I Love the Philly Flower show. Every year I go with my family to see all the amazing exhibits.

Each year there is a theme, This year it was Great Britain. England has a rich gardening culture and it was fun to see how everyone interpreted this.

The show is divided into four main parts, Exhibition, Floral Design, Plants, and Shopping.

The exhibits are done by companies that have an interest in floral design and horticulture. Florists, garden centers, growers and manufactures strut their stuff and really come up with unique showcases.

My favorites this year were the over the top dinner party, the eggs made of found items, the English Moore and the Vertical garden with the wheelbarrows.

Some of my favorite vendors were there selling their products to the public like Landreth Seeds, Organic Mechanic and Chive.

This show always gets my creative juices flowing. I especially loved the twee little fairy gardens. This is a tough one for me because I think they cross the line a little too much, but I think I will try some out this year. Seems like a natural fit with all the terrariums we have.

Lavender and William were excellent helpers, I gave Lavender my Iphone to take pictures, she really has a good eye.

William was encouraging with his raw enthusiasm for flowers, he really loves color and likes to look at all of the designs and smell the flowers.

And now for some plant porn.

My parents live in West Virginia, near the Maryland border. Their property sits on the site of an old tomato and melon farm. There was once a thriving tomato industry in their area but the local farmers could not compete with the big factory farms in California so they went out of business. Unfortunately, the farmers used chemical fertilizers which left the soil depleted of organic materials and nutrients and pretty poor. It has been siting fallow for about 20 years.

They said that nothing can grow there but offered to give me a small piece of land to try to grow something if I could, I saw it as a horticultural challenge.

I fell in love with lavender when I first visited the south of France and had the opportunity to visit lavender fields while it was in full bloom. My parents had seeded their property with wildflowers and registered their property as a wildflower farm and lavender seemed like a good fit. Lavender loves to be planted in well draining soil on a slope without many nutrients. It doesn’t need much maintenance, water, pest control or fertilizer and if planted correctly, can be maintained by mowing in between rows a couple of times a year. Turns out it loves it in the mountains of West Virginia where there are hot dry summers and lots of silty, rocky soil. It also tolerates being ignored by my parents. We planted a few thousand plants on mother’s day a few years ago and it has thrived.

While you spend the 4th chomping on hotdogs or fauxdawgs trying to keep cool, we spent the holiday weekends at our flower farm in West By God Virginia picking lavender from our fields in triple digit weather. Yea Haw! Our lavender is grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides and is perfect for use in your home or for cooking.

Here is a great recipe for Lavender Sorbet

Lavender Sorbet

The vodka in the recipe makes it very soft. It’s not the kind of iced dessert you scoop into an oversized waffle cone. It’s a slushy, uncooperative dish that, in small doses, will refresh your heat-addled senses. While this style of sorbet is similar to the palate cleansers served at high-end restaurants between courses, I like it as a mid-afternoon refresher on a scorching hot summer day.

Makes 4 very small servings

1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 heaping teaspoon fresh lavender flowers (food grade only*)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vodka
In a small sauce pan, dissolve sugar and water over medium heat.
Stir in lavender. Bring to a boil then quickly reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then strain lavender syrup through a fine sieve.
Stir in lemon juice and vodka.
If you have an ice cream maker, make the sorbet according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Otherwise, pour the syrup into a flat-bottomed glass dish, cover, and freeze until semi-solid. Break the sorbet up with a fork and freeze until solid. Place frozen sorbet in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Cover and refreeze until ready to serve.

Its almost St. Patrick’s day and time to plant potatoes.

My mother always told me that you plant potatoes on st. patricks day. She said thats because the irish love to eat potatoes. She lived in zone 6 in the Appalachian Mountains and by words of wisdom, that is too early for them, but thats what they did and it seemed to work, she ate lots of potatoes growing up.

We live in zone 7 so St. Patrick’s day is just right.

I have a bag of potatoes on my counter and they all have sprouts, maybe they know something I don’t.

Potatoes, are one of my favorite things to grow.

I get small potatoes at the farmer’s market and soak them in water for a little then put them in a warm place in a paper bag to sprout.

After they sprout, I cut them into quarters or plant them whole (if they are tiny) into the place I want to grow them, about 12″ apart, 3-4 inches deep.

Not all soil is equal in Brooklyn and I did read in a NYT article that potatoes grown in soil that may have lead are ok to eat as long as you wash them. That being said though, it is much, much easier to plant potatoes in a container and just empty the contents of the container at the end of the growing season (after the plants turn yellow) and pick out your potatoes. I almost always miss and damage some when I dig them out.

Sometimes, I get antsy and shove my hand under the plant and steal a few during the growing season. The plants don’t seem to mind and I get really tasty new potatoes that are amazing.

Once in awhile I have had problems with Potato Bugs, I have found that planting potatoes with marigolds has kept them away.

Five gallon buckets make great containers for potatoes as do trash cans or a large bag of soil, just cut some slits in the bag and plant your potaoes, isn’t that easy?

Another method is to plant your potatoes in a tire and as the plant grows, keep stacking tires on top of the plants and add more soil, compost, old leaves, hay, shredded newspaper, well you get the idea. At the end of the season, take away the tires and pick out your potatoes.

Potatoes like either a high or low PH soil. Low PH will make a more waxy texture potato and High PH will make a more dry-textured potato. Think pine needles, citrus rinds, eggshells and sulfur, for low ph, think vegetable fats (avocado peels) and lime (the powdered type) for a high ph.

They really are super easy and taste oh so much better than the ones you get at C-Town. I saw a few volunteer plants growing out of my compost bin last year, I can’t wait to see what grew when I turn the compost this week.

Thats, my 2 cents, try them, they are fun to grow.

Kimberly Sevilla

Rose Red & Lavender
Flowers Plants, and Beautiful Things

653 Metropolitan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211

www.roseredandlavender.com

Tire Planter Potatoes

Seeds, seeds, seeds.

I love seeds. I really do. I like looking at the catalogs, reading all the descriptions, trying all the varieties, saving seeds, collecting seeds, trading seeds. I love talking to seed growers and getting all nerdy about all the different cultivators and reminiscing. When we say Brandywine, or Moon and Stars, Even Freckles and Deer Tounge, we smile, because we know what that means an we all have our favorites.

If you haven’t tried it, using seeds to start your garden can be very rewarding. There are so many varieties that just wouldn’t be available to you if you didn’t grow them yourself, even things that (gasp) would not be available at the Farmer’s market. I know, I know, they seem to have everything but there are some bizarro things out there, Purple, Conical Cauliflower?. Lettuce, radishes, and beans and sunflowers are very easy and if you are timid, I suggest you start with those.

We teach a few classes on how to start seeds. I am always proud when my students come back and show me pictures of what they grew. One of my very first students moved on to create his own Roof Top Seed company, I am so proud.

I personally have tried almost every method of seed starting and there are two that I will swear by, ok, three that I swear by. These are; winter sowing, jiffy pellets, and baby beds.

Seeds are a miracle and once water is added, the whole process of life begins. Have you watched your garden in the spring, and notice how bare the earth is, and suddenly, after a warm day, life pops up out of nowhere? Weeds, weeds, weeds and lots of them. No one mollycoddles these plants, no one sets up growlights or painstakingly cares for them and yet they grow. Whaddup with that? Sometimes you will notice that the seedlings look a little familiar and many times, healthier, but smaller versions of ones you started in your home weeks before. Those volunteer tomato plants, sunflowers, and herbs just pop up, all on their own. Get Out! These seeds rest in the ground all winter and when the time is right, for them, POP! I have noticed that the volunteer plants almost always catch up to the ones I started, and even out grow them, not fair.

There is a method called Winter Sowing. Basically, you take your seed starting kit, take out container, milk jug or what have you and you plant your seeds, water them, and place the whole thing outside, in the middle of winter, in the snow. When the time is right for those seeds to grow, they will, with no help from you, and they will thrive and be healthy. Just be sure to water them when the weather warms up. The cold kills any of the damp-off fungi, and also helps striate hard seed coats. This is the only way that I have been able to successfully grow Lupins and Columbine (both native plants) from seed. Funny enough, tomatoes, and peppers also do very well using this method. It may not be as much fun as starting them inside, but you will get good results.When the seedlings are large enough, you just move them to where you would like them to be in the garden.Yes, it is that easy. You don’t need to worry about planting charts, frost dates, grow lights….ect. They will grow when they are ready to, it almost takes all the fun out of it.

Jiffy pellets, I love, love, love them. Before I had a garden in the city, I had one in the country in upstate New York and I would grow my seedlings at home; first in a walkup in Alphabet City, and then in a real grown up’s apartment in Park Slope, even in the hatchback of my Saab, which was a terrific greenhouse, as well as a fun car.

Starting seeds can be messy and the fine seed starting mix can go everywhere. Filling the trays is a hassle and it always makes a mess. One year I discovered Jiffy 7′s and I was hooked. Jiffy’s are little disks of peat-moss that are flat, but when you add water, they pop up into little pots that are surrounded by netting. Storage is easy and they last forever.

Mini Greenhouse

Put three seeds in a little pot, cover with a clear lid and wait for your seeds to sprout. Take off the lid and watch your plants grow. When you transplant, move the pot into the soil, its that easy. Sometimes I rip off the little net, sometimes not. These pellets come in little mini greenhouses with 6, 12, 20 or 72 pellets. 72 will fit into a full tray, and they work great in combination with the plastic 6 packs that come with the 72 cell greenhouses. 72 plants! once you get started, you will want more, and more and more….

Other methods, peat pots, newspaper cups, the paper towel, ect…. never worked out that great for me and I always had watering issues, mold (especially with the newspaper cups) and general poor performance.

The last method that I like is similar to the winter gardening method but uses a cold frame instead of individual containers. You basically set up a small raised bed, about 2′ x 4′ and fill it with a light mixture of vermiculite and peat or coir with some sand. 3 parts peat or coir to one part sand and one part vermiculite. A 15g smartpot would also do well.

Smart Pot

Plant your seeds, well spaced, in little rows, don’t forget to label them. When the plants are big enough, use a transplant trowel (skinny and thin) and move them to where you want them. If you like you can cover the box with plastic hoops or with an old window or piece of glass, creating a cold frame. Don’t forget to prop it open on sunny days or you will have an oven.

The backs of seed packets have lots of great information. Ignore most of the planting instructions, except for if it tells you to direct sow, some seedlings don’t like to be moved around much. Remember to always space your seeds, each seed has the potential of becoming a little plant. A pack of lettuce seed can have up to 400 seeds, so avoid at all costs, making a little furrow and sprinkling all the seeds in that furrow. Thinning is a waste of time, and a waste of seed, and it is damages the plants. Its always best to put 3 seeds in a spot, every few inches. One out of three is bound to grow.

August News, Big Sale!

It has been a long, hot summer. Time to sow your fall crops. These cool nights are reminding me that fall is just around the corner.

Did you know that now is the perfect time to sow seeds for those cold weather vegetables? Every time I go to my favorite restaurant in Greenpoint, the ones with the Knights, who’s name I can never pronounce, I think about fall crops. All those lovely cabbages, carrots, parsnips, beets, and turnips; they love cool weather and now is the time to sow your seeds. If you have a little spot where perhaps a zucchini didn’t make it (damn caterpillars) or a plant that is just limping along, yank it and sow some seed. Didn’t get around to planting a garden this year, don’t worry, you can sow these now. Varieties like dwarf kale, carrots, spinach and lettuce work great in containers, so don’t let a lack of an outdoor space stop you

Twig Terrariums!Crime

It ain't no Crime

It Ain’t no crime to love terrariums, we do for sure. Twig is back in the house and will be teaching a workshop all about Terrariums. Featured at the Museum of Arts and Design, Twig has bought terrariums to a new level, and the girls are super sweet too. Come take their class and learn all about terrariums.

BYOC Terrariums. Have a special container that you love, want to learn a little more about DIY terrariums? Take our BYOC class and bring your own container.

BIG FAT SALE!
Yip-pie, it is our end of summer sale. Now that your sunburns have finally turned into tans, I know its time for a sale. All outdoor plants are 30% off, All gardening supplies, hoses, tools, are 50% off.. WHAAAT? We have to make room for fall plants, so buh-by, summer plants, buh-by, soaker hoses, buh-by and buh-by rakes, spades, and forks.

Give the Gift of Love. Dahlias and Celosia Locally grown flowers

Did you know that Flowers are a natural Aphrodisiac? They are, why do you think they have been gifted since ancient times? We all need a little love, right? So to help we are bringing back HAPPY FLOWER HOUR, so from now until Labor Day, we will be offering 30% off all fresh cut flowers, Thursday-Sunday from 5pm to 7pm. Our Flowers are Locally Grown, so you can skip the crowds at the Farmers Market and save your Weekend for other stuff, bow-chicka-bow-wow. If you want to be even more romantic, you can have one of our stunning bouquets delivered to your sweeties door. Call 718-486-3569 or Order On line for a single bouquet or up to a year’s worth of flowers, delivered to your sweet-heart once a month for up to a year.

Cool Places for your Air plants to Chill.

Air plants need homes too, and we have lots of cool globes, lanterns, and twig wreaths for your little friends to hang on. Don’t have any air plants? Don’t worry, we have plenty of those in stock too.

Great Minds? I like to think so and I was super excited when I saw my favorite pots featured on Design Sponge, My favorite design blog.

Great minds think alike? We have a full selection of beautiful Campo di Fiore pots with luscious live moss come and snag yours. Once planted, Campo de Fiori terracotta pots will begin the natural aging process, creating a varied surface texture of vibrant mosses along with naturally occurring colors that evoke the classic look of antiquity. We are proud to have them at our shop.

Campo di Fiore Moss Pots

NEW HOUSEPLANTS!! We just got in a new shipment of crazy houseplants just for you. Lots of low light plants for that middle room in your railroad apartment, lots of tall plants for that double high window in your duplex. No green thumb? Don’t worry, we have a class just for you.Creeping Fig

Rhipsalis

GETTING MARRIED?

Have a friend who is tying the knot, jumping the broom, taking the plunge, well you get the picture. Our wedding flowers have been featured in New York Magazine, and on Merci Bride Kimberly will teach you the ins and outs of personal flowers, how to make your own corsages, bouquets, and boutonnieres. Look all fancy all the time.

Moss Boutonniere

Hope to see you in the shop soon!

Kimberly, Enrique, Lavender and Sweet William.

Rose Red & Lavender
653 Metropolitan Avenue
www.roseredandlavender.com

I love making wine.

When I was younger, I used to make beer at home. It was fun and I enjoyed going to the beer club and tasting all the beer. I liked the people that I met and I really enjoyed taking notes and adjusting the water, and adding hops at just the right time and temperature.

Black Elderberry Tree

Eventually, I gave up making beer and moved on to other things.

I had the pleasure of going to an old farmhouse every weekend in upstate new york, and in the basement of the house was a treasure trove of wine making equipment.

Wine…very similar to beer…..I remember seeing wine concentrate at the home brew shops, it was usually dusty and in the back corner. Wine was not something that anyone I knew actually made.

I discovered the outlets for fresh grapes and purchased fresh juice from local vineyards…some batches were better than others and then I moved on to other things.

Chamomile Rake

Last week, the Black Elderberry tree that I planted burst open with blooms. Elderflower is a delightful scent and is something that is not that common here, unless you shop at Ikea. St. Germain, a popular liquor, is made with elderflowers.

I decided to make elderflower wine.

Several years ago, I purchased a chamomile rake to harvest flowers. With the help of the rake, it made picking the florets a pretty easy process.

I used about 4 pints of flowers and 5 lemons and put them in a 5 gallon carboy with a sugar solution, white wine yeast and some nutrient. The final SG was about 1.060 which will make a very, very mild wine.

The color is slowly turning pink and the smell is amazing. Can’t wait to try it.

Here are some beautiful pictures of winter wedding flowers. I love winter weddings and I always dreamed of a winter wedding of my own.

White flowers with silver foliage looks so romantic. It reminds me of walking through the woods on a snowy day and the sound that the snow makes, like hundreds of tinkling bells.

Here are some all white centerpieces and some wine colored centerpieces. I am not sure which is my favorite, I love them both.

White

Christmas trees grow greener – Crain’s New York Business.