2025 Year in Review

At the end of the year, I like to post a review of what we grew, what went well and what didn't. Hopefully we can learn from mistakes as well as showing our readers pretty pictures.

What we grew

As in previous years, we planned to sell flowers from February to November. Our earliest blooms were anemones and early daffodils. Next were Iceland poppies, tulips, sweet peas and late season daffodils. In late spring we had ranunculus, roses and larkspur. Summer means zinnias, marigolds and lisianthus, then we go into the glorious variety of heirloom mums in fall. We ended our flower sales in November, with the latest mum varieties bringing us to Thanksgiving. Throughout the year I always grow accent flowers and filler. I’m an artist, so I think of all these flowers as colors and textures to choose from when designing our retail bouquets. It’s a lot like making a painting!

Clockwise from top left: Iceland poppies in our parking strip; too many marigolds in our summer parking strip bed; Don's mums at our secondary growing site; newly planted lisianthus plugs; second year daffodils coming up between rows of over-wintered mum plants.

Best Varieties in 2025, a partial list

Anemone – Galilee Red

Daffodil – Avalanche, Sir Winston Churchill, Thalia

Iceland poppy – Champagne Bubbles Red or White

Ranunculus – Pastelo Elegance

Tulip – Columbus, Negrita Parrot

Sweet Pea – April in Paris, Chiffon Elegance (a blend of early types)

Rose – Crocus, Sally Holmes, Just Joey

Larkspur – Smoky Eyes, Galilee Blue

Zinnia – Oklahoma Ivory or Salmon, Dawn Creek mix, Benary Salmon

Lisianthus - ABC White, Megalo Violet

Fillers and accents – Ageratum Tall Bue Planet, Omphalodes, Scabiosa Oxford Blue, Clarkia Elegant Salmon, Strawflower Vintage White, Basil Aromatto

Heirloom Chrysanthemums - Jefferson Park, River City, Seaton's Je'Dore, Blushing Bride, Rose Maiko, Ft. Vancouver

Some of our favorites from 2025, l to r: Red and white Galilee anemones; assorted sweet peas, a lavender and purple bouquet featuring Megalo Orchid and Megalo Violet lisianthus and accents of Tall Blue Planet ageratum

What went well

One success for me was giving a bouquet-making activity for a bridal shower. I planned and prepped everything so all the guests had to do was choose flowers and make their own small arrangement in a coffee cup. They all had fun without any pressure.

Don had successful seasons of lisianthus and chrysanthemums. He didn’t have any serious mistakes, but he decided to change some of the varieties for 2026. He and I always have quarterly review sessions at the end of each flower season; we discuss which varieties worked well and which ones we weren’t happy with. We do that while it’s fresh in our minds and make lists of what to grow the following year.

 Coffee cups made good vases for a bridal shower activity; I had them ready for guests to choose flowers to insert. At right, one of the finished bouqets.

What didn’t work

Of course we had some mistakes this year, and writing them down might help avoid them next time.  My first mistake of the year was with Iceland poppies. These are very slow to grow from seed so I order plugs (tiny plants) from Farmer Bailey. When I prepped the beds, I added a bagged compost mix, but unfortunately it was too dry and not absorbent enough even when watered (sometimes bags of compost have this problem). The plants struggled and I lost a lot of them in the first few weeks, but the ones that survived bloomed like crazy, so I still had flowers.

My next mistake was the ratio of marigolds to zinnias that I planted. I like both, but zinnias are far more useful for arrangements. This was the first time I’ve made that mistake, and I won’t repeat it. The marigolds looked fabulous to anyone walking by the parking strip where I grow them, and they don’t get mildew the way zinnias do, but there were simply too many.

Looking ahead to 2026

We're already planting for next year, and we'll have mostly the same flowers, but we'll be testing some new-to-us varieties, like Rarity anemones, LaBelle White and Barby ranunculus, Ballerina zinnias, Whiteout and Crimson Tide chrysanthemums. We'll keep you posted!