Starting Seeds from Floret
We’re preparing for this year's growing season here at my Bedford, New York farm - my gardeners are busy starting all the many vegetables and flowers from seed.
We sow thousands of seeds every year - all those wonderful seeds I enjoy purchasing during my travels, and seeds we order from our favorite sources. Among them - Floret, a family farm and floral design studio specializing in organic, handcrafted arrangements for special events. Located in the Skagit Valley, outside of Seattle Washington, owner Erin Benzakein has created a thriving business - in fact, she was one of our American Made Honorees in 2014.
This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, planted a selection of Floret seeds, including pincushion flowers, soapworts, ornamental grasses and many more. Here are some photos - enjoy.
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- Floret works hard to find the very best cut flower varieties – their selections are based on scent, stem length, and overall quality. https://www.floretflowers.com/
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- Some of the seeds we received include Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’ – petite, star-shaped flowers, some bearing a dark center eye, and others marbled and speckled. The plants produce abundant flowers with a sweet candy fragrance from mid-summer through autumn. (Photo from Floret)
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- Larkspur ‘Splish Splash’ is unique. The flowers are striped violet, fuchsia, and amethyst – a combination that creates an almost iridescent effect. Larkspur is easy to grow, cold tolerant and early to bloom. (Photo from Floret)
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- Foxglove ‘Dalmatian Peach’ produces soft peachy-apricot blooms – a great choice for bouquets. While most foxgloves are biennials, this new hybrid flowers the first year from early sowing of seed then produces again the second year if left in place. Just remember, all parts of the foxglove plant are toxic if ingested, so always wear gloves when handling, and keep pets and small children away. (Photo from Floret)
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- Shirley Poppy ‘Supreme’ flowers all summer with a mix of white, scarlet, soft pink and watermelon-orange. Each stem shoots up at least a half dozen buds, and as soon as one flower fades, another comes up. And pollinators love them. (Photo from Floret)
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- Mignonette ‘White’ provides long, upright stems with snow-white flowers and a strong vanilla fragrance. Do you know… according to legend, Napoleon sent mignonette seeds from Egypt to France for his darling Empress Josephine in the early 1800s? (Photo from Floret)
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- Poor Man’s Orchid ‘Angel’s Wings Mix’ is extremely easy to grow, and includes flowers in shades of violet, candy-pink, rose and apple-blossom. This variety is great for flower arranging and tall enough for mixed bouquets. (Photo from Floret)
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- China Aster ‘Lady Coral Chamois’ with its peachy-blush blooms, is a popular favorite. Each plant produces at least a dozen stems topped with ruffled, delicate flowers. (Photo from Floret)
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- Malope ‘Queen Pink’ is another easy to grow cultivar. Vigorous and long flowering, Malope is a must have cutting garden staple. Each plant is loaded with vivid magenta and pink flowers that resemble hibiscus. (Photo from Floret)
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- Pincushion Flower ‘Summer Sangria’ is a stunning variety with rich sangria colored blooms. These hardy annuals are easy to grow and are very prolific – another favorite of pollinators. (Photo from Floret)
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- Ornamental Grass ‘Bunny Tails’ show off compact plants and graceful gray-green blades with elongated heads that turn cream and soft as they age. (Photo from Floret)
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- Soapwort ‘Beauty Pink’ is an airy, delicate filler that grows fast in the garden. The miniature pink blooms are eye-catching when grown en masse. (Photo from Floret)
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- When starting from seed, it is helpful to use seed starting trays – ours are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It’s also best to use a pre-made seed starting mix that contains the proper amounts of vermiculite, perlite, and peat moss. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/
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- Because we seed so many plants, Ryan works in a production line manner in order to get as many trays started as possible. Here he is filling the trays with soil, ensuring each cell of the tray is filled to the top.
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- Using a finger or the end of a closed thick marker pen, make a shallow hole in each cell.
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- The hole just needs to be big enough for the seed to be dropped in and then covered with more soil mix.
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- Our favorite greenhouse kitty, Blackie, loves to watch all the activity.
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- Some seeds are very small – be very careful when pouring them out of the packet.
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- Here, Ryan drops the seeds into the cells by hand – about two for each cell. Germination is never guaranteed, so multiple seeds are always planted. This provides a better chance at least one will take root. Seeds are usually started about two months before the last frost in the area. If you’re not sure, check online or ask garden center associates when the last frost usually occurs in your location.
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- Once the entire tray has been filled, Ryan adds soil and covers the seeds.
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- And then he lightly pats the soil down, so the seeds have good contact with the soil.
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- Some trays go into our commercial-sized Urban Cultivator. It is kept in the head house of my main greenhouse. It weighs 545-pounds and can hold up to 16-flats. The Urban Cultivator’s pre-programmed control center adds just the right amount of water, light, humidity, and air. http://www.urbancultivator.net
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- Urban Cultivator provides humidity domes for each tray. The humidity dome remains positioned over the seed tray until germination begins. Each tray receives about 18-hours of light a day.
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- Ryan is filling up our Urban Cultivator. In several weeks, these young plants will be moved into larger celled trays, and then finally out into the cutting garden. If you haven’t already, I hope I inspired you to start some of your favorite plant seeds – maybe even this weekend! And, if you haven’t ordered any, don’t worry, you still have time.
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