My oh my. Mother nature hasn’t been showing us her warm and friendly side. This
April is starting off mighty windy, chilly, and wet, wet, wet here on south Whidbey,
leaving many folks with a sense that the joy of flowers might be a long ways off.
Never fear! Years of blindly throwing seeds into cold, soggy ground give me reason
to believe our sweet flowers will grow and prosper, even in adverse conditions such
as these. Already, out in Deep Harvest’s boggy fields the Blue Jubilee Jem Bachelor
Buttons, Alpha Calendula, French Flounce Poppies, and sweet peas are showing
their bold, enduring will to thrive. Echinacea and Double Click Cranberry Cosmos are getting
strong in the greenhouse and will be planted out in the elements in the next couple
weeks—they, too, can handle this! Come May and June we’ll sow our more heat
loving flowers; Lovelies Bleeding Amaranth, Salmon Rose Zinnia, Jasmine Scented
Nicotiana, Nigella Exotica, and Soraya Sunflowers. It’s a hopeful, beautiful act to
plant seeds, especially flower seeds, in the midst of spring dreariness. Just go for it.
If they don’t come up, there’s always re-seeding. If they do… bliss!!
Annie’s Northwest Flower Planting Guide
