Enjoying your snow day? It certainly is nice to feel cozy inside while looking out at the world washed anew in crisp clean fluffy white stuff! The icy cold, though, is not so endearing and makes us long for warmer spring days. But did you know that snow is powerful medicine for a bountiful harvest of flowers in the months to come?
Snow, as it is freezing and falling through the atmosphere, picks up minerals and nutrients like nitrogen, silica, calcium, and magnesium. Scientist actually consider snowflakes to be minerals. Weird. Anyway, as snow melts, it releases minerals into the soil where plants can use them to grow stronger in the spring.
Snow is also a great insulating blanket! Think Eskimo igloo. Seems counterintuitive, but being covered in snow warms plants up! The protection that snow provides for crops like campanula, feverfew, snapdragons, foxgloves, nigella, larkspur, dianthus, and agrostemma out in the fields right now is invaluable. If left exposed on these frigid nights in the low teens, those plants would suffer the equivalent of frost bite and may even perish. With a comfy thick blanket of snow, they’ll be nicely tucked in and safe from harm. This is why growers much further north (say Canada) can grow flowers through winter that sometimes won’t survive our winters here in Philly. We just don’t get enough snow anymore. Not today though – YAY!
With all the flurries flying outside, we wanted to bring you some exciting news to get you pumped for spring. Teaser: we’re adding a new farm in 2024 and we’re launching a podcast! But more on those later… here are the important headlines for today!
2024 VIP Passes On Sale Now
Each season we offer a limited number of VIP Passes for wholesale buyers. When you purchase a VIP Pass, you’ll get:
- early access to shop inventory each week: place your order the day before other buyers get access
- advanced wish list requests: submit a wish list for your event up to 30 days before and we’ll work with our growers to custom fill it
- extended pick up window: come as early as 8AM on Hub Days and arrange for late pick-ups upon request
- priority for delivery: if our delivery route gets booked up on a given week, your order is guaranteed to go in the van
- complimentary buckets: borrow ours if you forget yours
- PFG merch: your choice of a t-shirt or hat
- complimentary tickets: to any PFG community events in 2024, such as farm tours and classes
Not only will you get first dibs and extra benefits throughout this coming year, your investment will help us build an even better PFG that can curate even more stems from more farms in our region.
If you’d like to apply for a VIP Buyer Pass, email us at info@philadelphiafloralguild.com.
*Please note: Only existing active buyers in good standing are eligible to purchase a VIP Pass. Purchases not in accordance with this policy will be refunded.
Bloom Forecast for Early Spring
When you first start designing with locally-grown blooms, it can take some time to learn the cast of characters that comes with each chapter in the seasons. Our Bloom Forecasts will help introduce you to all the abundant local stems PFG has to offer, many of which are not readily available elsewhere!
Click here to get the detailed Bloom Forecast for March and April.
We anticipate our first hub day for 2024 being March 20th. If you’re not already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter so you’ll know right away when you can get your hands on locally-grown beauty again!