Everything you need to know about snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)

This blog is best viewed on a tablet, laptop or desktop due to the size of tables included. Growing up, snapdragons were a feature of my mother’s garden. Various colors and bicolors welcomed visitors from the front bed, whichever military base we were stationed. Of course, my cousin and sisters made their dragon jaws move and we had conversations with [...]

Fall planning for spring 2023

February was a hard time for me. I was overwhelmed with all the options for planting out my spring beds. And since I knew that 2022 was a planning year, I wanted to trial absolutely everything! Yet, to execute on my goal to have 10 bouquets of flowers consistently from mid-summer to fall, I needed more information than was readily […]

How to get milkweed to germinate

I won’t lie, milkweed is a pain to get started. Once its germinated and a seedling, it’s an easy keeper. But it takes some knowledge to get there! Here are my tips from many a failed attempts over the years. Numerous seeds were tossed in this learning process! Cheers for a more successful experience than I had! And for context, […]

What’s in a name?

View About Me Reel on Instagram This blog is part of the “about me” series. I am a serial entrepreneur. My first official business opened in 2011. But its not the first time I had my own business. As a kid, I shoveled driveways, sold handmade crafts I made with my friends and I even had a subscription neighborhood newsletter. […]

How to know if a zinnia is ripe enough to harvest?

As one of the lessons from the Floret Online Workshop, Erin Benzakein covered in 2022 Module 6, Video 1 how to harvest zinnias (minute 4:07 is the beginning). She, along with many others, use the “wiggle test” to identify stems that are ready to harvest to keep the flower-heads upright. This test evaluates the stiffening of the stem near the […]

Year One Observations: Seed Starting

Seed Starting by Germination Times Over the next several blogs, I’ll introduce myself and the overgrown path that led me to cut flower gardening. Here is the first installment. I am the eldest of three girls. This winter, I was charged with getting our parents’ house ready for sale. That meant that I left my home in Virginia, including my […]

Breeding plants in a world of plant patents and PBRs

I honestly don’t recall how I came across the book “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful” by Amy Stewart. Its an older book now, first published in 2007. It may have been from my local flower wholesaler, but that part of this story is fuzzy. The book is a must read for those in the growing flower-farmer-florist […]