Hey Everyone! Welcome to another edition of Monday musings. Since starting my social media initiative to post a flower a day every day until Spring, it has kept me quite busy. Turns out I have quite a few photos of flowers and many years of growing, so going through thousands of photos and videos is quite time consuming lol. It's also been a lot of fun to remember some of the beautiful things I've grown and to share them every day with you. It has also inspired me to reconsider my growing plan and make some changes to make room for some of the featured flowers like jewels of opar. I've got my anchors flower down (think dahlias, lisianthus, zinnias etc.) but I definitely have some flexibility with the extras that I am growing, and happy to add jewels of opar back.
I'm also happy to say that it looks like we're in our last super cold week of Winter. Beyond this week, forecasts are looking warmer, but we'll see about the precipitation...I can't help but think that we could still get another big snowfall...I like to be mentally prepared, but I'd also rather not have another winter storm please and thanks!
Regardless of what's going on outside though, I am here to show you what's going on inside. As in what's growing in the basement!
Admittedly, I've been a bit slow to get started for this season. Likely because it has been a true Winter and we're buried in snow lol, but we we get some relief this week and things warm up, so does my motivation to get going for the season lol . Next week will be a decent seed starting week and will likely include snapdragons, strawflowers, scabiosa and china asters, to name a few.
But for now, let me talk about what is already growing!
In a nutshell, anything that is growing now, takes a long time to grow or are cold tolerant and will be planted out in the next month.
Eucalyptus was the first thing started this year and we've got baby blue and lemon balm as our varieties. They are slow growing, so need to get an early start. They are doing well and even though they're less than a month old, they already have that lovely eucalyptus scent. I plan on using the eucalyptus for some late season weddings we have booked. 
Next up I started sweet peas, and I should note is my first time growing sweet peas, so I am pretty excited. I started these vines in deep 2 inch pots because apparently they develop very deep roots and quickly! This will hopefully prevent me from having to pot them up into larger pots, before planting them outside. They are in need of a serious haircut to help control the growth - as you can see, the taller ones a bit wonky and have started latching onto the other vines. I am growing one variety that is white, called Aoraki and just a small number of them. Since this is my first time growing, I didn't want to go all in and plant too many. I plan to use these for wedding and event work or to be sold through my wholesale channels. They will be planted outside by the end of March!
Last, but certainly not least are the ranunculus and small lot of anemones. This year we've got 300 total ranunculus and five different varieties - salmone, bianco striato, bianco sfumato, crema and malva and 50 anemones - levante variety which is frilly and white. It's going to be a very beautiful spring my goodness! To get them started, I soaked the corms for a few hours to plump them up, then planted them in potting soil and watered well. I kept them in our unheated sunroom where the temperatures average 7C, which is ideal for ranunculus. Once they started sprouting, down to the basement and under the lights they go. These beauties will be planted out before the end of March into a raised bed, with protective covering. Even though they like it cold and can tolerate it, if we can keep them a bit warmer, they will bloom earlier.
So that's what's growing for now, but next week, there will be much more. I'll be sure to share more photos and updates as the grow room fills up and things start to get planted out!
Thanks for tuning in and have a great week!
Laura