Nickel City Floral

Buffalo-grown Bouquets

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Summer Hydrangea and Rudbeckia Large Arrangement

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nickelcityfloral

Every year it’s the same old story. 😣 #garden

Every year it’s the same old story. 😣
#gardenplanning #farmplan #seedstarting #schedule #bestlaidplans

I had a wonderful time at Community Art Day at Wes

I had a wonderful time at Community Art Day at West Buffalo Charter School last Saturday! We talked about paying attention to nature’s calendar (phenology), how to thoughtfully collect beauty from nature, and ways to live locally and seasonally — all while making colorful garlands out of things (mostly) grown and gathered in our very own neighborhood! The students amazed me with how observant, polite, and focused they were both in our conversation and working on our project!

Thanks so much for the opportunity, @creativeartclassroom and @WestBuffaloCharterSchool

#phenology #livelocal #liveseasonally #driedflowerart

Have you ever tried drying flowers from the store?

Have you ever tried drying flowers from the store? Have you tried methods other than these?

#driedflowers #dryingflowers #everlastings

Lessons Learned: Larkspur I love Larkspur. I tried

Lessons Learned: Larkspur
I love Larkspur. I tried to grow 2 colors this year but through mislabeling (not sure if it was my fault or the
seed company’s fault), I ended up with almost exclusively dark purple. It adds such a punch in fresh
bouquets and is gorgeous dried. I chilled the Larkspur seed and then started seedlings early. I
transplanted them out mid-April because they like to start out in the cool weather. They bloomed with
gorgeous spires (though almost too tall for my purposes) and then put out tons of side shoots. I finally
pulled the plants later in the season in order to plant something else. I probably should’ve pulled them a
little sooner because, even though they were still producing, the side shoots were really short and not
hardly worth the effort of harvesting.

TL;DR: Grow more larkspur in every color. 😍😍Pinch to get more stems of a usable height but pull it once it stops being productive.

#lessonslearned #farmerflorist #Larkspur #driedflowers

Custom order I just finished. ✅

Custom order I just finished. ✅

Edit: Class is sold out! Thanks for all the love!

Edit: Class is sold out! Thanks for all the love! 💗
I’ve always hung my tapestries on a wall, so I never realized before what a different look you get when the light shines through the back! I think I like it. 🧐

These are the frames we will be using for the tapestry class on February 10th. I love how they can be used vertically or horizontally, hung on a wall or sitting on a shelf.

Check out the link in my bio for more details and to sign up for the class. 🖼️

#tapestryclass #buffalo #valentinesclass #galentines #botanicaltapestry #everlastings

Lessons Learned: Cup and Saucer Vine (aka Cathedra

Lessons Learned: Cup and Saucer Vine (aka Cathedral Bells, aka Cobea Scandens)
I grew these vines from seed and started them way too early indoors. They grew almost 4 ft. long in their 4-inch pots, I had to use dowel rods to stake them up until I could plant them out! Their tendrils were constantly grabbing other seedlings. One out of three vines died off shortly after I transplanted them, probably from neglect or crowding. The second produced some flowers and lasted through August before it withered. The third vine grew well in the fall and put out a 1-3 blooms at a time until we got a killing frost in late October. I had seen pictures of the vines thickly covering a trellis with hundreds of blooms. (Check out some staggeringly beautiful images by @derletztewolf , who was the one who inspired me to grow this in the first place. ) I think I would need to plant at least 10-12 plants at the base of my 4 ft. arch to get thick coverage like that. I also think they would benefit from more careful watering and fertilizer. Considering that blooms only last 3-4 days and don’t have long enough stems for bouquets, I probably shouldn’t plant them again, buuuuuuuuut, the beauty of these blooms is truly incomparable, so I will try them for one more year. I plan to start them about 4 weeks before last frost so they don’t get so long before I can plant them out.
TL;DR: Don’t start seedlings so early, plant more vines and give them more TLC. Vines won’t really put out a lot blooms until fall.

#lessonslearned #farmerflorist #cupandsaucer #cathedralbells #cobeascandens

Edit: sold out!!! 🎊 Come and spend an evening f

Edit: sold out!!! 🎊
Come and spend an evening fostering your creative side as you design a unique floral tapestry with dried botanicals.

At the end of the evening, you will leave
with a one-of-a-kind work of art.

Click the link in my bio to register. If you sign up with a friend, you’ll each save $10. Just be sure to select the option “Class Entry for me and a friend” when checking out on my website!

#Valentinesclass #februaryflowers #livingseasonally #driedflowerart #galentinesclass #buffalodatenight

Lesson Learned: Dahlias My dahlias started out as

Lesson Learned: Dahlias
My dahlias started out as a sad situation this year. I potted them up indoors in soil mix in late April and, in my effort to not let them rot, accidentally kept them too dry. They didn’t put out many roots before it was time to plant outside. Then when I transplanted them, we had 2 weeks of wet weather. About 1/3 of them
never even sprouted. I’m not sure if this was my fault or if possibly I was sent some tubers that were not viable. Either way, this is my 5th year growing dahlias and has never happened before, so I guess there is always got more to learn! Fortunately, the tubers that grew turned into healthy, productive plants with stunning blooms. (See pics!)
TL;DR: Pay better attention to tubers when potting up and watch the weather before planting. Make sure tubers have a viable eye before wasting garden space on them.

#lessonslearned #farmerflorist #dahlias #dahliatubers

I know that I should probably quit, but I just can

I know that I should probably quit, but I just can’t. Even though sweet peas are utterly impractical, I find myself enticed by their intoxicating fragrance and ruffly petals—it seems like every year there are new colors and fancier varieties to try! Because I don’t have a greenhouse, I can never get them to produce long enough stems, which is part of the reason I am switching back to offering vase arrangements (instead of wrapped bouquets) for my spring subscription. It adds a little to the price of the subscription (because it is a lot more labor for me!) but using vases allows you to enjoy all of the delicate spring ephemerals in your subscription, even the ones with shorter stems.
Also note- this year spring subscriptions will have an additional week, for five bouquets instead of four!
TL;DR: Sweet peas are an impractical waste of space (profit-wise) year after year, but I’m still foolishly trying to find a way to make them work.

#flowerfarmer #farmerflorist #lessonslearned #Sweetpeas

Lessons learned: Zinderella Zinnias I’ve heard

Lessons learned: Zinderella Zinnias
I’ve heard from other growers that these zinnias often don’t grow the puffy centers that make these zinnias so adorable. It’s not uncommon to get mostly sparse flowers with single petals and as low as 10% turn out to have the classic “Zinderella” puffball. This is a newer breed of zinnias so there is still a fair amount of variation. I don’t know if this is science or myth, but I’ve heard you can have more success by using fresh seed and being sure that your young seedlings do not get stressed, especially at transplant time. I did my best to do those things but it’s also possible I just got lucky. Either way, I had loads of puffy centers and a fair amount of cute flowers with single layers of petals too. I didn’t mind the singles and used all of them as they blended amazingly with all the other salmon flowers I grew. I loved the uniqueness and plan to try the Zinderella lilac this year instead of peach.
TL;DR: Zinderellas are totally worth the space.
#lessonslearned #zinderella zinnia #farmerflorists

Lessons Learned: Pansies Pansies grown in nurserie

Lessons Learned: Pansies
Pansies grown in nurseries are sometimes sprayed with a hormone that stunts their growth so they stay nice and compact. That’s fine (I guess?🤔) if you want them in your window baskets, but not so much if you want to eat them. I grow all my pansies from seed so they are safe to use as edible flowers.
The pansies that I transplanted into my garden beds never got very big and consistently had damage from slugs. The pansies in my pots exploded with growth and bloomed almost until the end of the growing season. I plan to only grow them in pots from now on.
My pansies never grew stems long enough to use in bouquets, so that’s something I hope to figure out in the future. In the meantime, I’ll use them for pressed and edible flowers.
TL;DR: Start earlier and only plant in pots to avoid slug damage.

#lessonslearned #farmerflorist #pansies #edibleflowerscake

Lessons Learned: Cupcake Cosmos After years of try

Lessons Learned: Cupcake Cosmos
After years of trying to grow the fluffy Double Click Cosmos, but always having them droop their heavy heads, I was super excited to see this new variety become available. They are easy to grow from seed and bloom 4-6 feet tall on strong stems. Just a 4 ft. patch gave me more than I could ever use. I thought they only came in white, but a few blush pink seeds must of gotten mixed in with my whites. This coming season I will definitely be growing both colors! After a few weeks of blooming their heads off, these cosmos succumbed to powdery mildew and no longer produced good blooms. I hope to plant more successions in the coming season.
TL;DR: A dreamy, delicate, cosmos that is everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. 5 stars - will grow multiple successions in 2023.

#lessonlearned #cupcakecosmos #successionplanting #farmerflorist

January seems like a great time to recap what went

January seems like a great time to recap what went well or badly from during the last season. I was
going to call this little series of posts “Successes and Failures” but most things are not so easily lumped in one category or the other. So the next few posts will hopefully be simply in the category of “Lessons Learned.” I can tend to be wordy, so I’ll include a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) recap at the
end of each one.

Lessons Learned: Zanzibar Carthamas (aka Safflower)
I started my first batch of these indoors about six weeks before the last frost. They germinated practically
overnight and exploded with growth. It wasn’t long before I realized the seedlings would be too tall and floppy to transplant by the time I could plant them outside, so I tossed them. I direct-seeded the rest as the packet had suggested, and they quickly grew tall and robust.
My biggest surprise and disappointment was that this flower is a one-and-done! (After you cut the blooming flowers, it doesn’t produce any more.) I’m still trying to figure out if I could get more blooms by pinching the main stem, or if that would prevent it from flowering. No matter where I look, I can’t get a good answer on that. I love the blooms both fresh and dried - the green stems and leaves retain their color almost as well as the flower petals! I hope to plant two successions and grow double what I grew last year.
TL;DR: Don’t bother transplanting this plant, just direct seed. It’s a one-and-done plant, so plant multiple successions.

#farmerflorist #lessonslearned #everlastings #safflower #directsow

Well, the driving ban remains in place for another

Well, the driving ban remains in place for another day. Glad I grabbed this stash of dried flowers last week to work with during the storm.

We’ve been so fortunate to be safe at home with power through the whole storm. My heart goes out to everyone who has suffered discomfort and even tragedy in the past few days. 🙏🏻

Was totally worth waiting in lines to the back of

Was totally worth waiting in lines to the back of the store.

Thanks, @bakercreekseeds, for this thing of beauty! I’ll be dreaming of planting seeds while the snow swirls! 🌬️🌬️🌬️

#flowerfarmer #farmerflorist #seedcatalogs #dreamingofspring

If this cold weather has you dragging, tag that la

If this cold weather has you dragging, tag that last-minute shopper in your life to let them know they can still get you a spring subscription of flowers!

#hinthint #flowersubscription #bouquetsubscription #springflowers #lastminutechristmasshopping #buffalogifts

I’m in love with new botanical tissue paper I bo

I’m in love with new botanical tissue paper I bought for packaging up my dried flowers! Between that and finally getting the proper-sized boxes, it is much easier to give dried flower art as a gift this year.

#driedflowers #driedflowerart #brownpaperpackages #giftideas #buffalogifts #shoplocal

No, but really, I love it. ☺️ Wild Bouquet Ta

No, but really, I love it. ☺️

Wild Bouquet Tapestry

#driedflowers #driedflowertapestry #flowerembroidery #everlastings

A. Romantic Bouquet Tapestry 10 in. x 7.5 in frame

A. Romantic Bouquet Tapestry 10 in. x 7.5 in frame, $30 sold!
B. Enter the Woodland mushroom wreath 13 in. diameter, $45 sold!
C. Pink and White Silver Dollar wreath, 12 in. diameter hoop, $40
D. Wild Bouquet Tapestry, 9 in. x 6.5 in frame $30 (sold)
E. Rainbow wreath, 14 in. diameter, $40 sold!

You know the drill, 😃comment to claim. I’ll message you to arrange payment and pick up. The wreaths can be shipped but the tapestries cannot, sorry!

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