You may know all about the great spring-blooming bulbs you can plant in the fall, but did you know that there are annuals you can grow from seed that will survive over-winter? You can put them in the ground in September and they'll bloom in the spring.

Sweet peas, nigella, bachelor buttons and bupleurum are a few of the cold hardy flowers we experimented with last year, with great success! We were rewarded with a variety of spring blooms in April/May, early enough to add them to our Mother's Day bouquets and share with our Spring CSA members.

Some, we seeded in our greenhouse in late July, then transplated to the field in September. Others, we seeded directly into beds in September. We learned these tricks-of-the-trade from notable flower farmer, Lisa Ziegler, of The Gardener’s Workshop, author of the book, Cool Flowers.

On our flower farming journey we have come across so many farmers who have been wonderfully generous with their time and knowledge. Community over competition rules in the flower farming world!

This year in our fields, we are expanding our number of cool-season crops. Those we direct seeded were put straight into the ground, and those transplanted were started in our greenhouse first, and moved outside around the same time we direct seeded the others.

It's usually a matter of reading your seed packets and doing your research to know which method to use, but of course feel free to reach out to us with any questions you might have!

Here are the cool-season flowers Sweet Earth Co. is looking forward to sharing come Spring 2020:

TRANSPLANTED

• Amaranthus

• Ammi

• Agrostemma

• Snapdragon

• Strawflower

DIRECT SEEDED

• Bachelor Button

• California Poppy

• Clary Sage

• Didiscus (Lace Flower)

• Nigella

• Persian Cress

• Phlox

These are all tucked away in our garden beds for the winter. The beds have been covered with fall leaves for insulation, and secured with Agribon® (a non-woven fabric cover, ultra-light and resistant to exposure to the environment; it allows light, water and air to pass through and is reusable) to protect them throughout the winter.

If you're interested in learning more about cold-hardy annuals you can plant now, check out Lisa's book, or visit our Learning Resources page. Hopefully this information can help you create a more beautiful, diversified Spring garden!

Gallery Images: Floret Flowers