Blooms in the Forecast

We had a few fairly nice days - then the roller coaster that has been the weather for the last couple of months in Iowa took us back down into chillier temps.  That was more than enough to trigger my desire to see two of our favorite types of flowers - daylilies and iris.

Our farm is home to several varieties of each, though we have many fewer iris than we used to tout.  Still, every year about this time I start to look at the pictures we have taken of some of our favorite blooms.  Blooms like the Rocket City daylilies shown above.  We've been able to be quite successful with most of the daylilies that come to live at the Genuine Faux Farm and we're looking at splitting many of our well established plants so they can cover more of the landscape around the farm.

Splitting our own plants does a few things.  First, we won't inadvertently bring in a neonicatinoid pesticide that is often applied to nursery plants - though we do ask when we do buy new plants if they have had this treatment.  And, second, of course is the fact that we can use our own resource to meet out goals.

But, some of the clumps have been doing so well and look so good - it's kind of hard to actually WANT to split them up. 

 We are also looking forward to old friends, such as Proud Tradition.  We know this iris should be in two different locations on our farm right now and we hope one, or both, have survived to treat us to these beautiful blooms again in 2022.  

Unlike the daylilies, many of the varieties we have grown (or tried to grow) have not particularly cared for some of the conditions our farm had endured in recent years.  In particular, some of the wetter years seemed to reduce the vigor of many of our plants.

So, this year we're going to treat both of these a bit like we do some of our other crops.  We're going to give them some specific attention to see if we can't perk things up around here - and by extension - perk ourselves up a bit.  We recognize that the benefits will not be visible in 2022.  Instead, we have to do the work this year so we will reap the benefits in 2023 and beyond.  

Who knows what we'll manage - but we can certainly dream about it.  Especially when the days are cold.