varieties. Horizontal netting helps support long stems keeping them straight and upright.

A newly emerged dahlia shoot

Inside- 

  • Start a second round of warm season annuals so that you have a succession of flowers to enjoy.

  • Make sure you put on your sunscreen before heading out to the yard!

  • Start a list of bulbs you want to add to your garden in the fall. You think you’ll remember that tulip variety you were drooling over but it’s best to take some notes.

Seeds to start -

  • Direct sown flowers- Cosmos, amaranth, marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers

  • Indoors-basil,  gomphrena, ageratum, celosia, (any of the above can also be started indoors if you have more luck that way)

  • Direct sown vegetables- beans, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, melon, pumpkins.

  • Plant out these vegetables and flowers- tomatoes, peppers (when it’s warm enough), eggplants, basil, zinnias, ageratum, gomphrena, annual asters, marigolds, cosmos, celosia, dahlias, geranium, amaranth

Happy gardening in May! See you with a new list in June.


Best Garden Yet: April Edition

April is when things really start to get fun in the garden! This month we should see some of the first real cut flowers in bloom. Here's a list of some of the things I do in April in my zone 7A Cut flower garden. If there's something I've missed, please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments below.

Tulips from the Sego Lily Flower Farm Spring Subscription

Outside-

  • WEED! This really should have been at the top of the list last month. The better you are at getting to the weeds in the spring, the less weeds you'll have later in the summer. Get them while they're small and before they go to seed.  I love hoes like this to help me get to the small weeds quickly.

  • Add mulch to your garden beds. Small annual additions of organic matter can help you improve your soil and suppress weeds. Don't go crazy, one to two inches is great.

  • Plan a day just for irrigation. Make sure all your new plants have drip irrigation to them and that your existing drip lines and sprinklers are working as they should. I flag broken lines and other issues with landscape flags when I come across them as I clean up my beds in the spring. That way I don’t waste time looking for that drip line I know I accidentally cut. (I know I’m not the only one that does this, right?)

  • Disbud your young peonies. If you have peony plants that are in their first two years of growing, you can help them channel more growth into their roots by disbudding. With your thumb and your forefinger simply snap off the small new buds. I tried to do this when the buds are pea size or smaller. This will let your plant focus on growing more roots and become a stronger, bigger plant sooner.

  • Plant out your cool season annuals. If you planted in March, this is a great time for a succession or for your first round of cool season Hardy annuals. I love to plant my lisianthus at the very beginning of April. Other things I'll be planting this month- snapdragons, scabiosa, rudbeckia, feverfew, statice, digitalis and more.

  • Plant some raspberries. They love to be planted when it's still a little cool. Check out this blog post for some inspiration!

  • This is a great time to plant perennials and shrubs. It gives them some time to get established before our hot weather kicks in.

  • Water your tulips if we don't get enough natural precipitation. You can check moisture levels by sticking your finger in the ground.

Disbudding new peonies

Indoors-

  • It's finally time! Break out those warm season seeds and get sowing! You will still want to wait till after the last frost date to do any direct sowing though.

  • Wash your buckets. If you are going to have some tulips, daffodils or hellebores blooming, make sure you're harvesting into clean buckets. Clean buckets are the key to long vase life.

  • If you haven't already, start keeping notes in a garden journal. Write down when things bloom, when you spray if you spray, which tulip varieties were your favorites, and so on. Your future self will thank you.

Seeds to Start-

  • Direct sown flowers- Ammi, agrostemma, larkspur, nigella, bells of Ireland, bachelor buttons, bupleurum, scabiosa, baby's breath, cosmos, sunflowers(towards the end of the month) 

  • Indoors- celosia, zinnias, nicandra, basil, gomphrena, ageratum, china asters, dahlia seeds, amaranth, marigolds, cosmos

  • Direct sown vegetables- peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, radish, turnips

  • Indoors-  tomatoes early in the month, melons, cucumber and squashes later in the month.

  • Plant out these vegetables- broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage

Happy gardening in April! See you with a new list in May.