Dahlias
A premium summer focal flower with strong bouquet value and tubers that can multiply for future seasons.
The next homestead chapter
Flowers with purpose
A Central Missouri cut-flower plan built around an early spring seed bench, beautiful stems, repeatable harvests, perennial investment, and plant material that can multiply from season to season.
The working flower list
A bouquet season from spring to frost
The plan combines premium focal blooms, productive supporting stems, fragrant varieties, and cool-season flowers. Eight packet crops are now matched to the available trays, starting mix, grow light, and heat mat for the earliest practical spring transplants.
Zinnias
A productive cut-and-come-again backbone for summer market bouquets.
Ranunculus
A cool-season specialty bloom suited to premium spring bunches with protection and careful timing.
Peonies
A long-term perennial investment with an intense but valuable harvest window.
Tulips
A spring crop planned as a seasonal event, with bulbs handled according to the chosen production method.
Sweet peas
Fragrant cool-season stems that add movement and scent while demanding support.
Snapdragons
A succession-friendly spike flower that bridges spring and autumn bouquet work.
Nasturtiums
Edible, trailing or climbing flowers in the current seed inventory; support needs will depend on the packet's growth habit.
Sunflowers
Fast warm-season focal stems that can be succession-sown for a steadier harvest window.
Gomphrena
A heat-loving filler that holds color well for both fresh and dried arrangements.
Strawflowers
Papery, long-lasting stems planned for fresh bouquets and dried-flower work.
Lisianthus
A slow, early indoor start intended to produce premium spring and early-summer stems.
More than stems
Build value around the harvest.
Bouquets are the center, but the long view also includes dahlia tuber and bulb multiplication, dried flowers, sachets, seasonal workshops, and compost that returns fertility to the growing system.
2026 plant notes
Recovery, seed saving & patient growth
The rosebush
Late snow killed tender spring growth. Dead foliage and cane were removed, the base was cleaned, and the soil loosened. New green leaves returned, followed by six-to-eight-inch shoots.
Meadow sage
This ornamental sage stayed separate from culinary sage. Spent stems were cut, bundles finished drying for seed, and the tiny seeds were sifted from rubbed calyces through mesh.
The magnolia
The established Zone 6 tree remained part of the wider landscape record, with compost favored as a gentle soil-building approach over unnecessary high-phosphorus feeding.
The ornamental notebook
Recovery and ambition share the page
The 2026 flower story includes established landscape plants, saved seed, and the first outline of a future bouquet enterprise.
Rose recovery
Late snow killed tender new growth; dead cane and foliage were removed, the base was cleaned, and new six-to-eight-inch shoots later returned.
Magnolia care
The established Zone 6 magnolia stayed on a gentle soil-building path, with compost favored over unnecessary high-phosphorus feeding.
Meadow-sage seed
Spent stems were cut, bundles dried, and rubbed calyces were sifted through mesh to separate very small ornamental sage seed.
The spring seed bench takes shape
With seed trays, starting mix, a grow light, and a heat mat already available, planning began for early strong transplants and fast spring bloom from nasturtiums, sweet peas, sunflowers, gomphrena, strawflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, and lisianthus.
Cut-flower enterprise
Dahlias joined a planned sequence of premium and productive flowers designed around bouquet rhythm, propagation, and Central Missouri market timing.