Appleton Blooms

We’ve been combatting the cutest pest you’d ever come across. Rabbits. So far, they’ve eaten all of our sunflowers that are supposed to be blooming now and are putting a dent in our zinnias. I feel like we’ve tried all the aromatics that we can think of. We’ve finally decided to just fence the area in. We have more seedlings started.

Calendula, or Pot Marigold ft. Blooming bachelors buttons 🌱

We didn’t think we’d get any blooms from our late winter planted ranunculus. We had a stretch of hot days that would typically make the corms go dormant. I’m so happy we didn’t give up on them. With a little shade cloth, and thankfully some cooler days we finally have some blooms. Our very first bloom, although tiny is beautiful. More are also coming in from our bigger bed. 💐

Pictured below are Mahogany Splendor Hibiscus. This is my first year growing them and I’m blown away. I had 100% germination and the roots on these plants are so robust. I potted them up into grow bags about 2-3 weeks ago and they took off. I can’t wait to get them in the ground. 🌱



Pics from johnnyseeds and Appleton Blooms

We’ve been busy starting our tender annuals over the past few weeks. We have a multitude of things going like celosia (Sunday Mix), sunflowers, and different varieties of zinnias. These are just a few, but we’re hoping to have enough to make some beautiful fresh bouquets this summer. Below are some of my pictures as well as pictures from johnnyseeds website and sunflowerselections website.

We had a big (to us) shipment come in that was ordered back in September of 2022. We ordered about 500 gladiolus corms from a family owned company called Fred Nagel & Sons. The picture below is of their pastel mix from their website. Gladiolus are beautiful and provide the perfect spike to a bouquet. We start planting these about 2 weeks before the last frost date, so they came just in time.

💐

Fall planted bachelors buttons seem to be the way to go. We’re even getting buds. Some other things coming along in the garden are the fall planted dusty miller, as well as tulips. I did a super small patch of about 100 tulips just to try them out and they’re starting to color up. Spring is on the way!

Last year was a year of trialing. I started a cutting garden just to hone the skills I thought I had and was completely humbled. There was mistake after mistake when it came to growing last year. It was essentially a year of learning. And boy did I learn. That’s not to say that I’m a pro now, but I decided to invest in education. That helped tremendously. I’ve learned so much over this “off season” so to speak. I’m excited to put what I’ve learned to the test.

Also, Happy Valentine’s Day! 💌

Picture of sunflowers I grew last year.

I love growing plants and I think it’s so amazing to be able to grow a plant from a seed.

Yesterday I started to pot up some Eucalyptus ‘Baby Blue Bouquet’, and Limonium ‘Johnny’s Statice Formula Mix’. That means I took the tiny 3/4 inch soil blocked seedling and put it in a 2 inch soil block. Since eucalyptus are slow growers, they needed to be potted up in order to grow on and get bigger. I had extra space on the tray and decided to go ahead and pot up the statice as well.

I’m so excited to start planting out my cool season hardy annuals!

I’ve added pictures of eucalyptus and statice sourced from Johnny Seeds. You can also see my excitement for how robust the root system is as well as how good they look.

Let’s talk cool flowers

Although it may seem like an unlikely time to be starting seeds, now is a great time to start cool flowers. Cool flowers or hardy annuals are equal to the cool season vegetables that are currently being planted like carrots, spinach, and broccoli. We’re also starting some of those slow growers like eucalyptus, and lisianthus. We have a multitude of things growing. Sweet Williams, strawflower, and calendula are a few. Also, the ranunculus are more than ready to go in the ground.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Hi everyone!

I’m Ashley, the grower behind Appleton Blooms. What started out as an interest has now “blossomed” into a business. Journey with us as we grow flowers and grow together in the craft. We hope to be transparent by highlighting the successes and learning moments along the way as a small scale urban flower farm.

Today we are pre-sprouting ranunculus corms. Although they look like little octopus tentacles, they produce some of the most gorgeous blooms. I’ve added some pictures of my own and some sourced from Leo Berbee Bulb Co. website. The colors we’re growing are a pastel mix, yellow, and white.

Appleton Blooms is excited to share our love of plants and cut flowers! What started as a hobby that could be inclusive of our two little girls, has grown to a passion to be that and so much more!