“Whatever you do, please don’t get me red roses.”
Do you ever have moments where a memory from long ago hits you, and you realize that perhaps the life path you’re on that seems like it came out of nowhere actually might have begun way before you ended up where you are?
That red roses comment is one I made to my new love at the time/now husband around the year 2000. We had met the previous December and I was feeling brave enough to give him the huge hint that I’d love a little something for Valentine’s Day…I just didn’t want the most common and popular gift.
At the time, it had nothing to do with he fact that red roses were completely out of season or flown thousands of miles to get here and sprayed with lots of chemicals and bred to look like stick straight flower statues that looked nothing like how roses grow in nature.
No, no. 17 year old Lindsey had no clue about any of that.
I just really didn’t like them, and it had to do with the fact that - me, the girl who was never a trend setter but also never a trend follower - was craving to get something others around me weren’t. Something different and unique, making it seemingly more special.
Plus, if I’m being honest and yet now a little embarrassed to tell you…I may have been giving him a little bit of a challenge to see just how well he listened.
He passed the challenge then and continued to do so.
That first year there were gorgeous lilies.
The next, hydrangeas.
Then, there were tulips. Oh how those tulips stole my heart. So much so that they became the thing for years to come. Pink ones, red ones, yellow ones. It didn’t matter, I always loved them.
But perhaps the best tulip story comes from the one time they were almost a flop.
It was my second year in college, his third. He and I went to schools two hours apart and February 14 falling on a weekday meant that we wouldn’t be spending the day together.
A knock came at the door of my apartment mid day, just as the girls downstairs had come up to hang out with me and my roommates. A man handed over a long box addressed to me and a half mocking/half sweet “awwwww” resounded amongst the group.
I opened the box so excited to see what he’d delivered to me this year, gently pulled back the paper, and picked up a bouquet of 24 tulips that immediately flopped over in my hands.
Those awwwwww turned to oh noooooooos.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him and didn’t feel like being the person calling to complain to a flower company on what was their craziest day of the year, so I put them in a vase and we jokingly put them in the middle of the table. “It’ll be a Valentine’s Day centerpiece we’ll never forget” we said.
And it was.
Then, the next morning, to my astonishment, I awoke to find that the tulips were standing up straight and beautiful! Turns out tulips can do well living out of water but will go limp as they wait for rehydration. So just giving them a few hours in water brings them back to life!
That ended up being my first lesson in flower conditioning, and another big lesson for both of us : if you want to have flowers delivered that wow immediately upon presentation, it’s best to go the local route.
Funny that it took about 15 years for those lessons to be used for more than just purchasing flowers, but here I am today, a farmer florist who still loves tulips and am so very proud to be offering a local Valentine’s Day delivery option that will ensure your flowers won’t be gifted as a sad flop that’s awaiting a hydration miracle.
True to form, I’m still not into red roses and won’t be providing those, but this year there is the offering of gorgeous white and pink, American grown tulips mixed in with dried Larkspur grown at the farm and saved since last spring.
In short, it’s a fresh and dried bouquet in one, of which half can be saved and enjoyed for months to come as a reminder of your Valentine’s Day! Whether it’s being gifted to yourself or someone else, the promise is that it will be delivered in a fresh state ready to be enjoyed immediately.
Also, it’s worth noting that proceeds from Valentine’s Day orders are going directly into planting more pollinator fields at the farm. It’s my way of offsetting the carbon emissions from having flowers shipped cross county, and it’s also a way to improve the ecosystem in which my flowers are grown. The more pollinators come to the property the happier the flowers are, which means the quality of what I can provide continues to improve.
If you’re interested in purchasing a bouquet or a bouquet + flower subscription bundle, head on to the link below - and thank you as always for your love and support of local/American grown flowers.