Come on Spring!

It's about that time of year when I say enough is enough. Bring on spring! I love living in Pittsburgh, but I hate the months of ice, the salt crusted on my black car and I miss smelling grass when I walk outside.

Since my mind is already dreaming about the beautiful tulips, lily of the valley and peonies that I will soon have in my cut flower gardens, I thought I would blog about fun spring flowers.

Mmmmmmm....peonies.

I don't think there is a more perfect flower than the peony. It's big, beautiful and highly fragrant. The photo to the left is of my "mystery peony". Two years ago, I found a broken plastic container at a local farm in October. It had the word "Peony" scribbled on it with magic marker. There was no other information and the plant had already died down for the year. I like surprises and took it as a challenge. The following April, it came up with just this one lonely flower. It was the most remarkable flower I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot of flowers). I can't wait to see what it will bring this year.

Tulips

Thanks to the crazy Pittsburgh city deer, I can only grow tulips in a small 3' by 3' foot box surrounded by deer fencing. Yet, every year those deer somehow find a way to rip two or three of the tulips out through the net before I get a chance to cut them.

Here are some beautiful parrot tulips from a wedding I did last May. I wouldn't recommend a bouquet of tulips on a hot summer day because they "blow open". However, on a cool spring day, they are a great option. You will actually notice your bouquet open and change as your wedding day progresses! I just did an wedding of all tulips and as soon as I get pictures, I'll post them. It was beautiful.

Lily of the Valley

Any other time of the year, you will pay a small fortune for lily of the valley. Here in Pennsylvania, these flowers bloom in early May. If you are standing down wind from a path of these flowers, you understand why people pay so much for such a tiny, delicate flower.

Anemones

I've tried to grow anemones for three years with no success. I'm so glad that there enough other people in the world that can so that I get them fairly easily throughout the spring. They are bright, cheery and unique.

A rose may be a classic, a gardenia may be elegant, but to me an anemone is just plain fun.

This post is to be continued because it looks like we have a few more weeks of this miserable winter weather...

I, for one, need to keep thinking about what is to come.