For a gardener, Winter is both a season of rest as well as one of anticipation. The approach of the new year seems to invite a necessary pause to reflect back on the prior year.
2023 was one of the busiest years I can recall and yet somehow it felt notably restful and fulfilling. The year exceeded our expectations by far, even as we were expanding the farm and pausing to focus on friends, family, and our first litter of puppies.
The nursery on the farm expanded this year despite heavy overwintering losses due to the polar vortex in January. Both the greenhouses and the expanded sales area were full of plants this year. The new drip irrigation setup and fertilizer injector made it possible to grow the thousands of plants without an impossible time investment.
This year, we got help from three hard working teenagers earlier in the season, and then a family member later on in the year. Thank you Sammi, Gabby, Skylar and Chris.
We expanded our farm sales hours this year but will likely return to event based sales next year. We’ll focus more on bringing the plants to you in 2024, at White’s as well as at other nearby markets. We only missed a few sale days at Whites this year and expect to be there frequently next year. We even brought a few cut flowers along at the end of the summer. We were so happy to see returning customers, many of whom give us updates on how their plants are coming along.
We participated in the Boone County Arboretum plant sale this year. This sale at Ammon Nursery draws thousands of plant lovers each year. We sold (and bought) many plants and are really looking forward to the sale next year.
The Dahlia collection grew from a handful of tubers to a collection of over 120 varieties, many of which will be for sale next spring on Dahlia Addict. This may be the farm’s biggest area of growth this coming year.
Our presence on Social Media also grew. I cannot imagine growing so many beautiful flowers without sharing photos and videos of them on Instagram and Facebook.
We were able to finally get some trees planted. We planted several Green Giant Arborvitae behind the sale area, several small conifers in the Japanese Garden and a handful of Picea Abies in the back by the larger pond.
And then there’s the gardens. We added several new display beds this year: I believe we can do a couple of more before it becomes impossible to manage by ourselves. The existing beds flourished, and I can not wait to see what they look like next year, when many plants will reach full maturity.
In 2024, you can expect much of the same as previous years in terms of perennials. We tend to gravitate towards plants that work well in our gardens and require little fuss. We dropped a few varieties after being unimpressed with their vigor in the gardens.
We’ll continue to bring in some Amish grown annuals. This will likely be large hanging baskets and pot dahlias.
New this year will be a small selection of Japanese Maples, conifers and ornamental trees.
We hope in 2024 we can help connect you with some great plants. Please be sure to follow us on Social Media and watch out for farm events and more.
We cannot express enough how grateful we are for each and every person who supports our plant farm.
God bless you and your family!
