It's that elusive time of year when farmers across the northern plains rejoice for months of rest and repose...

If this sheep could be laughing while sleeping, she would.

Since you left us in mid-June, we've shipped about 180 orders to 37 states, weeded fields aplenty, arranged artful bouquets at our staff Floral Fridays, and completed no less than 15 marathons on certain single days while shifting our above ground irrigation pipes to combat this year's relentless drought (seriously, my step tracker told me so).

Beyond that, we've said good-bye to seasonal staff, tinkered with our composting process to make perhaps the most wonderfully delicious organic soil amendment you ever did lay your eyes on (possibly for sale in limited quantities come spring - stay tuned), and replanted next year's digging fields with the wondrous array of colors you come to expect every year. Certain varieties even warranted audible gasps from staff that they were being included in the digging field.

And even beyond all this, in the alleged off-season, we've already leaf mulched our cut-flower beds, planted hundreds of spring bulbs, watched our prairie strip fill out in its first year, rescued and fine-tuned a relic of a tumbler to make aforementioned compost, dug a thirty-inch deep and even wider hole to access a leaking intake pipe, fixed and adjusted various other irrigation systems, installed auxillary watering systems for our compost to improve efficiency and accelerate breakdown and ate A LOT of cherry pie.

So, what comes next, ? What ever is a flock of fleet-footed farmers foraging for fun in the fall, fearing the frigidness of mid-winter to do?

Some of us will find ourselves with relative peace and quiet (not to be confused with downtime), some will toil in our mountain abodes - dabbling in metalwork and adventuring of children, while others will welcome and raise a new generation of flower farmers (how soon is too soon for newborns to eat soil - asking for a friend)?

You're reading it! As much as I love writing poetry and lyrical wordsmithery and researching ridiculously complex geospatial tools, I wonder who among you actually use these things?

You there? Third row from the back?

Thank you, I appreciate your dedication.

I suppose the Long and the short of it is that perhaps this newsletter needs to evolve to be more interactive and more collective in nature.

Who among you might be interested in sharing your experience with iris growing this year? Or perhaps you discovered a unique weeding trick that just has to be gifted unto the world.

And who still took some stunning pictures of your garden and would love to see it distributed (with credit, obviously) amongst your fellow gardeners?

In that spirit of collectivism, my gallant garden gnomes, allow me to project a future newsletter experience that involves more of you than just me, typing away...

1. Share! Wrote a poem to 'Hi Calypso'? because you simply can't believe how tall it gets and its color pop? Took a picture of 'Krishnaji' with a bit of frost damage but then realized the icy veins of the petal actual make the whitest white even whiter? We'd love to compile these things and allow everyone to enjoy!
2. Survey...says! We'd like to hear what you're thinking. We know you love our iris, we know you love our poppies, some of you even really loved our micro native-plant test nursery offerings! But what more can Long's Gardens be for people before, during, and beyond the bloom?
3. Sales! We'd like to think that we're always 'on sale' but maybe, just maybe, there's some secret offerings and add-ons that we've been developing behind the scenes for a few years and are ready to release them in a more accessible format for you?
4. Swag! We're not in the habit of just making stuff to sell. We're not even really in the habit of growing stuff, just to sell. We love flowers for flowers sake. However, we regularly hear from our people, that would be you, that they'd love to share 'us' with their people and are wondering ways to do so. Thinking of a fantastical gift idea that we don't offer, let us know and we'll look into it! No promises on new items - but we're not trying to tease - make suggestions!

Long's Gardens is a third generation, family-owned and operated iris farm in the middle of Boulder, Colorado. You can browse our online store here.

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