Holy moly! It has been a long while since I sat down to do a post. The 2021 season was FLEW by, crazy, it was just crazy. Crazy busy, crazy stressful, crazy fun and the fun continues as we approach the end of the year. Some farmers slow down during the winter months but not this girl because I have a studio full of beautiful dried flowers.

I think dried flowers are wonderful. The textures, the colors, the fact they do not need water, I love everything about them. 

Wreath are hands down my favorite dried flower medium. They have so much character and add just the perfect pop of color to your home or office. Wreaths are also surprisingly versatile, you don't just have to hang them on the wall.  Wreaths make a wonderful centerpiece on a table with a candle in the center (battery operated of course) or hung from the back of a chair or over the front of a cabinet, you can even hang a wreath from the ceiling as a chandelier of sorts. If you want more ideas check out this article from Redfin, floral experts from across the county offer their favorite tips for incorporating a decorative wreath in your home.

If you are looking to add a handcrafted wreath to your home or send a gift to a loved one you can find my wreaths on Etsy. I never make the same thing twice and am adding new items every week. 

​What color combinations do you want to see? 

​Our flowers are grown the slow way, from seed and with lots of love. Flowers are available April to October of each year, this does mean that there are months where I don't have fresh flowers, BBBUUT I have been working hard on plans to expand and add flowers that will extend out growing seasons in the spring and fall!

Things will be changing a little but this year to allow me to keep my head above water and meet all my customers needs. Like everyone else out there I need to find a balance between my farm, my handmade clothing gig, my full time job, my husband and my friends. Yes you read that right I work full time and have 2 side gigs, I am crazy, it's a lot - but I love everything I do.

Looking ahead to 2020 I carefully took into consideration all the wonderful suggestions from my customers to set my game plan. Below are the ways that you can get flowers from me in 2020!

BOUQUET SHARES 
Love the idea of weekly farm fresh flowers gracing your home or office? Check out our Bouquet Shares that can be picked up every Friday at our farm stand or delivered to your home. These are large premium bouquets! CSA shares will get top priority each week and be filled before anything else - this is my commitment to you for investing in me.

What is a CSA? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In becoming part of the CSA bouquet share program, you help us to invest in the coming season, it is literally “seed money” and we give you a premium share of the flowers grown here at River Road Flowers.

Each week a beautiful premium bouquet will be made from the flowers, foliage and herbs grown here at the farm. This bouquet share features the absolute best of our summer flowers, including blooms like feverfew, sunflowers, snapdragons, marigolds, zinnias and so much more

We would love to coordinate with local businesses for subscription pick up in the Tri-cities - If you have an idea for a bouquet share pickup, drop us message!

WHOLESALE
All flowers are available for wholesale to designers and florists in the lower valley from Finley to Selah. Our greatest pleasure is growing beautiful blooms that allow you to make beautiful designs. Our relationships with our florists and vendors are very important to us. We look forward to building a relationship with you. Please Contact Us to discuss how we can meet your needs. 

BOUQUET BARS
Bouquet Bars are fantastic addition to many events like baby showers, wedding showers, birthdays or just for fun to spend some time with your friends. We bring buckets of blooms and the supplies to make a wonderful arrangement! 

FARMSTAND
Our farmstand will still be in place for customers on Saturday and Sunday.

Updates on will be posted on our Facebook and Instagram pages regarding availability and offerings. The farm stand is based on a first come first serve basis – apologies in advance if the stand sells out. Prices range from $10-$20.
 
YOU PICK
*** Under Construction** No joke here, it is currently under development as I type this. There are some logistics that we are working and some hurdles we need to navigate but I hope that we can offer a couple u-pick dates in 2020.

I am very excited about the coming season and sharing with you the different things that we are adding. I have planted hundreds of tulips, daffodils, and other spring flowering bulbs. There are 20 new Peony plants that will went in the ground this falls and quite a few other perennials! Every penny from 2019 has been re-invested in plants, seeds, compost, fencing and fertilizer! I have a feeling 2020 is going to be a great year. 

​When I started blogging my flower farm adventures this year I had big plans to share so much. Then the flower season kicked into full gear and those plans unintentionally went right out the window. To say this growing season was a whirlwind would be an understatement. At times it verged on insanity. I could have used 2 or 3 more of me quite a few times but somehow managed to get it all done.

Dry flowers, everlastings, what ever you want to call them they are making a come back and I AM EXCASTIC! I don’t know why I love dried blooms so much, but husband think I like to have them hanging around because it feels a little witchy (this may be a fair observation – thank you Practical Magic and the lady who owns Sugarfoot on Heartland). Whatever the reason, I love them and quite a few of you do to.

I've been overwhelmed by everyone's support of my new adventure in cut flower farming. It takes an incredible amount of time, work and love when growing flowers from seed to vase but the rewards are great when I see your happy faces!

When I decided to expand and start selling my flowers I made a commitment to myself to keep the pressure low and enjoy the journey the first few years. As a result I am keeping my outlet options open and trying different things to see whats the best fit. 

How to get my flowers - this year!
- Weekly drops: These are posted on Facebook and Instagram late Thursday/early Friday and on Sunday. All of these arrangement will be pre-made and ready to go. I can deliver to town Friday morning and Sunday night. I accept cash, Venmo & Paypal. 
- Pre-orders/special request: Just message me! I can't wait to hear from you
- Wholesale/bulk orders: Please reach out if you are a florist or event planner looking for some beautiful blooms. 

What I'm not doing - at least this year
- Farmers markets: Our markets have so many great flowers already and it is also a bit more of a time commitment than I can make at this time.
- Pop up shops: I think this would be very fun and would like to explore this in the future. 

What is in the works - any day now
- Website ordering! 
- A la cart services: Centerpieces, arrangements, etc for pick up.

It can be difficult to find balance as a one woman show. I have a husband, a cat (Hi Stanley), a full time job and some pretty sweet friends who I don't want to neglect . . . And its soooooo easy to do when you get among the flowers! Thank you, thank you, thank you, for supporting my dream, supporting my growth (more coming next year), and me as I figure out the best ways to get you beautiful flowers!

Its starting to get warm here during the day and all that sunshine is sure helping my lovely flowers to bloom. Every night when I walk out to check I am seeing pops of color!

Lots of little hints of what to come! Stems may be a little short but they make for great jar bouquets and little mini bouquets!. 

So far the Calendula stole my heart - I just love the oranges! They remind me of fall and that is something I can't get enough of. 

Peony season has come and gone . . . . way to quickly I might add. These flowers are just fantastic.

They look fantastic, they smell fantastic, everything about them is just fantastic. Except maybe for the fact that they only bloom for about 2 weeks. 

Boy, oh boy are they good while they last though. I've added some new varieties this year and now I will very impatiently wait (2-3 years, Oy vey) for them to have good strong blooms. I can't wait!

Before I started growing my own cut flowers I really did not have a clue about how long flowers should last, what I could do to extend their vase life or what it was that I was doing to shorten the vase life of the flowers. They just lasted as long as they lasted and that was that. Fast forward several years and I now know that there is a lot I can do to help my flowers last as long as possible. Below are some tips and tricks to help you keep your flowers looking great longer.
​
1.Good start - Get a good start by making sure the vase or container you put your flowers in is clean and free of bacteria. Wash them thoroughly with hot soapy water.
2. Water - flowers like nice clean water and they like it refreshed often.  To help your flowers drink up this water trim 1/2- 1 inch off the stem each time you change the water. 
3. Light/Heat - keep flowers away from heat and very bright lights. While many flowers tolerate heat well outside when on the plant that is not the case once they are cut.
4. Produce - Flowers do not like to reside next to many fruits or veggies, ESPECIALLY banannas and apples. Produce puts off ethylene  and will cause your flowers to drop their petals quickly. 

Some cut flowers no matter how great they are cared for naturally have a shorter vase life but good care will help ensure their maximum vase life.

This time of year is a fun time outside for me. Tiny peeks of color are starting to show and the peonies are starting to pop! Mother nature did her best this week to throw another curve ball with a wicked hail storm. For the most part the flowers did pretty well given the size and intensity of the storm but a few casualties were had.

The anemones were totally untouched and are really coming on strong still. I will sure miss them when they are gone. They really are one of my favorite flowers.

The foxglove and sweet william were also looking good this week. I just love foxglove and the bees seem to be pretty please with it this year also. And then there are the peonies. They took the brunt of the hail storm destruction unfortunately but I was out there cutting like a crazy person  getting as many inside as possible before they were beat up to badly. The things a girl will do for pretty flowers   . . . .

There is a little more activity in the cutting beds this week. I am still over here waiting for those peonies to pop, any day now. While I'm waiting I've been researching some early and late blooming varieties to extend the peony season. It's a good thing my husband doesn't read my blog - hopefully these arrive and are tucked in before he knows it! 

This is my first year growing anemones. I'm hooked! Totally hooked. They are so pretty. Stems start out a little on the short side, perfect for a mason jar, then the keep getting taller and taller. I've already ordered many more for next year. 

This calendula is such a pretty color. Reds, oranges, yellows always speak to me since they remind me of fall. I know I might be alone here but I will take fall colors year round.

This annual phlox is also new to me this year. These colors are warm and romantic. I have ALOT of perennial phlox in my garden beds but they are more jewel tones (pinks and purples) and very bright. It is a little difficult to start from seed which was surprising to me since the perennial phlox seems to expand grow like a weed. The more I do in the annual flower world the more I understand that annual flowers and perennial flowers are two very different beasts. The more this annual phlox blooms though the more I think it's worth the struggle!