Meet the 2026 Tulip & Daffodil Lineup

Have you noticed it? Everywhere I look, I see pumpkin spice this and pumpkin spice that…

Which can only mean one thing… It’s almost time to plant fall bulbs, like Tulips and Daffodils! 

And lucky for you, I’ve been anticipating this time of year. Earlier this spring, I ordered thousands of bulbs directly from the Netherlands to be shipped here, to our little 3-acre farm. We’ll plant about 12,000 of them here on our farm.

But the rest? They are for you! By ordering in huge bulk crates, we were able to secure some of the most beautiful, most desirable, most unbelievable Tulips out there… and make them available to you. 

We carefully select every single variety we grow to ensure they are the most stunning, jaw-dropping, and swoon-worthy varieties we can find, and this year's lineup is one of my favorites yet. 

Grab your coffee and start making your list… because when these open for sale, some of them go fast. 🙃

The bulbs are likely on a boat somewhere between here and the Netherlands, but I’m so excited to show you what’s coming!

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The Peony-flowering Tulips (aka "wait, that's a TULIP?")

Alison Bradley
Decadent plum, wine, and maroon blooms… colors that look good enough to drink. Always one of the very first tulips to bloom here, right when you're most desperate for beautiful colors.

Charming Beauty
The most luscious, buttery, creamy yellow, with hints of warm pink and tangerine peeking through. The color actually shifts as each bloom opens. Pure magic. This is my favorite color tulip of all time.

Columbus
Every single year I write "great tulip, grow more of these" in my notes… and every year, I do. Bold pink blooms with crisp white edges.

Double Gudoshnik
Every bloom is a surprise. Towering peony-like flowers in red, coral, orange, yellow, and cream… like nature's own watercolor painting. Tall, thick stems with huge blooms. 

Dreamer
I actually gasped out loud when I first saw this Tulip. She’s elegant and sophisticated. Absolutely dreamy in the vase, and the clean pink color pairs perfectly with other pastel tones.

Dreamtouch
Deep wine and purple peony blooms edged in soft white. Moody, romantic, and one of the last tulips to bloom each spring.

Foxtrot
Soft, dreamy pale pink blooms with streaks of deeper pink running through. A classic, reliable cut flower that pairs beautifully with its sibling below.

Foxy Foxtrot
Foxtrot's color-shifting sibling. Opens “grass-fed” butter yellow and matures into a blend of apricot, honey, and rose. One of the most fun "watch it change" tulips we grow.

Vogue
Peony-like pink blooms with glowing white edges. Sturdy, upright, and stunning whether mixed into bouquets or in straight bunches. This tulip looks delicate, but she’s tough and reliable. 

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The Parrot Tulip (bring on the drama!)

Apricot Parrot
You've never seen anything quite like this. Ruffled, feathery petals in green, apricot and white slowly unfurl over several days. Dramatic, exotic, and drop-dead gorgeous.

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The Impression Family (the workhorses of the cutting garden)

These are our tried-and-true Darwin Hybrid tulips. They boast tall, sturdy stems and huge blooms that hold up beautifully in a vase.

Pink Impression

Classic soft rose-pink, with luminescent petals.

Apricot Impression

Large petaled blooms with an apricot-mango glow.

Blushing Impression

Opens peachy yellow, with streaks of raspberry pink as they mature.

Salmon Impression

A delightful, delicate blend of salmon, apricot, and pink, with handsome green feathering.

Spring Sunrise Mix: A combination of Apricot Impression, Blushing Impression, Pink Impression, and Salmon Impression. This is the mix that we’ve been dreaming of. No one else supplies a mix of these specific colors… so we decided to make the mix ourselves! 

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The Daffodils (Yes, they're deer-proof.  You're welcome)

Ice King

The first Daffodil to bloom on my farm each year. As the name implies, this Daffodil is tough and snow-tolerant. The colors fade from pale yellow to creamy white as they open and bloom.

Replete
Fluffy, ruffled centers in warm orange and salmon pink. Romantic and gorgeous, and so easy to grow considering how fancy they look!

Mammoth Mountain
These blooms are mesmerizing…  like a sunset you can hold in your hands. Colors shift from deep orange to egg-yolk yellow to dusky salmon pink, and every bloom is a little different.

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That's the lineup! Bulbs are on their way from the Netherlands soon, and the second they land, we’ll hand-inspect and package every single one before opening the sale.

Make sure you’re on the email list to be notified when they are available!
You can sign up by filling out the form below.

Garlic Tomato Sauce Recipe

Every summer, my Potager garden explodes with tomatoes. By mid September, my counters are covered in ripening tomatoes, and I feel that panic set in: “What am I going to do with all these tomatoes?!?

Can them? Freeze them? Cook them down into soup?

Feed them to the chickens and pretend this never happened? ;)

And then last year, I stumbled upon a random tomato sauce recipe on the internet. In true Lori fashion, I tweaked it a bit to suit my fancy… and y’all, IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE.

This sauce is rich, garlicky, buttery, silky…  the kind you lick straight out of the pan when nobody's looking. Got picky eaters who turn their nose up at chunky tomato sauce? This is your secret weapon. We toss it with pasta and chicken, plus whatever vegetables are lying around… broccoli, peas, zucchini… whatever needs using up.

This is the most satisfying way to make a dent in a tomato glut. I like Bumblebee cherry tomatoes best, but truly any tomato will work.

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Garlic Tomato Sauce

Rich, garlicky, buttery roasted tomato sauce. 100% addicting.

4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 pints cherry tomatoes (about 2.5 cups)

• 1 shallot, halved

• 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

• Chopped fresh basil, to taste

• Sea salt or Kosher salt, to taste

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Steps

1. Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 375°F.
   

2. Load the baking dish: Drizzle 1/4 cup olive oil in a baking dish (9x13 or similar). Add 2 pints whole cherry tomatoes (about 2.5 cups). No need to halve them. Add the 1 shallot, halved, and 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves. Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt.
   

3. Roast: Roast until the tomatoes have split their skins and the garlic is soft, about 35-40 minutes.

4. Cool: Let the pan cool before handling.

5. Mill it: Pour the mixture into a hand-crank food mill set over a stock pot. Crank to remove skins and seeds. The puree collects in the pot below. Discard the skins and seeds. (Don’t have a food mill? You can pour the mixture in a fine mesh sieve and strain the seeds/skin out that way)

6. Finish the sauce: Stir 2 tablespoons butter into the warm puree. Cook until heated through, sprinkling with a bit more salt to taste.

7. Garnish and serve: Top with fresh chopped basil to taste, and 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, then serve.

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Notes

• Batch cooking: Quadruple the recipe when tomatoes are really piling up (2 baking dishes at a time). A 9x13 baking dish can hold a double batch. Double the roasting time when making bigger batches.

• Freezing: This sauce freezes beautifully, so don’t be afraid to make a big batch. Skip the basil and cheese before freezing. Add them fresh right before serving.

• You can use any type of tomato. Watery tomatoes may need extra roasting time. 

• You'll know the tomatoes are done roasting when your house smells intoxicating.

• Yes, it's a lot of garlic. Buy extra heads, because you'll be making this again. Peeling the garlic is the most time-consuming step, so plan accordingly.

My Philosophy on Pest Control on our Cut Flower Farm

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Let me introduce you to the bane of my existence this time of year: cucumber beetles. All it takes is one nibble, and the bloom is destined for the compost pile instead of being proudly displayed in a vase.

With the drought we’ve been experiencing on our farm AND the extreme heat, the Dahlias are stressed. Unfortunately, stressed plants are magnets for pests.

It’s a real bummer, but it’s also part of the reality of growing ANY crop, especially one that has to be 100% blemish-free to be acceptable (that’s the reality of growing cut flowers for sale - they must be perfect. Any insect damage means they are unsalable and worthless).

EMBRACING THE REALITY OF LOSS

I’ve learned to expect that I’ll lose ⅓ of my blooms to pests, disease, or weather-related issues. While that might sound defeatist, it actually gives me a TON of peace of mind. Instead of:

• Freaking out

• Getting upset

• Fretting and stressing

• Beating myself up

• Feeling like a failure

…I simply acknowledge the issue, chuck the bloom into the compost pile (where it will turn into AMAZING soil to grow next year’s flowers!), and move on with my life. Since I plan on losing ⅓ of my blooms, I make sure to plant ⅓ MORE than I expect I need.

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO PEST MANAGEMENT

We could put organza bags over the blooms to prevent cucumber beetle damage, but with over 2,000 plants and multiple blooms per plant, it would require thousands of bags and hundreds of labor hours to cover, uncover, harvest, and recover the blooms. This would mean I’d have to charge an exorbitant price per stem just to break even.

Instead, I simply accept that loss goes hand in hand with growing. Nothing has gone wrong. This is real life!

I’m sharing this with you because it’s easy to look at other people on the internet and think they have it all figured out and that you are doing everything wrong. It’s not true. We’re all just out here, stumbling around and figuring things out as we go! The people that “fail” the most are also the people that try the most.

HOLISTIC PEST CONTROL: PARTNERING WITH NATURE

I get lots of questions about what we spray on our flowers to keep the bugs off of them, and many are surprised when I say that we don’t use sprays. There are lots of reasons we don’t spray:

• It’s expensive.

• It’s time-consuming.

• It can be hazardous to the health of humans, animals, and the environment (many insecticides are not safe for use around pollinators). We love knowing our fields and flowers are safe and won’t cause long-term health issues.

Instead, I like to take a more holistic approach. Instead of trying to dominate nature, I like to partner with it.

Instead of trying to control everything and stressing out about a damaged bloom, I accept the reality that there will always be loss in growing.

We plan for loss because loss is NORMAL.

CREATING A BIRD SANCTUARY FOR PEST CONTROL

My dad was a biology teacher, and I grew up spending a lot of time in nature, studying how ecosystems work. I’ve always been fascinated by how all the parts and pieces work together to create a healthy, thriving environment.

So when we started noticing pest damage on our Dahlia blooms about a month ago, I didn’t reach for a bottle to kill all the bugs (if you do decide to use insecticides, PLEASE read the instructions on the bottle very carefully, follow the directions precisely, and make sure you know EXACTLY what pest you are targeting).

Instead, we made a trip to the hardware store and bought several bird feeders. We decided to make our flower fields a bird sanctuary. We set up feeders, created water sources, and made places to perch. We rolled out the red carpet for the birds and invited them in because birds are nature’s #1 ally for pest control.

THE RESULTS OF OUR EXPERIMENT

Do we still have pest damage? Yes. Is it less than the previous years? Yes. Is it because of the birds? Not sure.

It could be that the pests have completed their life cycle, the drier weather has slowed them down, or maybe the birds really have helped to restore the balance.

Either way, it’s an exciting experiment, and hiring the birds to do what they do best has been a lot of fun!

Working in a farm ecosystem that is fully alive with plants, insects, and animals is very rewarding. I encourage you to:

• Observe what you see in your ecosystem

• Mimic how nature works to solve problems

• Partner with nature instead of trying to dominate nature… because spoiler alert - Nature always wins. “Jurassic Park” taught me that when I was 13. ;)

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QUESTIONS?

Ask them here and I’ll get back to you!

Ready for More?

If you’re serious about growing the garden of your dreams this year, register for my online course, “Backyard Cutting Garden 101”. You’ll find everything you need to plan, grow, harvest and arrange your stunning blooms. I can’t WAIT to help you grow! Click on the button below for all the details.

Why Aren’t My Dahlias Blooming Yet?

It’s time for my Annual Summer Dahlia Public Service Announcement! 
If you've been staring at your Dahlia patch lately, wondering why you don’t see any blooms yet…

Relax. Take a deep breath.

Nothing has gone wrong.

Every single summer, right around this time, my inbox fills up with some version of the same panicked message: "My dahlias are healthy, but there's not a bloom in sight. What am I doing wrong?"

Friend, you're not doing anything wrong. You're just impatient. (No judgment here; I am too.Ha!)

Dahlias Are Fall Blooming Flowers

When you’re buying and planting tubers in the spring, it’s easy to forget something important:  Dahlias are fall-blooming flowers. You wishing they would bloom earlier does not change this fact (I know. It’s hard to hear that. I keep wishing they would bloom earlier every year!).

Expecting them to bloom in early summer is like expecting a Tulip to bloom in the fall (it CAN theoretically be done, but requires a lot of light and temperature manipulation, which is just as complicated as it sounds).

Most Dahlias take somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks from planting to their first bloom. So if you tucked your tubers into the ground in mid-May, as a lot of us in Zone 5B did, you're looking at your first blooms somewhere between mid-August and mid-September. 

Not July. Maybe not even early August… although there are sometimes outliers that show up to the Dahlia party earlier!

Here's how the season tends to unfold:

• Late July: Maybe a few early, overachiever blooms

• August: Things start picking up steam as the month goes on

• September: Peak dahlia season, my favorite month of the entire year!

• October: They keep blooming their fool heads off until they get hit by a killing frost (usually around Oct 15, but sometimes as late as November!)

Dahlia field on Oct 7

Some nerdy science stuff…

This is the part I find fascinating, so bear with me for a second.

Dahlias are what's called "facultative short-day plants." That's just a fancy way of saying they prefer shorter days, and they hit their blooming stride when daylight length drops to somewhere around 12 to 13 hours.

So during the long days of summer, the Dahlia is putting its energy into growing. You’ll see a lot of leaf growth during the summer, and this is the time to make sure your plants are getting all the food and water they need to grow. 

Once the days start shortening in late summer and early fall, something shifts. The plant gets the signal that the growing season is winding down, and it shifts into reproduction mode… which means it’s time to start sending up flowers, which will be pollinated by bees, go to seed, and start the circle of life all over again. 

What Daylight Looks Like on Our Farm

If you're gardening near Grand Rapids, Michigan, sitting up around the 43rd parallel like I am, here's roughly how our daylight hours shift as summer turns to fall:

• End of July: About 14.5 hours of daylight

• End of August: Around 13 hours

• End of September: Around 12 hours

• End of October: Around 10 hours

Once we drop into that 12–13 hour range, that's when the Dahlias really take off.

If you're gardening somewhere else, your exact daylight numbers will look a little different depending on your latitude, but the pattern holds everywhere: shorter days trigger the bloom.

Other factors affecting bloom time…

Daylight length is the main driver, but a few other factors matter too.

Temperature matters. Dahlias like warm days and cool nights. If your area has been stuck in a stretch of brutal heat (we feel you), your Dahlias are probably sulking a little. They tend to perk up once temperatures ease off. If you live in a hot southern climate, your Dahlias might not bloom until mid-fall (October or November). This is one case where Northern growers might see blooms BEFORE their Southern growing friends (because it’s cooler in the north and the Dahlias stop sulking)!

Food and water matter, too. Dahlias are hungry, thirsty plants. If you've been slacking on feeding and watering (it happens!), now is a great time to get back on a regular schedule. Your plants will appreciate it. We use nitrogen-based fertilizer during the growth stage, then switch to a phosphorus-based fertilizer when we see the plants setting buds.

Perspective From Our Own Field

If it helps to know you're not alone in this: we currently have about 2,000+ dahlia plants on our farm, and as of today, July 29, 2026, I’ve harvested exactly three blooms.

Three. Out of two thousand plants.

We've been fighting drought and seriously oppressive heat this summer, so our Dahlias are not happy campers right now. 

This gorgeous Dahlia photo? It was taken in early October, when the plants were thriving during the warm days and crisp, cool nights.

So if your Dahlia patch looks like a sea of green right now, you're in good company… and nothing has gone wrong.

Dahlia Field on Oct 10

The Bottom Line

Dahlias bloom most prolifically as the days shorten toward the fall equinox. That's simply how they are designed.

Be patient. Keep watering, keep feeding, keep weeding.
I promise you’ll be rewarded in the fall! 

Ready for more?

🌸The Dahlia Quick-Start Handbook🌸

Grow stunning blooms your first season… without the overwhelm.

A warm, practical, and personable guide that walks you through your entire first dahlia season, from planting day in the spring to digging tubers in the fall.

Written like I'm sitting at your kitchen table with you, not lecturing you from a podium.

How to Revive Floppy Flowers

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How to Revive Floppy Flowers

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You've had it happen before.

The bloom looked perfect on the plant but within minutes of cutting, the whole stem is looking a little droopy. In fact, it looks downright sad!

What is going on?!?

Usually it's one of 3 things:

1. The flower was cut at the wrong time of the day.

Many flowers will immediately wilt if cut during the heat of the day.

Here’s why. Flowers are the most hydrated and firm in the morning, when the stems are filled with water.

As the day progresses and the heat rises , the water flows down the stems into the base of the plants and the flowers begin to dehydrate, which means the stems can get floppy and wilty.

Flowers that are harvested in the heat of the day are wilty, floppy and expire faster.

This is why we ONLY harvest flowers in the cool of the day, either early in the morning or late in the evening. On our farm, we start cutting as soon as it's light enough (around 6:00 am) and stop as soon as the sun is up over the tree line and it starts to heat up (about 10:00 am).

If the day is cool or cloudy, we can get away with cutting later in the day... but if the sun is out, forget about cutting in the middle of the day.

Evening is another good option for cutting. Start when the sun is far on the horizon and the day has cooled.

2. The plant was harvested at the wrong stage.

Every single flower has it’s own “Ideal Stage of Harvest”, which refers to how open or mature the bloom should be for optimal vase life.

Some flowers need to mature a bit more before being cut or they will flop. Really, the best way to figure this out is simply experimenting. 

If the stem feels floppy on the plant before you even cut it, that is likely a clue that the stem needs to mature a few more days. Wait until the stem feels more rigid.

For example, Zinnias are easy to test. Simply grasp the stem about 9 inches below the bloom and give it a shake. If the stem flops or bends, it's not mature enough. If the stem is stiff, it's ready. 

3. The plant DOESN’T hydrate easily.

Some plants simply do not respond well to being cut and have a hard time "rehydrating" and getting water flowing in the stems.

If you can manage to get these stems “drinking” water again, they will make a great cut flower and last for days. If not, they are basically worthless. 

A Simple Trick for Reviving Wilted Stems

In my reading and research about post-harvest care for flowers, I came across something called the "Boiling Water Method" for reviving wilted stems.

I was truly skeptical because the idea of placing stems in boiling water seems insane. In my experiments, I was attempting the opposite - recutting the stems and placing them into cold water. It didn't work.

I decided to give the "Boiling Water Method" a shot on some stems that I was about to throw out. I had cut the stems early in the morning, but they still wilted immediately... and a day later, even after being stored in my floral cooler overnight,  they still looked terrible.

Time to try the "Boiling Water Method". This is what I did:

1. Boiled water on the stove and poured it into a jar.

2. Re-cut the stems at an angle with clean, sharp flower clippers.

3. Immediately plunged the stem end into the boiling water, angling the blooms out the jar to avoid "steaming" the blooms.

4. Set a timer for 1 hour and walked away (I wanted to watch, but I had work to do!)

*NOTE: This was my first attempt. I learned that it's probably best to fill the jar with about 1 inch of water, so only a small part of the stem is "cooked". That part of the stem can be cut off later.

Also, one hour is probably unnecessary - I was headed out to work and wasn't able to check back earlier.

If you are concerned about "cooking" the stems, try dipping for 10 seconds for soft stemmed flowers and up to a few minutes for "woody" stemmed flowers like hydrangeas. After "searing" in the boiling water, place the stems in cool water.

When I returned, the water was cool and this is what the stems looked like:

AMAZING. I was in shock. 2 minutes of work and these flowers were back in business!

I removed the stems from the jar and added them to an arrangement in my dining room. 6 days later, the stems were still looking GREAT.

Now obviously, if your blooms are 5-7 days old and they start wilting, you need to simply accept that they are dying a natural death. Flowers don't last forever.

However, if your blooms are freshly cut and wilting, then you can certainly give the "Boiling Water Method" a try. What do you have to lose? It's better than your other option - throwing them out.

Flowers/Foliage That Might Need a Little Help

Here are a few flower/foliage varieties that respond well to this hydration method:

• Artemisia

• Basil

• Chinese Forget-Me-Not

• Dahlias

• Dusty Miller

• Hollyhock

• Honeywort

• Hydrangea

• Lilac

• Mint

• Scented Geranium

• Shiso/Perilla

Obviously, flowers are not "one size fits all", so this method will not work on all flower varieties.

I highly encourage you to do your own experiments. Have fun with it and set up your own control group and experimental groups.

For example, label several jars - one is the control (you do nothing), one is a stem seared for 10 seconds, one is a stem seared for 2 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.  Be sure to analyze and compare your results. This is the best way to learn!

If you consistently have an issue with a flower wilting, first you should make sure you are harvesting at the correct time of day and the correct stage of harvest. 

If this does not help (or if you simply cannot cut that early in the day), the "Boiling Water Method" is a good option to try out.

I hope this information is helpful. Give it a try next time you encounter a floppy, sad looking stem... and let me know how it worked!