Happy Mother's day.

Things are really starting to pick up around here.  All the perennials are starting to send out shoots, the birds are busy going about their mating rituals.  The weather is warming nicely and we had a little bit of rain last night and this morning.  We had a few spots in some of the gardens where the soil had warmed considerably, so we planted radish, onions, potatoes, beets, kohlrabi and lettuce.  The rain will aid them along in germination as long as it warms back up again tomorrow.

The greenhouses are bursting.  The tomatoes and peppers were transplanted a few days ago and we will start on the flowers next week.  The perennials have been moved outdoors to the cold frames to make room for the tomatoes.  They are all adjusting to the sunshine and cooler evening temperatures.
We are back to the Saskatoon Farmer's Market this weekend, Sat May 7th in our permanent location for the summer season.  This weekend we will have a very large selection of Hypertufa planters potted with succulents for Mother's Day gift giving.  We will also be offering our Pick a Pot, Pick a Plant, whereby you pick out an empty hypertufa of your choice, in size and shape and the plants you would like to plant in the planter and we pot them up for you while you shop at the market.  This way you can create something unique to your specific needs.
We will also have a large selection of perennials available.  Some of the plants we will have are a Rhubarb plant called Canada Red, a new variety of Daylily - Lavender Blue Baby, Echium amoenum - Red Feathers, Iris Germanica - Avalon Sunset, Brunnera Mac. - Jack Frost, Campunala Glom Freya, Asclepias Tuberosa - Butterfly flower, Ligularia Przewalski and Sedum Caut. Lidacense.
We will feature two of the new perennials in this post, the Echium and the Iris.
Iris Germanica Avalon Sunset is a bearded iris with bright eye catching vibrant orange flowers with tangerine beards.  They have strong stems, and bloom mid-late season.  Prefer full sun, good for cutflowers and attract hummingbirds.  Plants prefer slightly alkaline soil.  Hardy to zone 3-9.  

Fully open.

They are almost completely open in the greenhouse.

The other perennial  is Echium amoenum - Red Feathers.  Red Feather forms very low growing mounds of narrow dark green foliage, feathery flowering spikes arising in spring with a multitude of russet-red florets.  They bloom for long periods of time and if deadheaded will rebloom and can be cut for vases.  Very drought tolerant once established and grows well in poorer soils.  Prefers full sun with a well draining soil, excellent addition to the rock garden.  Hardy to zone 3-9.

Starting to show colour on the flower spikes.