thanksgiving 2014

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year and then everything goes downhill until new year's.  i'm not a big fan of christmas -- too much frenzied shopping and gift giving and seemingly less about family.  i suppose there are things that i do enjoy such as tree trimming, the smell of pine, poinsettias and amaryllis.

i'm recovering still after cooking my annual thanksgiving feast.  like other years, we prepared all dishes from scratch but unlike most years, we largely used ingredients found at farmer's market or locally grown.  our menu included:

roasted red bourbon turkey

cornbread stuffing

homemade gravy

cranberry sauce

orange cranberry sauce

steamed haricot vert

roasted brussels sprouts with pancetta and pomegranate

roasted lemon sage cauliflower

whipped butternut squash

apple pie

sweet potato pie

it would be a dream to be able to grow most things for our meal, then it would feel like a true harvest meal.  maybe someday....  

left:  low table centerpieces of white peonies, red tulips, 'titanic' pink roses, protea and seeded eucalyptus

purple

the days are starting to get colder and the days shorter.  but there are flowers blooming somewhere, just not here.  i miss my local product but having a bouquet of clematis, vanda orchids, white peonies, sweet peas, astilbe and ranunculus is not so bad.  i haven't used orchids too heavily in my work, but these vandas have certainly swayed me.

november update

hand-tied bouquet anemones, romantic antique garden roses, burgundy ranunculus, bush ivy and olive branches

i've been quietly making flowers for weddings and deliveries for here, there and everywhere.  i can never find the time for pictures or even worse the light is terrible for photos.

it's november now (clearly) and i miss my garden and having to harvest multiple bucketful of dahlias each weekend.  but it's over now.  i suppose impermanence is necessary.  now i have next year to plan for and can fully anticipate the start of spring -- my favorite season.  it would be easier to cope if i had travel plans but i don't.

dahlias (again)

i had a bumper crop of cafe au lait dahlias this week.  they're some of my best producing dahlias; after all, i do have 8 plants of them.  sometimes i wonder what it would be like to have a whole bed of cafe au laits -- is it possible to have too much of a good thing?  perhaps, but i am pretty confident that i'll miss their lovely faces come the other 9-10 months of the year.  all the dahlias, not just the cafe au laits, are looking so good right now.  i have lots of laterals, all full of plump buds ready to burst.

cafe au lait dahlias paired with coppery tones

suffice to say that this season's crop have done exceedingly well (not that i have much of a comparison point since it's only year 2 of doing this) and i'm encouraged to plant more.  i think 2-3 more beds, for a total of 5, would be sufficient to sate my dahlia lust.  (i say this now, but may regret my words in the spring.)  as much as i love the 'au lait's subtle pastel tones, i'm looking forward to adding new colors, such as deep burgundies, browns and reds and purples as well.

the only thing that could keep me away from my dahlias this weekend would be a killing frost.  it came early last year on october 12th.  keep your fingers crossed for me, please!

cranking out the dahlias

it's prime time for the dahlias and they're working hard to crank out their monster blossoms before the end of the season.  it's been hard navigating the potential nighttime frosts, but we've taken precautions by investing in a frost cover and diligently covering the beds whenever there's a frost warning.  frankly, the plants are putting so much out -- i have been giving flowers away by the bucketful and still have plenty left over to arrange!

i took some pictures for the local garden club where my dahlias beds will be featured and i'm pretty excited and honored.  hope you enjoy!

it's not a summer without dahlias

i'll admit that i was a bit worried about the state of my dahlia beds.  very worried.

but, as everything with gardening, with a little bit of patience (2 weeks' worth) these lovely plants shot up like rockets.  some are taller than me and many loaded with buds which i look forward to harvesting over the coming 6-8 weeks.  i'm still narrowing down the potential factors that i can improve upon next year, but my current theory involves soil temperature and watering.

the garden after the rain (left) and buds of cafe au lait dahlias (right) 

'innocence' dahlia (left) and daddy long leg taking refuge in a giant cafe au lait dahlia (right)

more cafe au lait dahlias and a baby toad (so cute) on the right 

cafe au lait dahlia with touche dahlias

a new favorite that i'm holding in my hand, 'hamilton lillian' dahlia.  love the salmon color

'innocence' dahlia peeking from out (left) 

dahlias are cafe au lait, innocence, chilson's pride and gay princess 

cafe au lait dahlia

giant white dahlia is called yuukyu

long overdue

it's been a while since i've posted on this blog.  i've been somewhat pre-occupied with non-flower activities between my last post and this one -- travelling, instagram-ing and photo-taking.  if you follow me on instagram and on photos, it will give you some insight on what i was up to.

i'm anxiously awaiting my cafe au lait dahlias to bloom in my garden in western MA. some of my earlier blooming dahlias have gotten they're start, but i dearly wish all the dahlias just upped their flower production.  garden-grown dahlias are the best, and much better than what i get at the flower market.  so until my garden starts putting out, i satisfied my cafe au lait lust with dahlias from the market -- not bad but wish i could have got them fresher.

cafe au lait dahlias, keira garden roses, putamayo carnations, ranunculus, flowering oregano and heather