Still Life Flower Farm

Weekly Farm Chronicles: 2026-12

1-3. It’s the week of campanula! Also known as Canterbury Bells, these stalks produce a long spire of perfect, bell shaped flowers. They evoke fairy tale feels with their whimsy and movement. I’ve had a lot of questions about how I grow these, so here’s the condensed version: field grown, very tightly spaced (just 4-6 inches between plants), planted in October and overwintered with a low tunnel and frost cloth. Netted to maintain stability and straight stems. I did not pinch because I wanted massive, 3+ ft stems. Some of them have upwards of 15 bells on each! I’m growing white and rose colors, but they also come in dark purple and lavender. These will forever have a place in my crop list.

4-5. The first succession of sunflowers is close to blooming. I imagine they’re just another 1-2 weeks out. You can even see the first hint of petals in picture number 5. I don’t love the bright yellow varieties, so I tend to grow more muted colors. This year will be a lot of ProCut White Lite and ProCut Plum. Darker colors will grace the field in the fall. Can’t wait!

6. Sweet William has started to bloom, though on very short stems right now. They won’t be usable for a while, but it’s been so fun to see their beautiful faces.

7. Sweet peas are going strong and will be around for a while! I can’t get enough of their scent. Stick your nose in a bunch if you get the chance!

8. The first dahlia of the year bloomed this week! This is ‘Kelgai Ann’. The plant is a cutting that was rooted back in February, hence why it’s blooming so early. I won’t have a true abundance of dahlias until August, but I love picking a stem here and there.

9. Our cherry tree is producing really good fruit. The birds tend to snack on it before I can, but I managed to collect a bowl of these this week.

It looks like cooler weather and rainy days are ahead. I’ll take it while I can!

Weekly Farm Chronicles: 2026-9

1. Mother’s Day week was a wild ride! I was working like a busy bee, flitting from task to task and place to place. I am immensely grateful for the number of you, florists and retail customers, who wanted to buy my flowers. It felt like a validation of years of work. This picture here is from the pop up I did at Yours Truly on Sunday. It was colorful and vibrant and so fun!

2. We pulled out the poppies from this row right after I snapped this photo. Even though poppies are perennials, they do best being treated as an annual in our climate. These sweet plants gave so many blooms over and over. I’m thankful for their service and we’ll see them again next year.

3-5. Peonies and roses are here! These blooms always sneak up on me a little bit, I think because they often start around the madness of Mother’s Day. I love them more each year. Peonies are so precious because they are here and gone quickly. Enjoy them while you can!

6-7. A harvest haul with some of the last allium of the year. Plus the campanula row that’s juuuuust about to pop!

8. These are the very last butterfly ranunculus stems and they were donated to a charity event. I needed one last photo of them because they’re just too beautiful.

It’s a little bit of a transitional season at the farm right now - planting summer crops and waiting for our late spring ones to bloom. I’m going to use the moment to relax for a bit and look back on a successful early spring!