A Year's Worth of Flowers

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I have a gift for you: a year's worth of flowers. I hope you enjoy them (...and I'm sorry, but you have to share them with everyone else on the internet).

Last year I decided that I would try to take a photo of every type of flower that I found growing on the Small Pond Arts farm here in beautiful Prince Edward County. I went out with my camera almost every single day, looking for something new. 

The project started out slowly, but the first flowers of the year always send my heart a-flutter. After a gruelling winter, spring had arrived!

Things really started going gangbusters in May.

Many of these are non-native species, planted by some flower-loving gardener who lived here before us.

I enjoyed the daily ritual of walking around the property, peering at the ground, training my sense of observation.

June brought many more wildflowers, and many vegetables in our garden started flowering.

July saw the sunflowers and hollyhocks burst into their full glory, and one lone poppy sprang out of nowhere.

The only decorative flowers that I plant every year are sunflowers; it's become a tradition. We've got a great spot for them, and in the fall we love watching the blue jays who visit to feed on the seeds.

Blue Jay perched on a sunflower

By August things started slowing right down. Although there was still lots in bloom, these tiny purples were the only new flowers I could find.

I know there are a few species that I missed. Some last just a few days, and then they are gone...

And that, my friends, is a year's worth of flowers at Small Pond Arts, some 95 varieties! I have yet to identify most of them, but perhaps that is a job for another season. 

Make sure you take the time to stop and smell the flowers!