Friday, August 17, 2018

Timing Is Crucial


The lavender season is winding down and it is time to focus on making fuchsia cuttings so they can spend the warm fall rooting before winter sets in and be ready for sale early next spring!
In order to do this, I need to be able to afford to spend the time and be here to monitor the tender cuttings from upright fuchsias such as the 'Royal Velvet' you see above.

I need to purchase a truck load of potting soil as soon as possible!
And I need your help to do this.

This is the time to be making thousands of cuttings.  Even if you are not interested in buying any of my lavender products, you might know someone who is, so I hope you will visit the Facebook page for PedricksCorner to like and share the new posts.

Here is a link to my Etsy store:  Pedricks
And here is a link to my EBay store:  lavenderwandsandpedrickscorner
And here is a link to the facebook page:  PedricksCorner

Updates to website will happen in a few weeks if all goes well and after I am able to get the cuttings made and planted.

Meanwhile!!  I was able to find Fuchsia boliviana 'alba' seed and it has finally come up.  Looks like I have about ten little babies to coddle into a size large enough to propagate.  I would LOVE to be able to offer live Fuchsia boliviana 'alba' plants to the public again!


Thursday, August 9, 2018

Lavender Wands Season Is Going Great!

Lavender wands were first created by the Victorian ladies to preserve the lavender from their gardens.  When lavender dries, unless it is picked before it is in full bloom, the flowers fall off of the stems. 
When they weave the fresh lavender into these little ribbon baskets, when they dry out, the flowers are caught in the basket to be enjoyed for many years to come!

Growing long stemmed English Lavender and weaving it into wands is how I hope to finance the rebuilding of my fuchsia nursery.  In the summer, when my lavender is in bloom, this is all I do 24/7 as fast as I can until all the lavender is gone or is too dry to continue working with.

Last year I made over 2,300 wands!  How many will I be able to make this summer of 2018?
If all goes well, and I am able to sell enough lavender wands to enable me to spend time making and monitoring thousands of heirloom upright fuchsia cuttings, then I will finally be able to begin offering young starts for sale again.  Maybe even before winter sets in!

My newest addition to the 30 shades of double-sided sating ribbon I use, is vintage embroidered Jacquard ribbon.  The patterns are not printed on the surface, they are woven in.  I am only using these vintage ribbons on a few of my huge wands.  Out of over 2,000 wands per season and over 35,000 stems of lavender, there are rarely enough stems long enough to make more than about 100 huge wands.  And it has not been easy to even find these ribbons!  Some of them have come from Denmark, and a few of them all the way from Turkey.

So far, I have ten varieties with one more coming from Turkey.  I just hope it gets here in time to be able to use it this season.  The lavender is already beginning to dry out and there may not be any stems left that are long enough.  If you want to get someone something extra special, one of these would fit the bill!

To see all of the others, please use this link to my store on Etsy:
  Pedricks
Or this store on EBay:  Lavenderwandsandpedrickscorner