To the Weekend

Isn't it great when your husband (practically) greets you at the door with a fresh, hand-crafted, delicious, summery beverage to kick off the long weekend? In this case a whiskey smash, aka bourbon, lemon juice, mint, and simple syrup.
We're heading to Indy tomorrow to take in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing on Sunday.
Will report back if I don't melt into a puddle. I've been told it's supposed to be the hottest 500 on record!

Drumroll Please...

I will be selling bouquets at the Easton Farmers Market this summer! Hooray! The market will be Thursdays from 4-7pm. It begins June 7th and runs through August 30th. My first day there will most likely be June 28th (*update* first day will be July 12) and I plan to be there almost every week through the end of the season. Still ironing out details, but I'm very excited for the opportunity!

I decided to play around with what was available last week and came up with these numbers. I am fairly sure that I want to offer mostly vased arrangements, and I'm all about vintage, thrifted and repurposed as far as the containers go.

Peonies + cedar to me is less odd mix of opposing seasons and more early summer up north. Just to clarify.

Checking In

Busy as a bee. Working, rounding up perennials of all shapes and sizes and getting them in the ground, household chores and projects. All good. Oh, and I've been playing with the design of this little blog a bit too.  

I brought in a sprig of this lovely Climbing Purple Splash rose last weekend (above) to see how it does in a vase. It was serving along with a couple other specimens as the dining table centerpiece until, on night one, kitty went table surfing and munched on the petals for a little midnight snack. Should have known, she's exhibited a fondness for them in the past. I'm sure they do have an interesting texture. Anywho, here it is in situ.

Exciting bit of news regarding Unknown Blackbird Flowers, coming soon!

April Showers, and Hopefully Coming Up, May Flowers

Planting, planting, planting. That's what I've been up to. In between rains. These sweet peas went into the  ground about two weeks ago. Soaked overnight to help speed up germination. 

And look what I spied yesterday! And more popping up today. Hooray!

Putting these itty bitty little seeds in the ground has kind of felt like a gamble, so it's quite a relief to see things sprouting.

I am grateful to have someone helping me to hedge my direct-sowing bets. I contacted Joseph Swain of Swainway Urban Farm last month to see if he would be offering any annual flowers along with his certified organic veggie and herb seedlings. He replied his flower offerings would be limited, but that he'd be willing to help by starting some seeds for me. Though it's now approaching Ohio's frost free date, I do feel better knowing that in a few weeks I should have trays of seedlings in neat little rows to plant out that have had a chance to get going free from interference by meddling squirrels, flash-flooding rains, or freak late-season freezing temps.

More perennials from Oakland Nursery. And a delivery is on it's way for tomorrow from Bluestone Perennials.

Love azaleas. First one to go in the garden. Nearing the end of it's bloom time, it was a fabulous deal at Oakland. 

Parting shot of viola + moss by the front step.