As soon as December was over, it was time for us to clean up the house and barn space. I had good intentions of writing during January and February, yet somehow, it's gone already.
We have been working on cleaning and organizing our barn. For anyone who's seen it -you know it's a mess. I feel like when we moved in, we never really put in good organizational tools. We have been cleaning up the one side by organizing tools and our random family things.
I claimed the other half of the barn for my gardening and flower endeavors.
My side-with all the buckets, plastic pots, dried flowers and gardening tools was a mess.
This hobby has changed from growing cut flowers for beneficial insects for the veggie garden- into turning out weekly market style bouquets during the summer.
It is high time for a streamlined organized system so that I can easily get out weekly flowers into your homes!
I started by removing all the black plastic pots that were under the work table. They now have a home in the potting table area where I will do all my potting and seed starting. (another work in progress)
I am working on removing anything from the work table that I won't be using for making fresh bouquets this summer. The goal is for all the dried flowers to be tucked away in one spot. I just need to buy a trash can for all the ends of the stems that can be composted.
Under my work table, I nailed up some pallet wood slabs to hold in all the glass vases that now have a home, rather than just in random boxes throughout the barn.
I still need to make an official spot for newspapers, clippers, scissors and a stapler.
From Harbor Freight, we picked up their floor mats. They are Grizzly approved!
I tend to bring bits and pieces of this and that in from the garden, as well as random seeds. I set them on my worktable and there they stay.
I will have to curb this bad habit by actually doing something right away with my odds and ends.
I'm thinking that I will need to help my young child make a fairy garden. This will be the perfect thing-to pawn my findings off on him.
Speaking of fairies-I was looking through my book "Flower Fairies of the Countryside" by Cicely Mary Barker the other day. Her first work was published in 1923. I came across her poem and painting of the flower Scabiosa.
It's such a terrible name, but it's my new favorite flower of 2023. Don't ask me how to pronounce it. I like to say Scay be o sa because it sounds better than scab be osa.
According to German folklore-during the summer solstice, the trolls would dance around the scabiosa flower for courage and strength!
Would someone please paint me this scene?
I also read that this flower was used to make love potions and spells to attract love during the Middle Ages.
The Greeks used scabiosa to cure wounds and illnesses.
This led me to do a quick search of scabiosa as medicinal. I then realized that there are different types of Scabiosa.
There is a native European perennial "Scabiosa Succisa", which is the herb that was used in the past to treat scabies. It also has the nickname Devil's Bit, originating from folklore that says that the devil got so upset over the medicinal properties of the plant that he bit off a piece of the root so it would lose its power to heal.
In the Middle Ages, they used the "scab" plant to treat all sorts of issues besides scabies. They used it to treat wounds, insect bites, ringworm, thrush, parasites, epilepsy and last but not least: gonorrhea!
There are upwards of 80 species of scabiosa that are native to Europe, Africa and Asia.
Now that you learned a little bit about the history of the "Scab" plant, I'll show you what I grew. The commonly used species for cutting flowers is called Scabiosa atropurpurea.
I had always wanted to grow scabiosa, but never ordered it from the seed catalog. Last year, I finally ordered the seeds and grew a white and a pink annual variety. They were easy to germinate, and they were planted out after frost. I actually didn't even know what they were until they bloomed. (lost plant tags compliments of Grizzly...)
When they finally bloomed, I was so delighted. They added the perfect dainty flower to any bouquet.
The last two photos are the same fresh scabiosa as above- but in their dried form.
I think this poem from the Flower Fairies of the Countryside book sums up these dainty flowers perfectly.
The Song of the Scabious Fairy
Like Frilly cushions full of pins
For tiny dames and fairykins;
Or else like dancers decked with gems,
My flowers sway on slender stems.
They curtsey in the meadow grass,
And nod to butterflies who pass.
My growing experience was that they were a tangled mess and that the bees and butterflies loved them. I had to catch them when they first were opening up and cut them deep for nice long stems. I still loved growing them and plan on growing them again and other colors.
Don't you want to be a fairy and hide under the pincushion flower?
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