Seed Starting

We have officially started our flower growing season this week.  Seeding has begun.  There are many flowers and vegetables that either take a long time to grow or are cold tolerant, meaning they can be transplanted outdoors before the last frost with a bit of protection after being fully hardened off.
Flowers classified as cool flowers, meaning they prefer the cooler temperatures as to the heat of mid summer, are Snapdragons, Dianthus, Icelandic Poppies, Dusty Miller, Stock, Feverfew, and Sweetpeas etc.  These can be transplanted outside before our last frost date.

Verbena Bonariensis and Daucus Carota (Chocolate Lace), like to have a cold period once they are seeded.  So those are placed in our garage where it gets below freezing.  Some seeds need to be surface sown, as light aids germination and others require complete darkness.  Other varieties require a temperature of 20C to germinate so a lot of our seeded trays are placed on a heat mat to get the temperature of the soil up to the correct temperature.  Generally they say the soil temperature is 5C degrees below the room temperature without a heat mat.

I use 128 plug tray for most of the seeding.  I use larger plugs if they are fast growing.  I fill the trays with a seed starting mix with added coir and tamp the trays so the soil settles in each plug.  Hence no air space in the soil.  Roots do not like pockets of air in the soil. 

My seeder preference is this little green device pictured above.  I am able to control the number of seeds that go into each plug with ease.  The tiny seeds are the most challenging, so much patience is required.  The soil is moist before going into the trays and once the soil is in, I water each plug again to settle the soil.  Not too much though as you do not want the soil to be dripping wet.  Then the seeds are seeded and depending on the variety they are either covered with soil or left on the surface without any cover.  I also use vermiculite when the seeds only want a light covering.  The vermiculite also holds the moisture consistently on the surface where the seed is.

Then a humidity dome is placed over the trays and they are placed on the heat mat which is in the warmest room in our house.  Most seeds will germinate within a few days, whereby some take a little longer.

Here are a couple of links to seed starting info to specific seed varieties.  Most seed packages have this info printed on them, but you may need further information on some types of flowers or vegetables.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/growing-center.html

Happy Seeding!!!!!

Kendell and Alana September Wedding 2014

We had so much fun creating the sunflower bouquets, bouts and corsages for Kendell and Alana's wedding.  They are so bright and cheery.  Can't help but smile when you look at them.  The following photos taken by Lindsay Rae Photography, unless otherwise noted, provides a glimpse of their special day.

Alana's bouquet.

Rustic photo of one of the bridesmaids bouquets.

The wedding party.  Love the colours.

The sunflower bouquets compliment the lovely bridesmaids dresses.

Gorgeous ladies.

Wrist corsages.

Photo by Mistik Acres

Groom and groomsmen bouts.

Photo by Mistik Acres

Dad's bout's.

Photo by Mistik Acres.

Received a lovely thank you card.

Photo by Mistik Acres.

Thanks for the kind words Kendell and Alana.

Congratulations to you both.

Photo by Mistik Acres.

Tanya & Dylan September 2014

We were very pleased to be asked to be a part of Tanya and Dylan's wedding, which took place in Northern Saskatchewan lake country.

The following photos provides a glimpse of their special day with all photo credits to 

"Saskatoon in Bloom Photography."

Dylan's bout, poppy pod, globe thistle, yarrow, juncus grass and dusty miller, wrapped with twine.

Tanya and Dylan wanted to include bright summery flowers in their wedding day.

They drove out to the farm in August and toured the gardens picking out the flowers they wanted to include.  It was such a pleasure showing them around the farm.  It really is a unique experience choosing flowers from the gardens, that will be a part of such an important event in your life.

The flowers they chose worked beautifully.

All of the bouquets.

Tanya's bouquet.

Sunflower, grasses, bells of ireland, snapdragons, globe thistle, poppy pods, feverfew, scabiosa and dahlias.

The bridesmaids bouquet.  

Love the dress colour.

Another view of Tanya's bouquet.

The table flowers in buckets ready to be arranged.  Lots of bright colours.

                                     

Tanya and Dylan had the table flowers arranged on site.  They look fantastic.

Such a beautiful setting.

Love the grasses along with the birch.

I received a lovely e-mail from Tanya the week after the wedding.

"I want to send a little note to say how grateful I am for the flowers.  Many people said they were the nicest flowers they'd ever seen at a wedding.  The bouquets were breathtaking.  Thank you for putting together such great arrangements and for helping us out with everything.  I'm so glad we had you as part of our day."

Table arrangements.

Happy Spring!

It feels a little more like Christmas here today than Spring.  For a couple of reasons, one being that the wind is howling and very cold today, and second we received another of our plant/tuber/bulb orders today.  So much fun opening the boxes and checking everything out.  We have one more box from this order yet to come.  Seems it was separated from the rest of the order.

Ice Cube Dahlia's

More Dahlias and Ranunculus

Lily bulbs and Dahlia tubers

Gloriosa Lily tubers and Wizard of Oz Dahlia's

The order also consisted of three different types of grasses along with Ranunculus corms and Achillea roots.

We have been busy the last few weeks, seeding and caring for the young seedlings.

Leonitis plants.  These are growing rapidly and had to pinch them way back to get them to slow down a bit.  New plant for us this year and looks like I started them much too early.

Stock seedlings are doing great.  Two new varieties I am trying.

Jasmine vine.  Another new plant for us this year.

Dahlia tubers sprouting.

Busy times ahead.

August 2013 Wedding

Melanie contacted us via e-mail after finding us by searching the internet.  We conversed throughout the winter, sending photos and ideas back and forth.  By the end of the winter we pretty much had figured out what flowers would fit into their colour scheme.

Melanie, Emile and their Mom's came out to the farm a couple of weeks prior to the wedding and toured the gardens.  They finalized the flowers they liked and what would work for the bout's, bouquets and centrepieces.  Throughout our walk in the gardens Emile kept commenting how much he liked the Sunflowers and wanted a boutonniere made with a Sunflower.  So we made a small bouquet of sunflowers, just for Emile, and delivered it along with the wedding flowers.

The Boutonniere's consisted of Gomphrena, Sedum, Juncus grass, Baby's Breath and Stock.

The flowers ready for delivery.

We needed a lot of soft pink flowers for this wedding, as you can see.   We ended up cutting flowers the morning of the wedding, before we headed off to the market, in the light of dawn.  We were able to find enough flowers that were ready for picking that morning to finish off the mason jar centrepieces.  That's cutting it close!

The blue mason jars consisted of Dahlias, Cosmos, Sweet Peas, Bell's of Ireland, Zinnias, Frosted Explosion Grass and Queen Anne's Lace.  We delivered and set up the centrepieces.

Notice the playdough for the children on the chairs.

My daughter Mandy, helped me set up the flowers at the wedding venue and took a few photos with our point and shoot camera.

Once the flowers were on the tables they really transformed the room.

Lots of details.

Bridesmaid bouquet.

The bouquets consisted of Dahlias, Baby's Breath, Dusty Miller, Bachelor Buttons and Hydrangea. 

Professional photos courtesy of "Flash'On Photography".

Beautiful!!!

Pretty in pink.

Emile's boutonniere.

We created a flower crown for the flower girl and she carried a basket of flower petals. 

Stunning!!!

I love this photo!

Thank you for choosing Mistik Acres to be part of your wedding Melanie & Emile!

August 2013 Wedding

Meet Stephanie and Landon!

When Stephanie and her friend came by the farm to pick out flowers I remember it was an extremely hot day as we cruised around the flower gardens, picking out the colours and types of flowers they liked.  They wanted orange and lime green, so they decided on Dahlias, Zinnias, and Bells of Ireland along with a little bit of blue (Sea Holly) and pink.

They found an old farmsite in the area as one of the locations for photos. 

So fun! 

Great choice of colours.  They look fantastic with the girl's dresses.

Looks like they are all having a great time.

All lined up!

Great shot Mandy!

Mandy suggested our flower gardens would be a unique location for wedding photos.

This is the Sweet Pea Garden.

The bride and groom among the Dahlias.

Landon was a trooper as I am sure he was sweltering in his suit as it was an extremely hot day.

 

Beautiful!!!!

Mandy was even able to capture a bee in this photo.  Love it!  Had to include in the post.

The bling is fabulous as well.

We were very honored to share our flowers and gardens with you. 

 Congratulations Stephanie and Landon!!!! 

All photo credits Memories by Mandy Photography.