A Little Bit About the Flower Farm
Seed packets from Floret.
When I really sit down and think about it, Poppy Leigh was created quite organically. We were initially making plans to grow a decent sized cutting garden for personal use. We were purchasing seeds here and there with no real rhyme or reason, just choosing things we liked and that we thought would be easy for us to grow. I had been working as a floral designer for a while and quickly noticed that all of the flowers I longed to work with were unavailable, or extremely pricey. I never knew until I started doing a little research that close to 80% of all flowers in the US are imported…..this blew my mind! The benefits of buying fresh from the farm blooms are huge. You are receiving your flowers at their absolute freshest which in turn lengthens their vase life tremendously, they smell ten times better, and you’re buying them at a much lower price. So you get fresh and fragrant flowers that last longer and cost less, why wouldn’t you buy fresh from the farm?! This is what brought Poppy Leigh Flower Farm to fruition, the desire to provide not only superior quality, but also sustainably and organically grown flowers to our community and surrounding areas.
Poppy Leigh Flower Farm is located in Livingston, Texas on roughly two acres. It has been a challenge getting the land ready for growing to say the least. There has been lots of tilling, a TON of compost brought in, cutting of trees and brush, more tilling, and even more planning going on. Although growing is very physically demanding and commands copious amounts of time, planning the garden and our succession planting has by far been the most time consuming. I would much rather have my hands in the dirt than sitting in front of a spreadsheet calculating dates and determining our number of plantings. This where Jeff and I make an excellent team and create such a lovely balance. He is the numbers and attention to detail right-brain guy, and I am the artistic/creative left-brain gal. Having each other to count on and balance each other out has made this adventure so much easier and a lot more fun for the both of us.
My absolute favorite part of this whole process has been choosing what flowers I wanted in the garden. At first, I was being very modest with my seed buying. I was buying only a handful of seeds and trying to keep things as simple as possible. Then Jeff and I were both bit by the flower bug, and we quickly turned our small cutting garden into a full blown flower farm. So let me give you guys just a little peak at a handful of blooms we hope to have available this year. I will try and keep this short and sweet, but my love for these flowers might make me a little more wordy than usual!
First on my list was of course, Ranunculus. I have had a flower crush one these babies since the first time I laid eyes on them. They are so delicate and dainty and come in such a huge variety of colors. How anyone could not fall in love with these precious blooms is beyond me! But we did learn just how important timing is in the farming world this year when it came to this little flower. In our zone, we get very warm very quickly and our spring is close to non-existent. Since we were unable to get the low tunnels put up on the farm this year, we didn’t get them out as early as we had hoped. So we are experimenting with them this season and will definitely be fall planting for an earlier spring bloom next season. We also had a little hurdle to jump with the local deer gobbling up what we did have sprouting, but luckily most were saved and are doing quite well!
Ranunculus corm munched on by local deer.
Next, we went for some things that we knew are on everyone's list of favorites, zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. I have another flower crush on cosmos as well. They are so airy and delicate and unassuming, I love them. We are growing four different varieties including a few double click varieties, with double the amount of frilly flirty little petals. I can’t wait to see these lovelies fluttering in the breeze on the farm.
Our sunflower selection is going to be amazing as well! We are growing three different varieties including a mix we found called Autumn Beauty that boasts the most amazing fall looking color palette you’ve ever laid eyes on. It is full of oranges, golds, and the deepest burgundy. We are also growing a sunflower called Teddy Bear, and he is the fluffiest most unique sunflower, it almost doesn’t look real. Be ready to fall in love.
I know zinnias are something that almost everyone can or does grow in their home garden, but some of the varieties we have chosen are unlike anything I have ever seen before. We are growing some of the most beautiful Queen Lime varieties and their colors are out of this world amazing. These are another that I can’t wait for everyone to see and am sure these will become a fast favorite. Along with the Queen Lime, we are growing another 5 varieties of zinnias that are just as stunning.
Our very first section of beds.
Strawflower is one flower I have never actually worked with but from the photos I have seen, i can only imagine it will earn a spot on my list of favorites. The strawflower blooms are very versatile and incredibly long-lasting. Not only do they make perfect additions to fresh cut flower arrangements, but they are also a really great flower to dry and use in preserved flower arrangements and wreaths.
And last but certainly not least, dahlias, sweet sweet heaven on earth dahlias. I have never met a person in my life that does not like dahlias. This is one flower that we may have gotten a little carried away with, we are growing over 17 varieties of dahlias! I can not find the words to express how excited I am to see these beauties growing right in front of me. A very short list of the dahlias I am the most excited for are the classic Cafe Au Lait, Blue Bell, Fairway Spur, Burlesca, and Edge of Joy. I know you guys will love them just as much as I do, how could you not? Dahlias are some of the most eye catching and luxurious blooms I have ever seen.
I can not begin to tell you guys how incredibly excited we are to be able to offer all of you such an amazing variety of flowers fresh from the farm. The flowers listed above are just a few out of many that we will be growing this season, and we can’t wait to share the rest! We are hopeful that late spring and early summer will bring us an abundance of blooms and the farm will be exploding with color. We very eagerly look forward to brightening up your day and your home with flowers grown with a lot of love!
Until next time...