Summertime at Jello Mold Farm

Garden shed at Jello Mold Farm

Here are some more photos from my June visit to Jello Mold Farm.  Lots of gorgeous flowers in bloom.  I never tire of the beauty held in these fertile acres.

Hydrangeas

Poppies

Dahlias (I put my hand in the picture to give you some idea of the size of these giants)

Greenhouses

Crocosmia

Another view

Love-in-a-mist

Lupine

Inside a greenhouse

 

 

A Return to Jello Mold Farm on a Foggy, Fall Day

Jello molds with spider web

While I was in the Skagit Valley, I took a quick side trip to walk the flower fields at Jello Mold Farm.  It was a foggy morning, so instead of photographing in the morning light, I worked under white/gray skies.  But there was a surprising amount of color in the fields this time of year, especially in the dahlia beds.  Our warm weather has extended the growing season.  Here are a few photos from my fall visit:

Dahlia

Monk’s hood with spider web

 

Mid-July Vividness

Harvesting for market, Jello Mold Farm

“Mid-July comes and the palette of blossoms shifts to hotter colors, as if in their vividness they were reflecting the sun.”
— Verlyn Klinkenborg, More Scenes from the Rural Life

I saw some evidence of vibrancy in the flower fields at Jello Mold Farm this past week.  The deep reds and oranges of the crocosmia, poppies, and sneezeweed glowed in their jeweled presence.  And the sunny yellow sunflowers were starting to burst into bloom.

Poppies

Crocosmia with hummingbird

Sneezeweed

 

 

Jello Mold Farm in October

Sign on van, Jello Mold Farm

Harvesting some late dahlias, Jello Mold Farm

On my recent trip to the Skagit Valley, I stopped in at Jello Mold Farm to see what was happening in the flower beds. Not surprisingly, they were harvesting decorative pumpkins and gourds, but their dahlias were still blooming, too (in great numbers).

Pink dahlias

I love the fall color palette with its golden yellows and rich, jewel-like purples and reds.

Shoo Fly, a.k.a. Nicandra physalodes

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Chim Chiminee’

The ‘Queen Lime’ zinnias are still some of my favorites.

And I like to see what other unusual floral fixings catch my eye.

Monkshood, aconitum sp.

The compost heaps grow large at the end of the peak growing season, an emblem of these plants’ life cycles and regeneration.

The Earth at Jello Mold Farm Laughs in Flowers

“The earth laughs in flowers.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”
— Claude Monet

Truck in the flower fields, Jello Mold Farm

There was so much to see at Jello Mold Farm at this time of year.  It’s a busy time for flower growers.  These Skagit Valley flower fields were bursting with exuberance and beauty.  Zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, bee balm . . . they all shout “summer!”

Zinnias

The blushing pink of Dahlia ‘Cafe au Lait’

Beds of Scabiosa ‘Dark Knight’

Scabiosa ‘Fama White’ contrasts nicely with the ‘Dark Knight’

Harvested sunflowers at the start of the trek to the warehouse

Bee balm, Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’

View from the end of the row

Sneezeweed Helenium

Cutting raspberry canes for filler in bouquets

Chestnuts for texture

Seed pods, love-in-a-mist

Love-in-a-mist

And always, flower gardens remind me of time passing . . . for everything there is a season.

The last sweet peas

And the last poppies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Visit to Jello Mold Farm in Summer

Harvesting sunflowers in the morning before it gets too hot

Zinnias, Jello Mold Farm

Jello Mold Farm is a busy place in mid-summer.  The sun was already bright when we arrived at 9:00 a.m.  It’s best to pick flowers early in the day before it gets too hot.  We stayed out of the way of the workers as we walked the flower beds looking for photo opportunities.

Picking sunflowers

Walking the fields

Cut flowers were loaded into the back of a pickup truck parked in the field

Tall artichokes

Scabiosa beds in one of the green houses

Scabiosa silhouettes

Wasp nest in the corner of the green house

Getting ready to harvest some dahlias

Dahlias in the green house

Baptisia alba

Glowing pods of Baptisia alba

Zinnia

Plant starts

Flower ties in the workroom

Straw hat in the workroom

Diane Szukovathy, proprietor, with an order

Diane, Jello Mold Farm

Driveway, Jello Mold Farm