Happy Friday y’all!

The scent of jasmine and heirloom garden roses are finding their way into our home through the open door on the sleeping porch, lulling us into faintly smiling sleep. The smoke bush has burst into its beautiful billowy dark and smoky version of a flower outside our door, greeting us as we stumble out to meet the morning. A few magnificent and isolated iris plants are proudly displaying their beautiful flowers in unexpected, but much appreciated spots around the cabin in the woods. Their seeds must have washed down during a different season’s rainstorm.

Iris near the cabin in the woods (left), & billowy smoke bush flowers outside our door (right)!

Banana shrub flowers (left), & fragrance filled honeysuckle (right)!

I find myself wondering if employees think I’m strange as I stand frozen, nose to fence, inhaling and smiling, after being lured closer by the powerful and uplifting fragrance of honeysuckle, while walking through the flower field looking for peonies. I’d say that’s one of the greatest gifts of working here. The phenomenon of being pulled so dramatically out of a determined and highly directional headspace and compelled to stop, change directions, follow a fragrance, then be still and drink it in and become fully engulfed in a few moments of appreciation. That is a gift. Honeysuckle is encouraging.

Mum office looking cute with blooming ‘Amethyst Falls’ wisteria (left) & wisteria bloom close-up (right)

We tried to become rose farmers for a time and though it didn’t take as a commercial endeavor, we still get a brief period of time each year where we can be snatched out of our frenetic work pace for a refresher in present moment appreciation and momentary intoxication and infatuation.  Store bought roses are bred for color, stem length, and longevity.  A plant has a finite amount of energy to devote to its attributes.  Fragrance takes energy.  So the dozen roses we’re all so familiar with and have become synonymous with valentines and romance are actually quite devoid of fragrance, because they’ve been bred to trade fragrance in favor of the ability to spend a week in shipping from the equator to your corner market.  Their essence is muted.  The heirloom varieties though, are often still filled with actual romance.  Each variety, its own flavor.  Some more soft and soothing, some more enticing with a hint of citrus.  All more well rounded and appealing than what the market has convinced us is the quintessential rose. If you are interested in growing heirloom garden roses in the South, Antique Rose Emporium is a great source for them!

We wish you could smell these heirloom garden roses (left), & Mandy brought this peony, poppy, heirloom garden rose mix inside the house for us to enjoy as we savor the last few weeks of our spring flowers (right) !

Alas, none of these amazing plants are as voluptuous as they want to be this spring, due to the intensely hot and dry weather we are having. So many of our field grown flowers just didn’t come in this year, or have significantly underperformed. That’s just the way of it. We adapt as much as we can. The early varieties of peonies were all part of that loss. Fortunately we’ve been able to get extra water to a later variety of Sarah Bernhardts and they are starting to come in. We’ll have a limited amount available soon.

Meanwhile, don’t flick your ciggy butts outside, cause fire danger is high and the state is starting to burst into flames in various locations. We’re eager for the small bits of rain being teased at us in the forecast. It’s been way too long.

Steve checking on the peonies!

As we wind down spring and finish the last of our flower subscriptions, we want to thank all of you who joined us on a flower flight through spring. We really appreciate your adventurous spirit and willingness to trust that we will send you a box of beauty each week. It’s an honor to be able to do so.

We now shift to dahlias and wait for the rain so we can prep the field further for planting.  For you dahlia lovers, we’ll actually be listing our fall subscription next Friday, May 1st!  That one sells out fast every year, so don’t wait if you’ve got interest.  We only have so much field to plant, so it’s a limited supply.  If you'd like to grow your own dahlias, we've just restocked our dahlia tuber inventory for the final time this season!

We added more dahlia tuber inventory (left) & we have fresh poppy bunches in the farm store this week (right)!

The Farm Store is open for a few more weeks, then we shut down for the hot months, so come on by and stock up on gift items while you can.  The plant sale is officially over and as we do every year, we’ll be doing a sale of the remaining back stock, out in front of the Farm Store.  If you missed your window to order your baby plants, there’s still a chance for you to swing on by and grab some discounted maters and peppers for your garden. We'll have hellebore plants for sale too!

Lots of fabulous Mother's Day gifts in the Farm Store plus discounted tomato, pepper, and hellebores plants!

I’ve gotta run and hunt for peonies and get sidetracked by honeysuckles, so that’s it for me.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Steve