Hello and welcome to this week's edition of #mondaymusings. I am so happy that it is now officially Spring and I know so many of you are too! It provides so much hope and excitement for the future and serves as a lovely reminder that the best is yet to come! Beyond the excitement for the arrival of Spring, this past week was a very productive one with lots of exciting things happening. So let me break it down:
2nd Annual Seedling and Tuber Sale
Went off without a hitch and I am so thankful and excited for your orders! This was my best year for storing dahlia tubers and I have more stock than ever. You seem to love the white and specialty varieties like alpen cherub and bride to be. I've still got lots of tubers left and available so please if you need any, have a look. They're all eyeing up right now under the lights so they'll be ready to go in 2-3 weeks. I also might take some cuttings and pot some tubers up so that I have plants ready to go and blooming earlier. I'm kind of thinking that dahlia tuber sales weren't as intense this year because growers have more of their own stock and don't need to buy as many.
Seedlings on the other hand were faster selling and in higher demand. I think too that for casual gardeners, it is a lot less intimidating to grow seedlings than it is to grow dahlias from a tuber - I get it!
We’ve still got a few seedlings available so please make sure to take a look and get your orders in!
Planting Out Anemone & Ranunculus and Sweet Peas
Before the weekend (and the crummy weather), I planted out 200+ ranunculus and anemones in the back gardens. The ranunculus I planted into a temporary bed I had originally made for tulips. Now I will happily use it for the ranunculus, not only because it is a large space, but because it will get some shade from the hot afternoon sun. The anemones are in one of the round beds and the balance of the ranunculus will also be planted into the neighbouring round beds. Both of these flowers like a long and cool start and will perform the best, the longer it stays cool. Look for these beauties to start blooming the beginning of May and hopefully continue well into June.
I also planted out my modest sweet pea trial plants - 15 in total. They are looking healthy and happy and I planted them in my giant galvanized pots and game them each a trellis for support. They also tend to be heavy feeders, so next week I will be giving them a healthy dose of bone meal. Just like ranunculus, sweet peas like it cool and do best when the weather is cool. You can also expect got them to start blooming in May and well into June.
Grow Room Update
There is so so much growing in the basement in the growing area, it feels like a jungle down there. Normally I don't like going into the basement, but when I am greeted by a sea of lush green seedlings, I definitely enjoy it! Since all of the ranunculus have either been planted outside or are waiting transplantation in the greenhouse, there was lots of space available under the lights. So I added in the 3 trays of dahlia tubers to help get them to eye up so we can easily identify the viable ones. I also started the first round of my tender annuals, which includes 2 varieties of zinnias and 2 varieties of cosmos.
The next to be kicked out will be the other cool loving seedlings - strawflower, snapdragons and scabiosa. They will likely make their way out to the greenhouse later this week or the beginning of next - really depends on when the weather levels out. Beyond that we've got china asters, phlox, eucalyptus, nasturtium, ageratum and some Floret dahlia seedlings. Later this week, I will start more zinnias and cosmos. 
Direct Seeded Cool Loving Seeds
I also spent time time outside direct seeding some seeds, now that the soil is workable enough. I did 2 rows of nigella persian rose, 3 rows of pennycress and 5 rows of white agrostemma. Since it's been very cold at night since I seeded them, I used a piece of plastic covering to protect them and also create some humidity to help them germinate! You can expect to see the pennycress in the middle of May, whereas not until late May or early June for the nigella and agrostemma. 
Local Flower Bouquets For Sale
Last, but certainly not least, I sourced and put together some gorgeous local flower bouquets. The highlight was definitely the hard to believe garden roses, that are apparently only available for 1-2 weeks a year. So glad that I found them available at Ontario Flower Growers and so were you. You snapped these beauties up so quickly!
For this week’s flowers, I’m going softer and pastel, which isn’t my typical, but I love trying new combos and stretching my creativity.
Thanks for tuning in and have a great week ahead!
