Oh, the Suspense...

It's killin' me...May 21st is just around the corner!...my wedding day!  With all of the little, last minute, tying up of loose ends, I am beginning to wonder what flowers will be in my bouquet, on the tables, etc.  I will be doing all of the flowers for our wedding...with some help from friends & family, of course!

It's exciting to know that all of the flowers I will be using (with the exception of some bells of ireland that I won't have ready yet) are ones that I have grown myself! 

This is also the perfect opportunity for me to tell you that using locally grown flowers for your wedding takes a special kind of bride... 

It takes a person who wants a unique, beautiful product that just cannot be as easily achieved with your cookie-cutter type flowers.  It takes a person who is somewhat easy-going, confident and flexible. 

I say this because locally grown flowers are {for the most part} controlled by Mother Nature.  One year, lilacs may be blooming on Mother's Day.  The next year, they may be blooming in April.  Mother Nature isn't always predictable...but from April through September, she can guarantee that there will always be beautiful things blooming & available!...just maybe not those lilacs on the exact date that you want them.  As long as you trust that everything will be beautiful and aren't too set on specifics, you make a great candidate for locally-grown wedding flowers!   

Other reasons for going local on your wedding day?

~ You know exactly where your flowers are coming from.  You know your grower and with us, you are welcome to make an appointment to come see where your flowers are grown!

~ You know that your flowers are free of pesticides and harmful chemicals.  Plan on using flowers for your cake or desserts?  Flowers from Seeded Earth are all sustainably grown, chemical-free.  Earth friendly, eco-conscious!

~ You are supporting your local grower and economy!  What a great feeling to buy directly from someone in your neighborhood!

Clean Slate...almost.

Okay...so I have to tell you...

Travis and I are buying a house!       

If all goes well with the inspection, we will be the proud owners of a 1868, 4-bedroom farm house and 8.51 acres of very flower-growable land! 

Not only that, but it has a completely finished 3-car garage {for my future seed starting area!}, two 40' x 75' outbuildings {for my future cut flower cooler!}, an older, little stall building (for my future goat & donkey!!), a nice chicken coop {for our chickens, of course!}...AND four grain bins {for...no use for these...Please buy them & take them away!  Really.  Interested?  Please e-mail me!}. 

  

We don't close until June 1st...after our May 21st wedding....but...I can hardly wait to plant on this almost clean slate of farm land!  

Step 1: Wind break...fast!  I have set a limited budget for a pretty one!!..bareroot willows {curly & florists' pussy willow}, viburnum, lilac and maybe ninebark...maybe...I think my list may be bigger than my limited budget will allow!

Either way...I just can't wait...to paint our slate...in flowers!

Step 2: Move flowers from Mom's....oh, boy...lots of work...for lots of flowers!  :)

Magic.

Plants seem magical to me...To go from a tiny, speck of a seed and grow into a strong plant full of color or one of many other amazing attributes.  How do they do it?  Forget all of the science involved with cell division and such.  I say it's magic.  Mother Nature waves her magic wand & voila!...there you have it...a pretty little plant blooming in all its glory. 

I couldn't tell you when I first became interested in plants, flowers, gardening...looking back, it seems like they have just always been a part of me.  My first real interest in one group of plants came about in high school...perennial flowers...my first real plant addiction.  Next, hostas.  My mom questioned it...and I have to admit, I questioned myself a bit, too.  What is my fascination with these things?!...afterall, they are just leafy creatures that throw up a few spikes of flowers, right??  Nope.  I began to notice every little detail about them...color, texture, size, shape, flowers.  The next plant groupings...shrubs, trees, evergreens {I began to love any things about each one -- size, shape, foliage, bark, flowers} and then came...ANNUALS!

Really?! Annuals?!...but they only last one year...that's it.  As I had with all of the other plant groups that I had fallen in love with, I found a love for annuals.  They provided color and flowers at times when no other perennial, tree or shrub could.  You can easily mix them & match them in pots and move them around for a different design.  Not only that, but with many, you can plant multiple "crop" successions to get their flowers all season long! 

Now, as a specialty cut flower grower, I see the magic in almost every plant.  Every plant has a use or a design function for me.  No obvious flowers?...what about the foliage color, texture, shape or scent?  Gone for me are the cookie cutter FTD bouquets that you find in many floral chains.  I want the magic that comes with seeing a plant for all of its beauty...a sort of inner/outer appreciation of beauty.  I want an amazingly unique, bursting with life, gorgeous bouquet!...a bouquet that can only be described as a work-of-art...magical...