Hello and happy stormy Friday!

    Our March flower subscription starts this coming week and we’ve just added a few more spaces if you’d like to join.  Our ranunculus and butterfly ranunculus are just starting to come in and will be finding their way into some of our subscription boxes, though not everyone will get the same thing every week.  Your box may very well be completely different than your friend’s from week to week as we intend to surprise you with a different box of beauty each time.

  Spring has really come fast with steady temps in the high 70’s and low 80’s and our poppies went crazy last week.  I hope some of y’all reaped the benefits of our flash sale and get to enjoy their brilliance this weekend.  If you are new to our poppies, I will suggest letting the bundle really spread out in a large vase instead of keeping them in the tight cluster that they arrive in.  They are so much more beautiful when they fill up more space and have room to spread out.  In fact, you can see how Mandy set up a bundle for her photo shoot of our new poppy gift box!

  Speaking of which, we are launching our brand new gift box right now!  Our flowers are beautiful, but our standard packaging is all about environmental responsibility and value.  It’s just fine, but all the beauty is inside the box.  For those that really want to wow a gift recipient with the whole gift process, we have worked with Megan at Brown Parcel Press to design a beautiful box (and she is always so talented and wonderful to work with) that we had Eco Enclose produce with 100% post consumer recycled cardboard and all Soy based ink to really elevate the gifting experience.  Currently it is available for poppies, but we may eventually make it available for a few other flowers. You can check out our new gift boxes here!

  If you are on the hellebore wait list, check your inbox!  We just sent you an update on our sale!  If you don’t see our message there, check your Promotions folder or your Spam folder.  Demand was significantly higher than anticipated, so we already are working to substantially increase availability next year and we still have the larger plants that we are growing for our local plant sale, so there are other options if you missed out on this year’s shipping sales.

  Mum cuttings are continuing to grow roots and we’ll be announcing their sale to our wait list very soon, so keep your eyes peeled (again….promotions and spam folders).

  Other than that we, like every other farmer, are trying to deal with crazy weather patterns that plants don’t love.  Killing frosts, followed closely by extended periods of heat and humidity are super stressful for plants and create disease and pest problems that accelerate rapidly.  Fruit trees and flowering plants bloom too early in the season, resulting in all sorts of loss when the next freeze inevitably arises.  Erratic weather patterns are much harder to navigate successfully, but that is just the lay of the land these days.  We love and appreciate your support so much, but still encourage folks to visit their local farmers markets.  It looks bucolic, but that is a really tough life and all of our friends doing markets have suffered staggering weather related losses this winter/spring. 

  Our employee Ty will be at the Athens Farmers Market this Saturday with his flowering peach branches from his farm, Lazy Summer Farm. Our peach and plum trees are all earlier fruiting varieties and the flowers came and went in an instant.  The shortest season they’ve ever had.  We did however manage to cut some at early bud stage and store them in the cooler, so should have some available to ship for the next couple of weeks (they store great in cold temps!). We are just hoping that we don’t lose all the fruit to deep frost.  Last year was the first year in 12 years that we got to enjoy any fruit from our orchard.  The Best Plums Everrrrrrr!!!  I’ve never enjoyed a plum so much in my life…so I’m hoping for more so I can turn purple like Violet Beauregarde.

  That’s it for the day.  You locals should brace for high winds and lightning, starting right about now and going til about 7.  We hope you have a fun and/or rejuvenating weekend.

Be well!
-Steve