I’ve always considered myself to be a minimalist, my plant purchases were well thought out and it never occurred to me to buy more that one of a variety. When I met my husband all of that changed! He grew up in Seattle and he introduced this suburbanite to the Washington Park Arboretum and the fabulous Joseph A. Witt Winter Garden It was all familiar stomping grounds to him. He orchestrated our many visits to the Volunteer Park Conservatory to see the ever-changing displays in these beautiful historic greenhouses. Due to this inspiration and my husband’s encouragement, our place here in Granite Falls is brimming with a beautiful mix of mature Viburnums, Witchhazels, Japanese and Sugar Maples. If it has fall color, cones, fruit, or flowers it is likely we have it and, yes, you will probably find more than one!
Apricot Alexis
When the gardening world started buzzing about Heirloom Chrysanthemums a few years back I threw my hat into the ring and ordered the minimum of five varieties to experiment with. Boy, have I been impressed with the results! Chrysanthemums of the type you see in the grocery store are relatively easy to grow in a hospitable environment, but I’ve learned that taking an English mum from a hard to acquire little cutting all the way to a beautiful exhibition size flower requires a bit of attention! Lately, English mums have become so popular it’s a competition to get your hands on even a few cuttings of the special varieties that produce these huge, intricate, fall flowers with vibrant colors that make me swoon! I was so impressed with last years results that, after tons of encouragement from my husband…(him saying “do it”, me saying “but where will I put them all?”) I went ahead and purchased 25 (OMG!) special Heirloom Chrysanthemum varieties because it’s really, really hard to pick just a few. I also joined the Mum Club!
This beautiful Barred Owl has been hanging around the farm this fall. We love the wildlife found here at Goebel Hill Farm and do everything we can to support it. We have replanted thousands of trees and hundreds of native plants and we wholeheartedly support our Granite Falls neighbor the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center.
October brings Sarvey’s 40th annual fundraising auction and to help out the animals, we have donated a collection of our prized dahlia tubers that will be mailed to the auction winner just in time for spring planting. It’s a win win! You can support a fabulous cause and grow your own beautiful flowers!
Back in early March, Erin and Chris stopped by our farm in Granite Falls, Washington during a huge rainstorm. They live out of state and when Covid made them rethink their large, traditional wedding plans they pivoted to a small, destination wedding and were in town scouting out resources.
The weather was so cold and dreary at the time I’m sure it was hard for them to visualize a field full of flowers as we huddled in the barn talking. I attempted to show them a few tiny photos on my phone, when Erin took a leap of faith and made a plan to come back with her family in late July to pick flowers for their ceremony.