What is a Native Flower Farm?

Did you know we grow native flowers to sustainably create beautiful bouquets and custom arrangements? Read on to see how & why we grow native flowers….

I adore flowers.

Specifically organic locally grown flowers. Whether the pretty bouquet is to give to a friend or for your own table~ fresh locally grown flowers are a joy!

But what if those same flowers were NATIVE flowers? 

What if those flowers came from plants growing to also support pollinators and wildlife?

Could your NATIVE flower bouquet help others to learn about saving native habitats and pollinators by simply being a ‘conversation starter’?

Native Flowers is where we began…

Over the past 20 years, I dreamed of creating gardens filled with roses, peony, cosmos and old lilacs. I grew herbs and flowers like roses and zinnias.

But I was also concerned about the decline of pollinators, birds and natural habitats that I kept seeing in my hikes along eastern Lake Ontario.

Inspired to act from these observations:

We stopped mowing our lawn and started scattering wild collected native seeds on cold January days.

For years we only mowed paths and grew plants like zinnias and marigolds in the garden.

We left the fields & woods to their own ‘wildness’ ….

But my flower farm vision from all those years ago was still calling…

Could I create a NATIVE flower farm? Was there even such a thing?

Was it possible to grow native flowers for bouquets and other arrangements?

I knew I wanted NATIVE flowers to be the keystone of my farm as plants to support pollinators and to share their beauty with others.

The very first bouquet back when I was experimenting with native flowers… Blooms are: Clustered Mountain Mint, Goldenrod, Black-eyed Susan, Anise Hyssop, Fleabane, Golden Alexanders… and a few naturalized species like daisies & motherwort that this ‘rookie’ didn’t know were invasive species.

My goal was simple:

Create NATIVE flower bouquets for helping others discover native plants and their vital role in protecting habitats for pollinators and wildlife.

Over the past 4 years, I’ve had to learn so much working towards that goal!

Propagation, growing native species, plant communities, soil health, conservation, invasive species, and let’s not forget POLLINATORS AND OTHER WILDLIFE!

Creating a native flower farm also meant taking other roads less traveled; ones that are more than a little ‘bumpy’.

One example is WHERE I grow our native flowers.

Many farms layout their ‘crops’ in rows for easier planning, planting and harvesting.

But I don’t see the native plants and flowers I grow as ‘crops’.

I see them as ‘communities’. So instead of rows I grow our native plants & flowers in ‘garden beds’ of many different sizes. They are scattered about the farm in different ‘mini’ habitat gardens.

They are harder to create. They also take longer to plan, plant and harvest from. But the pollinators and wildlife sure enjoy them!

Our native plants & gardens are

• used for propagation & cut flowers. But each bed is first & foremost a HABITAT & FOOD SOURCE for wildlife first.

• gardens are interplanted with many native species in ‘waves’ to make it easier for wildlife to find food & shelter in the native flowers

• We protect native species by never growing nativars on our farm. Native seeds are sustainably sourced from local and regional ecotypes.

How do we make native flower bouquets?

• I grow hundreds of native flowering plants plus a few rebel flowers like glads, iris and zinnias. They are scattered throughout the farm in ‘communities’. A garden bed I’m working on currently is being planted with 50 Purple Coneflowers, 20 Brown-eyed Susan, 15 Anise Hyssop, and 30 New England Asters. Yes that’s a LOT of plants but this way there are lots of flowers for your vase & pollinators too!
  

• Our fields of native plants are species that like to get a trim. BUT I only cut so many stems per plant. The majority of blooms are saved on the plants & become seeds for overwintering bird friends at the farm.
  

• Unless native flowers already have a home to go to they are not picked. Meaning I only cut flowers to your order. This way we feed pollinators AND offer fresh flowers. So fresh they last 7-10 days or more in the vase! Heck I’ve had some last 2 weeks!!

• Our farm is also a proud member of Flower Collective of CNY so your bouquet can have even more sustainably locally grown flowers! Think roses, dahlias, dianthus and more!

Bring native flowers to a friend or to your vase

It’s late June and the flowers are growing!

Every week there’s some new bloom to enjoy in a bouquet. Current blooms as of this posting are: Carolina Rose, Common Yarrow, Anise Hyssop, Purple Coneflower, Clustered Mountain Mint, Wild Bergamot, Oswego Tea & more!