Have you ever wanted to grow your own seasonal bouquets? Every couple of months, I feature the flowers I have sown in my garden along with variety names and localized learnings (Zone 7 and 8). Grow your own with me!
I don't remember when exactly this cut flower bug first bit me. A career straddling design and engineering had me hyper-focused on practicality. Questions like, "this is pretty, but would this work, and work well at scale?" constantly occupy my mind. I am fairly certain cut flowers were once too short-lived and not worth the money in my mind.
Luckily, they found their way to me again four years ago, when I first began to grow them with whatever space I could find in our backyard in Greensboro, North Carolina. I had been a vegetable gardener because, well, practical. But I realized that if I could grow my own seasonal bouquets too with minimal planning and a few seeds, why not give it a try? After all, the ensuing beauty would be "free" and long-lived – the awe would stay with me forever.
What followed is almost an obsession with gardening. The experience and the constant rewards very much mirror the workings of our lives. Lessons learned from gardening have helped me handle tricky life questions and situations; but most of all, it simply fills me with gratitude for the beauty and mystery that surround us; and the opportunity to design and create with abandon.
I truly believe in the power of gardening, beauty, and nature in connecting people and neighbors, bettering communities, and last but not least, helping us see with intention.
Join me in growing your own, be they vegetables or flowers or both; for you, your significant other, or your community!
I'll be featuring California poppies in our first Seasonal Flowers post. Stay tuned.