Spike Season on the Farm
We loove April + May on the farm. There’s so many new and exciting things and it seems like each week there’s a new color or variety of something in bloom. This time of year is lovingly referred to as spike season. While ranunculus fade out and dahlias start to trickle in, the abundance of the field is what we call spikes— tall long flowers that often have many florets up a single stem. As a designers, I love using spikes in my arrangements because they add movement and that linear elements that keeps the eye interested.
Here’s our favorite spikes that are blooming now at the farm:
campanula
Campanula is a personal favorite of mine, the bells are just so sweet and delicate looking! You may have heard these referred to as Canterbury bells or bell flowers— the name campanula is actually latin for “little bell”, how cute. In my opinion, these are SO much better local as they tend to bruise and get a little smooshed during transportation, another reason to buy local! We have three colors blooming: white, purple + pink!
DELPHInIUM
The star of the spring! Delphinium comes from an ancient Greek work meaning “dolphin”, because of it’s dolphin shaped flowers and I just think that is so cute. Delphinium are so stunning and delicate, making such an impact in designs. They come in lots of different types, colors and varieties, it’s hard to keep track of all that we have blooming right now! If you’re shopping on our website, you’ll see 3 main types of delphinium, “double” delphinium- which are a tissue cultured variety, “hybrid” delphinium and “belladonna” delphinium.
Snapdragons
We call em snaps for short! If you squeeze a snapdragon floret just right it looks like a little dragon opening and closing it’s mouth- hence the name snapdragon. I read a fun fact recently that snapdragons have been in culture since the 15th century which is so cool to think about! Snapdragons come in so many colors and Grant really can’t help himself from planting a little bit of each. Here are some of the colors we have blooming this season!
stock
We have a late planting of stock this year, we typically have our stock in early January but this spring we’ve had a decent little harvest of stock. They’re a little shorter in the spring, but so sweet and fragrant! Stock is actually a part of the Brassicaceae family, so it’s important to keep them in fresh water because they go from smelling really sweet to not so great haha
If you are a florist and would like to purchase bunches of our flowers on a weekly basis, be sure to sign up for our florist newsletter! You’ll get access to the florist shop where you can reserve bunches of our blooms for pickup! Enjoy local spike season!