A lot of flower farmers talk about the weather to anyone willing to listen. Talk about rain to a sales clerk, they just listen politely, but bump into another farmer and you will talk over each other like two streams meeting and forming a mighty river. Each farmer’s words forming rapids that we have all navigated growing green crops.

Yes, our Summer weather here is a lively topic punctuated with eye rolling, jaw dropping and often words of encouragement. This is Maryland after all with it’s beautiful rolling hills, fertile eastern shore, and idyllic Chesapeake Bay that stretches for miles and miles. Weather is just a wrinkle in this picture and we don’t have the iron to smooth it out. Instead we brace our ourselves for it, corral up the dahlias, and hunker down.

Yesterday we had another Gully Washer and it sideswiped the landscape like a downed power line. It knocked over chairs and umbrellas at outdoor cafes. Anything and everything outdoors did not escape it’s path. After the blur calmed I booted up and walked to the field —took a deep breath—and all the dahlias flower stems were upright except a few who thought the grass was greener on the other side. Phew. You hold your breath a lot in this business.

Until tomorrow…we will not have to water anything and everything.

(I will attempt to solve why my photos will not upload as well.)