Looking forward to spring

Outside my kitchen window is an indicator of spring.  An old plum tree that will suddenly burst open in a froth of white blooms as soon as the weather is warm enough.  For us here at Blooms on the Hill it means that the weather is turning and spring is finally on the way.  Each year I document it, a photo on my phone, or a Facebook memory pops up and reminds me.  This year the blossom has come later than previous years.  Not because it's been any colder this winter, but I think the lack of rain over autumn and just generally a drier winter, has slowed the flowers down this season.  Right now, looking out into my flower patch, I'm seeing very little colour at all.  
There is growth however, finally, and the blossom is here outside my window, so I am feeling hopeful that winter is almost behind us.  For us here on the farm we have struggled through what has easily been our most difficult season ever, with a dry summer, no autumn break and an extreme lack of feed for our livestock.  It's been a long, hard winter of feeding out buckets of grain by hand to our cattle every day, as well as feeding rams, a few pet lambs and calves.  It would have been nice to have a break from the farm but certainly not this year.  But we feel we are turning a corner and today the weather was beautiful, with tomorrow promising the same, so we are certainly feeling a lot more cheerful!
For Blooms on the Hill it has been business as usual.  Bouquets are still available at the Yinnar Bakery, with flowers being supplied still by Melbourne and Suburbs wholesalers.  Bouquets are also available to order for special occasions through the website and bookings are open for the 2025/26 wedding season with eight weddings booked so far.  If you are planning on getting married during this time and are interested in having us do your wedding florals please don't hesitate to contact us for a chat, or you can fill in our Wedding request form via the Wedding & Events page here on the website and we will be in touch.  Dates do fill up quickly so be sure to reach out.
Our first round of dahlia tuber sales went live here on the website in July and there was a fantastic response.  Thank you to all of you who purchased tubers.  These will be stored safely until they wake up, most likely in October, and then they will be shipped out to you.  There will be a second round of sales after farm stock has been put aside in October, so varieties you might have missed out on in the first round will most likely be available again in the spring.
A very successful Dried Flower Wreath Making Workshop was held this evening at the Traralgon Gold Club, attended by the Gippsland Water social club, with 12 ladies enjoying making wreaths with flowers all grown and dried here on the farm over the last season.  Thanks to Sam from Gippsland Water who organised the workshop.  It was fabulous to see the variety in styles of wreaths made, especially because they all had the same material to work with, yet they all came up with such different creative ideas.  Well done ladies!  For this coming season there will be more workshops held, which will include making fresh flower bouquets and flower crowns, making vase arrangements and also doing larger installations like meadow boxes and arbors.  Later in the season we will run another dahlia dig and divide workshop and have more workshops using dried flowers.  Keep an eye out in our social media pages for announcements of workshops and dates.
In the meantime, stay cosy during the last few weeks of winter and dream of the warmer days and spring blooms to come!!

Amber
Blooms on the Hill