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Tips for Growing Sunflowers in Alaska.
When I first started farming I was only going to grow a few sunflowers but soon realized a “little bit” simply wasn’t an option. There are 70 different species “cultivars” of these sunny beauties ranging from the mammoth huge to daisy sizes in colors of the classic yellow, oranges, reds, plums, and two-toned. A sunflower for everyone. Each year we grow some of the standard easy to design with varieties from the Procut series and a few tests. The majority of them do very well here in Alaska. It simply comes down to personal preference. Speaking of Alaska, with our growing season gone in a blink I like to get ahead to make…
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When the frost comes
The first few weeks of November I had the privilege of partaking in a floral creative online writing class offered by Debra Prinzing of Slow Flowers. What a delight. My goal was to improve my overall writing style without losing my fun, life-loving voice. I feel I achieved my goal. Plus I realized I love to take people on a journey with my writing. Here is a poem I wrote about my mental process when the first hard frost of the season takes my blooms. This year, here in Alaska it happened in late September. When the Frost Comes When the frost comes tipping the morning blooms all icy white. I dash out…
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Growing Beautiful Blooms in Alaska
I started with Dahlias, a row of sweetpeas, and some sunflowers, each one in remembrance of someone I love. At the time they were the only varieties I was going to farm. I thought how special to have a symbolic but simple business model. Well we all know how that worked out for me. I ended up diving deep into packing my brian as full as I could with all things flowers. Continuing my education by touring other farms, attending workshops and conferences. I hungered to try my hand at more. Oh boy, all that new beauty took my breath away. Hands on teaching by far is my preferred method of learning. So…
