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What’s in season

Hues runs on bloom time, not calendar time.

Season status · October 25, 2026

The 2026 season has ended

The first hard frost arrived on Saturday morning, October 24, and brought the season to a close — the dahlias, as they do, bowed out overnight. Thank you to everyone who wandered, picked, and lingered a while longer than planned this season. The park is resting now — and November planting for next spring has already begun.

The season at a glance

Early May

Mother’s Day Blooms

  • Ranunculus & anemone begin
  • Stock & snapdragons
  • Dutch iris & the last late tulips
  • Iceland poppies & lilac
May

The Main Attractions

  • Russell lupine — spires in every color
  • Columbine — delicate, dancing blooms
  • Iris — bearded iris in full dress
  • Giant alliums — huge globes floating over the beds
June – July

The Cottage Beds Fill In

  • Larkspur, nigella & bachelor’s buttons
  • Calendula, scabiosa & poppies
  • Foxglove spires carry into summer
  • First dahlias in July
August – September

Peak Dahlia Season

  • Hundreds of dahlia varieties at once
  • U-pick at its best — new varieties open every week
  • September’s Dahlia Festival
October

The Fall Finale

  • Dahlias in dusky autumn tones
  • The last bouquets of the year
  • Until the first hard frost

Working on

What it’s all for

Mother’s Day color, May’s main attractions, and a fragrant welcome — sweet peas at the entrance, so the first thing the park gives you is a scent. Here’s the work underneath it, happening now:

Bulbs going in

Tulips, Dutch iris, and giant alliums are tucked into the soil now, while it’s still workable. They’ll root quietly all winter, asking for nothing, and arrive in spring like they were always there.

Waking up the spring stars

Ranunculus and anemone — the flowers that will carry Mother’s Day — are pre-sprouted and planted under cover. They like the cold more than anyone expects. So do we, a little.

Seed starting, cool and slow

Sweet peas, lupine, columbine, and foxglove are started now and grown on cool and slow — in cold frames and bright, chilly corners, never rushed. Slow seedlings make sturdy plants, and sturdy plants make May.

Sowing the cottage color

Hardy annuals — larkspur, nigella, poppies, calendula, and their friends — are sown straight into the beds to sleep in the soil through winter. They wake earlier than anything sown in spring, and they bloom like they mean it.

Planting for future springs

Peonies, lilac, and other perennials and shrubs go in now too. Some won’t truly show themselves for a few years. That’s alright. A garden is a promise you keep making.

Dahlia work

The season just ended, but the dahlias aren’t done with us. Tubers are lifted, divided, and stored away in the quiet — next summer’s color, sleeping in boxes until spring.