Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

Here at The Painted Tulip we are having a great wedding season . Reaching our busiest time for weddings.. fall. I wanted to post a few pictures from the summer. The Painted Tulip has joined Vermont Wedding Professional and we are very excited about it.

Growing through the rain

Though the rain keeps coming our gardens keep growing. The field flowers are doing okay, the sun lovers are slow to bloom zinnias and sunflowers. But the delphiniums were just amazing. Our potatoes and artichokes seem happy. We have had great market days this week, with sun shinning. I am very excited about the poppies in the cutting gardens, just amazing. Our dinner plate dahlias are just jaw dropping. Eben has been working on making new raised beds so we can grow more veggies for the house. We had a great photo shoot with La Bella Bride Magazine, just a few bouquets. The weeds are growing well with the rain but no matter what we are always battling them.

Red white and Blue in the Garden

Being a cottage gardener , I never know what is going to arrive . I was surprized to find this red, white and blue blooming together around July 4th.

We are now in full swing and have an abundance of flowers. Markets have been very active and I thank all of you who have been attending.

Some of our amazing crops this year are: delphinium, snapdragons, golden Margette, camplanula, sweet william, and my new love.. " Geisha Girl" Calendula with its amazing petal count. Our sunflowers started blooming end of June and hopefully will continue to do so. And From now till fall we should have oriental lilies. They came out this week looking stunning and smelling even better.

Our events have being going smoothly and wonderfully beautiful. Look for our pictures which we are posting as they come in.

Well time to go do battle with the weeds.

Popping Poppies

This week ..the oriental poppies are out and looking stunning. Because they are short lived I always enjoy them. They are standing in the garden with the allium which is a strange color combination, but everything seems to look great in a cottage style garden. The lupins are poking out too, lilac are in full bloom, and the mountain bluets are blooming like crazy.

There was a frost this week but with are hoops and remay we survived with very little damage. This week I am trying to transplant as much as possible, while my helper weed the perennial beds. The gardens are comming along.

Last weekends event was really gorgeous. It was a small wedding at a private residence in Waitsfield, VT.

Event at the Equinox and Farmers Markets

We had a great weekend at The Equinox in Manchester, VT doing our first big event of the season. The Flowers were wonderful and everyone was delighted. Even the weather held out.

The Farmers Market season is starting off great too. Sales are up and we have many plants and great cut flowers.. so keep coming down. This week was our first week at Stowe.. it was cool and breezy but people purchased many plants and bouquets. Thank you for your continued support.

Waterbury Farmers Market is Starting this coming week May 21 from 3-7pm.. so come on down and visit with our new and returning vendors. For farms we have: 2 great organic veggie Farmers, Plants and cut flowers, Perennials, Bambi with her Lamb " everything but the bah" . Speciality items :East Shore Winery, Aurthur's Fault sauce and marinades, relishes and pickles, Pastabilities hand made pasta. Amazing Hand made: Painted clothing, jewelery, cards, pottery, sea glass jewelery, recycled items from bibs to envelopes. Lets not forget Patti D with her relaxing massages. As the season continues we will be having events such as face painting, animal days, a plant swap, solar energy booth, composting, weekly food drive for Waterbury food shelf and weekly music. So it is not just a market but a community event.

Happy gardening!!!

The Market Season has Begun

The Market season has begun. We are excited to be in Burlington this Saturday and Stowe on Sunday with our buckets of gourmet tulips, posies, bed plants and tomatoes plants.
There are flowers coming up everywhere.. the wild violets have taken over the grass and it is wonderful. Miscari, daffodils and tulips are everywhere. Alliums are pushing up there stalks and I think will be blooming in 2-3 weeks. Lilac buds are getting fat.

We harrowed in all the winter rye and broke two new fields. We will be tilling this comming week and I started transplanting cold tolerant crops. Nicole is extending the perennial patch to include more wood ornamental for winter markets. I am very excited about this bed because it is going to be ornamental as well as including edibles( blueberries.. just for personal consumption though). I have plans to put in a handsome stone wall and day lilies in front of that.

In the mean time Paul is back weeding wonderfully.. the perennials are grateful. And we have a new assistant Whitney who will be helping me at Burlington Farmers Market.

We are busy doing events for the next few weekends. So look for these pictures in the up comming weeks. Thank you, all for making mothers day a great success.. we hope all the mothers loved there bouquets.

Full with Daffodiles

Selection from our garden

Well , those 80 degree days made our garden pop with daffodils. Early and late daffys are blooming and we love it. The cut flower garden tulips are flushing with color and we started picking them and designing with them. We planted our first annual crop of the season.. Sunflowers.. yup you heard it right. We are hoping for some June sunflowers. They are under plastic in the field. Calendula, Stock and Goditia are next to go in on Friday. For Nicole's personal garden.. she is weeding the asparagus and putting in 25 more crowns. We are still seeding... and transplanting from cell trays to four packs, as you can see the tomato packs. So you can come by to get some great bedding plants. Don't forget May 9th Burlington Farmers Market we will help you get your Mom the perfect flowers..whether cut..hanging basket.. or bedding plants. Or... you can always drop by the farm.

The tulips have arrived

In the greenhouse, the tulip heads are begining to grow above there leaves and have a touch of color . We will start picking in time for the weekend. Nicole is chasing the woodchuck back to his hole nightly, guarding the new tulip patch. The garden is filled with daffodiles and hyacinths. The Wild tulips , more like a crocus then a tulip, are blooming in the back bed . Here is some tulip history about this small but important flower... The Tulip Humilis Violacea , is concidered Wild tulip most like the orginal tulips from Asia Minnor. These blubs were shipped to the Netherlands as a gift amongst other edible items. The reciever thought they were to be eatten .. they turned out not to tasty and made it into the garden. Thank goodness... imagine our lives without the modern tulip. These are what today large tulips were breed out of.. Find out more by reading Tulipmainia.

A Day of First Blooms

Today the garden is opening up with scent and color. In our front bed we have Blue Hyacinth blooming. Nicole weeded and composted the front bed... nothing like a fresh start. Then wandering out to the back yard we had our first daffodil bloom today. And as you can see there are more to open in the next days and weeks. The little red tulips are opening with the white crocus. It just keeps getting better the more we garden.

Unfortunately we do not have enough flowers blooming to be at the Burlington "Winter" Market... But you can stop by the farm or order farm fresh tulips next week . Please feel free to contact us with tulip pre-orders for the next few weeks.

Keep a look out for the blooms.

The Johnnie -Jump -ups are up

I woke up the other morning to a light blanket of snow, and then two hours later it had disappeared, looking like spring again. By the end of the day I noticed more signs of life. My johnny jump-ups were blooming and another crocus variety was up. Spring is slow to come but those flowers are pushing up. We transplanted snapdragons in the cold frame greenhouse yesterday. Still seeding. Nicole received her box of seed potatoes which is a new crop for our home garden. The garlic has shoots coming up already. Hopefully the daffodils and hyacinth will be out next week. What a joy to work in the garden when that fragrant hyacinth is blooming.

Spring is on the Way

The crocus are blooming in the yard and that is a sure sign of spring. We are still seeding like crazy and the plants are growing a little more each day. Tomatoes and artichokes germinated this week. We are getting our pansies put in 4 packs for April's Burlington Farmers Market , Saturday the 18th in Memorial Auditorium. So hold out for our beautiful verities: Delta mix, Mulberry shades, Pastel mix, and orange and purple verities. We are hoping to have our fancy tulips that we are known for in cut flower bouquets, as well as posies.

Now that the snow has melted... 3/27/09

Now that the snow has melted ...The snow is almost gone and the fields are muddy. But life is coming back: the tulips, daffodils, allium and hyacinth are poking up. The perennials are showing small green leaves. The lilac buds are getting plumper by the day. We are preparing our late summer fields by planning our spring cover crops. The green house is bursting with life: lilies are getting buds, seeds are germinating daily and older trays are getting ready for transplanting. We planted tomato and basil seed this week. Tomatoes we are growing: Brandywine pink, Brandywine Yellow, Cherokee Purple, Big Beef, Sungold Cherry, Moskovich and Pinneapple. All are heirlooms except Sungold.. so expect great taste when you buy these plants. Every week we are not only planting cut flower seeds but bedding plants as well. Some of our selections are: Pansies, Ganzia Kiss Mix, Nicotiana, Lobilia , Datura, Thunbugeria, Morning glories...

New additions this year: We just planted our hanging baskets with illumination apricot begonias and our anemones are putting out foliage and hopefully will beready for cut production in April/ May. The cold frame is sending up White Star of Bethlehem, and as usual the Tulips are coming up. It is shaping up to be a great year and we have a whole bunch of new perennial seeded: Sundrops, Primrose, Buddlea, Perennial Lobelia, Salmon Oriental Poppies, Red Lupin, Edilweiss, Zebra Grass... this list goes on.

The First flower of 2009

Today we picked our first flower of 2009. It is a very small Johnnie Jump Up. I am very excited to see all the bulbs poking up out of the ground now that the snow is melting. This is my favorite time of the year. So much garden clean up. The sooner we start the better.

Seeding in the green house

I have been seeding many flower varieties this week in the green house. Mostly perennials such as: edelweiss, hollyhock, campanula ... the list goes on. There are a few annuals that get an early start too like petunia and lobeilia. We are also planting our lilies, weekly for cut production. Nicole is also starting Dahlia tubers and the agapanthus plants this up coming week. It is lots of work but in a few weeks the green house will be filled with litte sprouts.

opening the greenhouse

We are opening the green house today here are some pictures of us getting ready. Today is Nicoles Favorite day of the year. It is Like Christmas, getting all the flowers going.

Burlington Farmers Market Rate Increase and Resolution

As of the beginning of March this situation was resolved. We came to a fair, reasonable rate increase that benefited everyone. Thank you for the community support....
You may have heard about the new Rate increase the city of Burlington wants to put on the farmers market. But if not, they want to raise our rent 400%. Please view the news clip: http://www.wptz.com/video/18779105/index.html
The Painted Tulip depends on this market for 1/3 of our income we are disturbed that the City of Burlington has attached random figures to our rent increase. Feel free to complain to the Department of Parks and Recreation , City of Burlington.

Seed Starting

We started our season in our new grow room on Feb. 1, 2009. It is small but mighty, giving us a jump on the season for those: pansies, lobelia and perennials. Starting March first, we open the Greenhouse and the real fun begins. The earlier we start the seeds the happier I am. Nicole, loves seeing green and working in the dirt when it is frozen outside.

The Benifits of Gardening

The benefits of gardening..
The chance to be creative
Slows the mind & body down
Connects you with nature
Builds physical strength
Connects you with people
The rising prices of food
Your food just tastes better

Getting ready for Spring

Nicole is going through the seed, plant and, bulb catalogs and getting the orders ready for flower and plant production. It may seem early but we start the greenhouse March 1 and do about 20 trays in the house starting February. This year we are increasing production on Zinnia and Dahlias for cut production. We are growing more perennials for retail. Increasing edible flower production for our VT Fresh Network. And we are growing 3types of basil for cut flower bouquets, bedding plant sales and VT Fresh Network.
We are excited for a strong and colorful season. It is fabulous planing the gardens and fields when it is so cold and snowy. Those glossy, colorful pictures make all the flowers so alluring it is hard to not buy them all.
We are also scheduling consultations, booking weddings and summer events. Don't hesitate ..it is not too early to start planing. Nicole's schedule is already filling in. She is so excited to start designing weddings again and work with clients on planning the special day.

In memoriam Tasha Tudor

I was just reading on of my horticultural magazines to find that Tasha Tudor passed away on June 18, 2008. She is one of our inspirations in the world of gardening and art. She was a illustrator, gardener and Victorian. She lived a life of a Victorian, wearing her hand made period clothing daily and un-modernized house. She loved nature and gardening which added to her long life. She has one of the most exquisite naturalized, cottage gardens in Vermont. She lived a long rich life but will be missed . She is one of my heros . To learn more about her..
http://www.tashtudormuseum.org/