From The Garden ∘ Spring 2023

It’s no secret that I love to garden, we even have our own “garden girlies” group chat on Instagram where I share more details and updates from my flower garden! Below I’m first sharing about my methods and then what I’ve grown so far in Q1 & Q2, 2023.

My method - The Growing Journal

For reflection and data…

I keep a “growing journal” of everything I have planted, even the flowers that never appeared, to keep a record of what, when, how, where and sometimes how often. The details include: what I planted, what month I planted, how deep in the ground, where in the garden, how much sunlight it gets, what pests I’ve dealt with and how, how much water I give it or if its on the drip system, and then I record how well it grew at the end of the season.

To plan ahead…

This has helped inform each year when I re-order seeds and bulbs. It helps remind me what grew well and what didn’t, sometimes I can’t even remember what I planted at the start! I’ve also learned a lot as I’ve gone on and having a resource to go back to when I forget what I did the previous year has saved me SO MUCH TIME and heartache. For example, after two years of trying and failing, I made note this year that Iceland Poppy seeds just don’t grow for me, and I won’t be wasting my money on re-purchasing next year.

It’s encouraging!

Keeping a growing journal has also been a great record of what types and varieties of flowers I’ve been able to grow. As a few years have passed with MUCH trial and error, I’ve been able to grow Dahlias, Peonies, Ranunculus, Hydrangeas, Tulips, Bearded Iris, Daffodils, Roses, Lavender, Bachelor Buttons, Poppies, Breadseed poppies, Snapdragons, Celosia, and herbs too, Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley and Mint! But please don’t be impressed, because there is a list just as long of varieties I attempted to grow and totally failed. That’s the fun of this game, you get comfy as you gain practice and can dip your toes in the water with new breeds as you conquer the old ones, so you’re never not growing something.

I want you to know I am NOT the most faithful when it comes to updating my journal, however, when I take the time to do it, I reap the rewards!

Tulips

This year I had enough blooms to gift a bunch away, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to grow cut flowers in the first place - to share them with the world! Tulips are my favorite flower to plant and is the perfect beginner flower.

The one lone tall tulip at the back was left over from a bag of tulip bulbs I bought at Home Depot two years ago. I can’t believe how plentiful this harvest was! I planted two new colors - Copper Image left and Amazing Grace right. The two new colors are from The Flower Hat.

Copper Image, variety is peony tulip (or double tulip) because the many petals make it look super similar to a peony bloom.

I will absolutely be planting this variety again! 100/10

Daffodils

This was the second great growing year for these daffodils I bought from The Flower Hat. The color is Pink Charm. These are in the same category as tulips for me when it comes to difficulty level, they’re both as easy as it gets - put the bulbs in the ground in Fall, let the rain water them and then BOOM you have flowers come Spring!

Peonys

I currently have 3 peony plants in containers, I really hope they bloom! So far, I haven’t had any luck with keeping them in the ground, but I think that’s because I don’t have any space with the amount of shade/sun they need. Containers are nice as a learning experience because you have the freedom to move the plant around and try out different conditions.

Snapdragons

These white Snapdragons came from packet of seeds from Floret that I planted last year, not many seeds survived transplanting but just LOOK at how well it spread and divided itself. (Snapdragons are semi-invasive if left to growing wild.)

Bearded Iris

Bearded Iris’s are often a long game as you usually have to wait 2 years to get any blooms, something I didn’t know until they didn’t flower the first year haha.

Bearded Iris

After 2 years I totally forgot what color the flowers would be! They’re from Eden Brothers and the color is called Celebration.

So surprised how many flowers came up! 3-4 gorgeous blooms on each stock.

Did you enjoy this? I hope to keep updating my space with more flowers as well as share the progress here, let me know if you’d like more detail on how I grew certain varieties, or you can always shoot me an email or DM on Instagram with your questions. Xx Aimee