Avril

Not this one.

This one.

 

I found a tiny half-egg this week on the sidewalk leading up to my home, and I thought it was the perfect thing to bring inside for April. I didn't photograph it, and I can't find it anywhere, so I believe it was probably eaten by a dog. (There have been a few of them around these parts, lately.)

I only lamented the loss of my tiny half-egg for a moment, though, because as soon as I stepped outside I realized that late April is really not for bringing things in.

Late April seems most suited to bringing ourselves OUT.

I watched a mother and her adult daughter release balloons outside of the Polish American Club on 1st Street. I walked past a hundred strange Uncle Sams. I listened to some Otis Redding in my garden, planting all kinds of poppies, bachelors' buttons, daisies, sweet peas, sweet annie, and raking the beds smooth. I walked my dog through the woods, where giant swaths of skunk cabbage sprout up in the lowlands like succulent green eyelashes.

And then I brought things in. This is the first week that I've populated bouquets entirely with my own stems and branches, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I still have to go to the flower distributor for some things, and it'll be awhile yet before those seedling babies make good on their promises, but for now the tulips, fritillaria, grape hyacinths, the flowering cherries and plums on the streets, the forsythia that Marwin adorably calls happy-new-year-flower, and the glowing daffodils (and popping dandelions) are more than enough for a calendar page.

Getting Real, Part II

You may have noticed, by now, that it seems to be becoming spring for good. The ground is soft; it smells like green, powerfully; birds are singing in the early morning; impossible growth is everywhere.

So it's time to begin! To formally announce the birth of the FLOWER SCOUT CSA. 

(Henceforward, Flower Scout will conduct the majority of its business in the form of this CSA, which will organize the mind and ease the anxiety of its proprietor.)

IT'LL FUNCTION AS FOLLOWS: As a CSA member, you can sign up for a full share (one $20 bouquet every week, for the value price of $65 per month) or a half share (one $20 bouquet every other week, for $40 per month) and pick it up during a designated pick-up time, at various locations TBD, or have it dropped off at your home or work, with an added delivery fee.

The locations/times of pick-up and the cost of delivery will depend on participation and what works best for CSA members.

WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE:

1. Many, many locally-and-organically-grown flowers and herbs, in the form of careful, intentional arrangements. 
2. Participation in a club of cool kids (a.k.a. invitations to parties in the F.S. garden). 
3. The first chance at purchasing cheap n' lovely seedlings, if I produce too many for my space. 
4. A subscription to a weekly Scouting Newsletter.
5. A Scout Badge of Honor
6. And other things I'll think of as we go! Wreaths, hairpieces, dreamcatchers, probably a bug or two along the way, and my everlasting appreciation.

 

Flower Scout is now accepting CSA members for the month of May. Spots are limited. Please email flowerscoutfarm@gmail.com to reserve yours.

(If you're not ready to drink the floral kool-aid just yet, don't worry--you'll have another chance in June. And July. And August, and probably September too.)

Thanks to all of you who've ordered bouquets during the last few months! I can't tell you how much I've appreciated your support.

Are You My Mother?

Mothers' Day is May 12th

Order a bouquet for the woman who gave you an X chromosome, 

or for any woman or man whose gifts are more abstractly nurturing.

Pick it up Saturday May 11th, or Sunday May 12th, from CAC Woodside in Troy: $15

Have it delivered to your mother's door or your own: $15 + delivery cost (~ $10, depending on location)

email flowerscoutfarm@gmail.com to place your order

Season of Birthdays

For heaven's sake, the whole world is getting born! (and mine is coming up too)

Here's a bouquet I made for my talented friend Tara today, on her birthday:

with pink and yellow variegated ranunculus, deep orange freesia, a single pink anemone, sea holly thistle, and red eucalyptus

Mars

Mars! I forgot Mars! I can't believe it. But those of you stationed in the greater Northeast will know that the end of March slid right into April with all the differentiation of one teeth-falling-out dream becoming a naked-in-the-classroom dream, made even more uncomfortable by mildly irritating snow cover. Goodbye, Mars! I'm ready for flying dreams now.

A week ago these crocuses (croci?) and miniature irises came up just near my kitchen door, and brought some serious purple into the house for a few days.

And in the world of the less-seasonally-appropriate, my flower distributor suddenly had anemones on Monday! Anemones are one of my real favorites, with velvet petals and deeeeeeep colors that fade like ombre within the petal itself.

 So alright, March, goodbye. 

Today is a planting day!

Cut Flower Care

I had the great pleasure//stress//elation//overwhelm-edness (in phases) of delivering about 15 bouquets in the past few days. It felt wonderful--spring is in the air, obviously, and the flowers I found to purchase were in soft-bright colors, if you know what I mean. Foggy spring morning colors.

But now that those bouquets are ensconced on the kitchen tables, mantles, and dressers of their recipients, I want to share some info about how to keep them looking good. Flowers are necessarily impermanent, and a huge part of their beauty and meaning comes from watching them change and decay, but few things are stinkier than cut flowers rotting in old nasty water.

So follow these simple instructions to stave off that rottenness:

1. Do not place bouquets near cold drafts or heaters. Flowers prefer cool temperatures, so make sure that they aren't resting on an electronic device (TV or stereo, etc) that emits heat.

2. Do not place them, much as you may want to, near bowls of fruit. The ethylene gas emitted by ripening fruits will over-ripen (aka cause the rapid wilt) of your bouuqet.

3. Keep the water level high, and keep the water clean. For the first few days, just top off the water that's in your bouquet. In Troy, our water is quite chlorinated, so it's best to use filtered water. That said, I use H2O straight from the tap. We can't all be perfect. Flowers prefer room-temperature water--hot water will cook 'em; cold water can clog 'em up.

4. Every few days, trim the cut ends of each stem, and replace all the water in the vase. Flowers uptake water in order to keep themselves fresh-looking, but their stems can clog with bacteria or with a sticky sap sometimes emitted by their stems.

5. Remove wilting flowers and deadhead "spent" blossoms. You may want to believe that that old tulip will spring back to life, but it's gone, man. Get it out of there and enjoy the flowers that still look good. With more complex flowers, like the delphinium include in this week's bouquets, you can remove the lower blossoms on the stem as they fade, and still watch the upper buds open. 

(5A: That said, sometimes you can revive a sad-looking blossom by giving it a fresh cut and new water. One of my big tubs ran dry this week, and when I came home all the snapdragons were staring at the floor. I re-cut and refreshed their water, and now they're back to their spiky gorgeous selves again.)

That's it! Send any flower-care questions or bouquet requests to me at flowerscoutfarm@gmail.com, or send a Facebook message anytime.