Due to the Coronavirus epidemic we have some special announcements and changes.  We will not be offering pick up at our farm location for the time being.  Shipping only.  Please be aware shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx are experiencing delays.  This can affect shipping times from our end as well as delay supplies reaching us.  Please be patient.  We will get your items as quickly as possible.

SALE!  10% off through end of March! 

VACATION NOTICE:  Our Etsy shop will be closed April 2-April 8th. When you go to our Etsy shop you will not be able to place orders until we reopen.  Our online store via our website will be able to take orders; however,  no orders will be shipped during this time.  Any orders taken during our vacation time will be filled upon return.  Please understand it will take me a few days upon return to create and ship orders.  

​Thank you for your understanding and please stay safe, wash your hands, and try to stay at home!  

The Cottage Garden Bouquet is one of our most popular!  I have been adding a sunflower due to being unable to get a another flower that was used previously.  I think it adds a nice touch.  Here are several that went out this week!  Also bud vases have been popular - here are two - Cottage Garden and Mountain Meadow

A beautiful picture sent by one of our customers with a lovely review! Thank you ! These little heart soaps shown have poppy seeds!  We also can add rose petals, lavender, lavender and rose petals and YES you can just get the soaps plain white or lavender color with no buds. They are great for wedding and baby shower favors or just for everyday as guest soaps. Each little heart is about 2 inches. 

"LOVE THESE SOAPS! I ordered these as favors for my sister’s bridal shower. They are exactly as pictured in the listing. Seller was very responsive when answering my questions. Highly recommend!" - Whitmonroe

Spring is almost here and we are excited about our next growing season.  I plan to replace all the lavender we lost last year.  We were waiting for a particular cultivar that I was looking for.  We are going with Royal Velvet which is a  beautiful deep purple English lavender. It looks wonderful in bouquets and can also be used for culinary/cooking purposes.  It has much showier stems and are longer than Hidcote lavender, which is better for floral designs.  

I am partial to English lavender and we are moving towards growing more of it than other types.  We still several rows of Grosso plants that made it through last winter/wet spring of last year.  

New info regarding our Website store.  It's fully functional and we have been taking orders!  I really like the features the webstore offers and I can save you MONEY $$$ too.  I do not have to pay fees that are associated with Marketplaces such as Etsy.  Also, the shop online is 100% run by me !  I highly encourage you #shopsmall and check out our webstore on this website. 

While we will still have our Etsy store I strongly encourage you to shop our standalone website at www.lavenderrosefarms.com. 

​IMPORTANT:  Starting in April if you see an Etsy add pop up with my products please look carefully to see if it's sponsored by Etsy before clicking.  Etsy is enforcing a MANDATORY seller participation in their offsite ad campaign and they will take 12% of that sale for advertising .  While I do understand advertising costs money, I am not given the choice whether to participate or not.  If a seller has a certain number of yearly sales they are being forced to participate in offsite ads.  We meet that criteria on our Etsy shop so we cannot opt out of these ads.  If you click on that ad and then purchase my product through the redirect of that click ETSY gets 12% of that sale -  So not all the money is going to the small business owner!   Further anything you purchase from me for the next MONTH Etsy takes at 12% cut.  Again, if shop owners had chosen to participate that is a legitimate  choice to partner with Etsy for advertising.  As it is, choice is not offered to larger sellers and they are being forced to participate and hand over 12% of their sales. 

I hope by making you all aware of this information you will start to shop my website here. My website offers check out through PayPal, credit card, and Square. My website is powered by Weebly which is a subsidiary of Square. You can still send me messages, work with me on custom orders, and I am continuing to add products to the store. I can offer you savings and coupons I cannot on Etsy as well.  We offer free shipping on orders 50.00 and above. 

Please don't confuse my social media posts on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram as a Etsy sponsored ad.  Only I directly posts to my social media sites.  However, if you see a sidebar or pop ad with my product it will probably say sponsored by Etsy. 

Etsy was the place we started out and we enjoy the traffic that the site offers.  However, the changes they have been making over the last several years has had some negative impact on sellers.  Fees are climbing and being added on a regular basis.  Forced participation in free shipping which some shop owners find difficult to do and now the forced participation for larger sellers in marketing/ads with Etsy taking a cut.  Again, paying for marketing is not an issue.  You certainly can hire people to do that for you.  However, it should be the shop owners choice to do so in my humble opinion. 

Learn more about Etsy changes here. 

On a happier note.  I have some photos of some of the wedding parties and products I have done recently.  Some of you may have seen them on Social media. We have a lot of new lavender bouquets, wildflower bouquets, wreaths, wedding and shower favors and soy candles and more. 

Please remember Easter and Mother's Day are coming.  Our Gift Baskets are VERY popular.  If you can order early I can offer you a 10% discount right now through the month of March.  Also I can guarantee your basket will arrive before Mother's Day.  I can also include a gift card and the baskets can be mailed directly to you or the person you are purchasing the products for.  We also send any one of our bouquets for gifts as well as other products.  Just write me a note saying you need the items for Easter or Mother's Day and I will make sure it's noted and shipped on time! 

Happy February folks.  Time is flying.  Valentine's Day is coming fast.  We have a lot of neat gift ideas available on our store front. I  have added some photos at the end of the blog to give you some great gift ideas. Order soon!  

I  wanted to share today with you a great new recipes I just made up tonight for dinner.  I used our own blend of Herbes de Provence in this recipes.  What is Herbes de Provence?  It's a spice blend that includes culinary lavender.

Herbs de Provence is named after a region in Southeastern France. There a few different herbal blends that can be used in Herbes de Provence mixes, but our's includes rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, savory, basil, and lavender. It is SALT FREE/SUGAR FREE!  That's important in our household as my husband is diabetic.  

We do have our blend available on storefront.  It is packaged in a cute, old fashioned, re-usable, 4 oz. or 8 oz. mason jar. 1 oz equal about 1/2 cup. 2 oz equals about 1 full cup. 

USES: This herb blend has a full-bodied flavor can be used to flavor fish, meat (beef, chicken, pork, turkey, or lamb), vegetable stews, roasted vegetables or potatoes, and to flavor cheese or olive oil for example.

I used a dethawed half pork loin.  Mine was about 4.5 pounds.  To start, I used a dry rub consisting of Herbes de Provence, garlic powder, paprika, and Lawry's seasoning salt blend.  You could just use salt and pepper if you prefer.  I did not remove the fat on bottom of the roast until after baking to help with the juices.  However, you can trim the fat first if you prefer.  I put the fat side down and later trimmed the fat when carving.  I rubbed the dry blend of seasonings on the top and let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours.  However, you can let it sit covered overnight with the rub if you prefer.   Increased time in fridge with dry rub will increase flavor.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  

After taking the roast out of the fridge,  I added a liquid glaze to top of roast  over the dry rub.  I slowly drizzled a mix of a little olive oil, honey (minimal amounts for us), red cooking wine, and a little soy sauce.  If some of the rub washes off, just spoon it back over top with the liquid.  Heat 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil in a pan.  I then took the loin and placed  it rub side down in the pan and seared it for about 5 minutes.  Return the roast back to a roasting pan or baking sheet covered with foil  with the rub side up/fat side down.  

I prepared about 6 medium sized red potatoes cubed and 5 large carrots. Keep the carrots and potatoes in separate bowls.  I used the same herbal dry rub with the liquid glaze, mixing it all together and spooned over the vegetables. Add the seasoned potatoes to the roasting pan with the roast, cover with a piece of foil, and place in the pre-heated oven.  

Pork loin requires about 20 minutes of cooking time per pound.  Internal temperature of finished roast should be 145 to 160 degrees. I cooked mine a little bit longer. I would say about 2 hours for a 4.5 pound loin. The internal temperature was 180 but it was not dried out all!  The juices kept it very moist.  Add the carrots into the roasting pan about 30-45 minutes before roast is to be finished as they will not require the full cooking time the roast and potatoes require.  If you prefer you can substitute potatoes and carrots for roasted Brussels sprouts or vegetable of your choice. 

When roast is done allow it to rest for about 10-15 minute, then carve.  The roast has an absolutely amazing rich flavor.  My husband and I were just blown away by how tasty the seasoning blend and the glaze made it taste.  The veggies were really tasty  as well and not mushy.   

Prep Time:   15 min prep. (Several hours to overnight with dry rub in fridge, optional, but really does infuse flavor - so worth the extra time)
Cooking Time:   1 to 2 hours depending on roast size, 20 minutes per pound. 
Resting Time:  10-15 minutes. 

INGREDIENTS: 

​1 Pork Loin - 4.5 pounds (you may use a smaller roast if preferred)
Olive oil for searing 1-2 teaspoons. 

SPICE RUB: 

• Herbes de Provence spice blend.  I used our own Lavender Rose Farms Herbs de Provence. 1-3 teaspoons. 
• 1 teaspoon Sweet Paprika 
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Total Seasonings Casero for Cooking and Grilling to taste or You may use whatever seasoning salt blend your prefer or just salt and pepper. 

GLAZE MIX FOR ROAST: 

• 3 tablespoons low-sodium gluten free soy sauce
• Honey - use as much as 1/4 cup, but I used about 1-2 teaspoons - for those watching sugars. 
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup of red cooking wine

FOR VEGETABLES

• Use the same glaze & herb rub mix recipe as above to coat the veggies.

This recipe is © Lavender Rose Farms, LLC

For More great recipes to use Herbes de Provence blend try this 

Happy New Year!  We've been on vacation for the past week at our little log cabin near Mio/Luzrene Michigan.  We love this place and eventually hope to move up full time and retire here. It has been so relaxing and just gave us a great amount of downtime and time to renew our energy.  We bought it from a nice couple who used it for their family getaway.  We very much enjoy the simpler life.  Heat is by propane wall unit and a wood stove.  It stays nice and toasty inside. Our cabin is over 100 years old, but still going and quite sturdy.  

We are back at home now and back at work!  So here is what is going on! 

 Retail Stores & E-commerce Store:   Our very own e-commerce store is open.  Since you are on the website reading this blog, why not check it out?  Go to the side bar menu on this website and click Store.  All our floral designs, lavender products, natural products are available for purchase!  Take a look and browse around!  I can offer deals to you that I cannot offer on Etsy because this is my own standalone site.  I have more control and have less limitations.  We have still are on Etsy as we realize some customer like using that site.

​A reminder, large wedding parties (minimum $300) should use the Save-the-Date/Deposit page on website and this is the only way to purchase large wedding orders.  The instructions are on the Save-the-Date Page, along with my previous blog which explains all about it. 

From Etsy you will now be directed to order for larger wedding parties.  You can still purhcase individual bouquets and smaller wedding parties through our new e-commerce store or Etsy.

We were in two retails locations as a vendor last year.  We have decided to discontinue vendor or consignment type arrangements.  We would still encourage you to visit Honeycomb Creative here in town @ 415 N. Monroe Street, Monroe, Mi.  It's a great little shop.  We have decided to take our business in a different direction.  We do offer wholesale on certain products now if any stores are interested in carrying our lavender products.  Please see the Wholesale Info page.  

Other News:  We have added "Our Gardens" Page. This is simply for your enjoyment.  We have put some photo galleries up of our 1. Our Lavender Field.  2.  Pollinator Garden  3.  Fairy Garden/Gnome Homes  4.  Herb and Vegetable Gardens.  

We have a page now devoted just to Wedding Photos sent in by our clients and Photographers.  Please look through Wedding Gallery page.  You can send submissions of our designs at your wedding to me at elaine@lavenderrosefarms.com or through Etsy Message.  

I found this new Lavender Recipe for Lemon Lavender Muffins! Looks Delicious!  See the video below. 

Recipe Credit:  Pinch of Yum.  Lemon Lavender Muffins are springy and light. It's muffin meets spa. Perfect for Mother's Day brunch! ♡ Sponsored by Almond Breeze.

​Happy December and almost Christmas!  We are still shipping for Christmas orders until 21st.  I use 1-3 days priority mail.  If you would like expedited shipping just message me on the shop.  

We have had some changes to our floral design ordering.  See below: 

FLORAL DESIGN ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS/ HOW IT WORKS:
There are listings for single bouquets/smaller wedding party orders (under 300.00 total). Order directly from listings - they are under Bouquets/boutonnieres on drop down menu under store @ www.lavenderrosefarms.com or on shop on Etsy. 

If you order is above 300.00 (for wedding parties) please go directly to www.lavenderrosefarms.com and go to our Save-the-Date/Deposit Page. Directions are fully explained on our website along with a contact form to request a Save-the-Date order. Please fill form out fully and I will contact you to see if your date is available, collect deposit, and work with you on design or color. Floral Samples are available to match dresses or to see flowers before ordering - A listing is available on our website or here on Etsy.

FLORAL DESIGN STORAGE: Please keep floral arrangements in box wrapped in tissue paper or a storage container. Keep designs out of direct sunlight and away from moisture, dampness, etc. Dry locations work best such as in a closet or under a bed. Not recommended to store in bathrooms, basements, attics, or garages. Dried arrangements can last many years particularly with floral preservative spray.

PRESERVING FLORALS: I will spray with a light coating of floral preservative on bouquets and designs especially in winter/colder months. Certain weather conditions can make dried flowers a bit more brittle than normal, so spraying with preservative helps to retain moisture, protect from shattering and shedding in transit, and provide UV protection. Another alternative to floral preservative spray is to use a light coating of hairspray. Aerosol cans work best.

I will communicate to you if I feel a floral preservative is recommended with your order and if it was sprayed before shipping. This is done on a case-by-case basis depending on my best judgement for each arrangement.

FLOWER SAMPLES: If you're ordering just the flower sample on the save-the-date/deposit listing, it will ship in approximately 1 to 2 weeks from the date you order it. I have included shipping in the cost of this item.

If you have any questions about how to order please send me a message and I can help clarify.

WREATHS/SWAGS: Not subject to minimum orders or 12-week timeline. They are on separate listings you may order them on the shop without contacting me or placing a deposit. The time frame to make and ship the wreaths are on the individual listings.

FLORAL DESIGN STORAGE: Please keep floral arrangements in box wrapped in tissue paper or a storage container. Keep designs out of direct sunlight and away from moisture, dampness, etc. Dry locations work best such as in a closet or under a bed. Not recommended to store in bathrooms, basements, attics, or garages. Dried arrangements can last many years particularly with floral preservative spray.

PRESERVING FLORALS: I will spray with a light coating of floral preservative on bouquets and designs especially in winter/colder months. Certain weather conditions can make dried flowers a bit more brittle than normal, so spraying with preservative helps to retain moisture, protect from shattering and shedding in transit, and provide UV protection. Another alternative to floral preservative spray is to use a light coating of hairspray. Aerosol cans work best.

I will communicate to you if I feel a floral preservative is recommended with your order and if it was sprayed before shipping. This is done on a case-by-case basis depending on my best judgement for each arrangement.

WEDDING PHOTOS: Share your photos with us! We love to get photography of our designs used in weddings. We will give photo credit to the individual or photography studio. Send submissions to elaine [!at] lavenderrosefarms.com Please look at our website's floral designs page to see your submission as well www.lavenderrosefarms.com

​
VACATION NOTICE:  We will be closed Dec 24th through Dec 31st.  As we will be at our cabin in Northern Michigan I will not have access to supplies to fulfill orders.  We will reopen January 1st. 

WEB ORDERING: Look for our stand-alone web shopping January 1st.  I will be using some vacation time to finish our ecommerce store on this site.  Etsy will also still be available.  

RETAIL:  We are still at Honeycomb Creative 415 Monroe Street, Monroe, Mi.  Stop by and check out our gift ideas for last minute shopping.  We have some of sachets, bath and body products, a few floral design swags in stock there.  

If you have any questions regarding any of the above reach out to me at elaine@lavenderrosefarms.com or via our website contact page or via Etsy message.  

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Last Minute Christmas Idea!  There is still time, but not much.  Hurry and order soon. 15% of sachets, bath & body products, and other select gifts. 

Hi everyone!  Just a quick note to pass on some changes regarding our floral design and wedding party order process.   We love custom orders and getting creative with our brides to create the perfect design!  However, custom orders are more time consuming and costly as well as new or different florals may have to be ordered.  The consult process itself can be lengthy. 

Here is what is new.  It's also posted on our Shop's FAQs and on each listing for our floral designs.   

NEW: CUSTOM ORDERS : The minimum custom wedding order is $250.  Please allow 12 weeks before the date for custom orders.  Orders will be shipped about 2-3 weeks before your event and take 1-3 days USPS Priority Mail or 2-5 days FedEx Home Delivery. 

Custom orders include changing flowers, adding or subtracting, changing colors, creating a completely new design, changing ribbon colors etc.   We love custom orders but they do take additional time to create.  

Large Wedding Parties:  If there is not enough product on the listing to fulfill your wedding party please send me a note/restock request and I will determine based on the size of the order whether this will need to be a custom order/private listing using the 12 week timeframe. 

Here are some pics of some new offerings and some previous listings being brought back for the holidays.  We have both Thanksgiving/Autumn and Winter/Christmas items on our shop!  

We've enjoyed the last year working with two Vintage Type Market Retailers.  We were with the Vintage Market Home in Wyandotte and Honeycomb Creative here locally in Monroe for the past year.  We love both the stores and their offerings.  However, for our business, we decided to take a different direction. We left Vintage Market Home in August.  We are with Honeycomb until the beginning of the year and then will re-evaluate.  We currently have some stock in at Honeycomb Creative and we will be revamping our offerings to them soon.  

As always, if you are a local customer and wish to pick up an order contact me through Etsy or at elaine@lavenderrosefarms.com.  I have worked with brides in picking up wedding party orders at our place.  I have also worked with local buyers who would just rather just save the shipping and come do a porch pick up

 Holidays are coming - start looking for our Christmas offerings.  I have already started posting several items such as Christmas sachet bags, Christmas herbal bulbs, Christmas swags, Birdseed wreaths (big and small) and Christmas tree bird seed favors/ornaments.  Our Winter themed bouquet offerings are also listed such as our winterberry bouquet, Celtic Meadow, Love-in-the-Midst.  We still have our Fall and Thanksgiving offering up and are 10% off currently such as birdseed favors, wreaths, swags, wheat or oat stacks, sunflower arrangements and more.  

​New to the shop!  We are now offering some mason jar floral designs! See pictures  below. 

Our Kitchen Redesign pics are posted here!  We worked with Dayna at Honeycomb Creative @ 415 N. Monroe Street, Monroe, Mi to get this done.  She was a wealth of knowledge and guided us in this process.   They have a variety of Fusion Mineral paint colors at Honeycomb .  We used Midnight Blue and Putty.   We LOVE how it turned out.  Hope it inspires others to give it a try!  We used a paint spray - Dayna allowed us to use hers and then my hubby went and bought us our own.  We did have use a brush on a smaller areas.  Dayna really walked us through the process with instructions how is best to handle a kitchen reno on old cabinets.  Fusion paint is really nice and it made a huge difference in our cabinets and design.  We did have white cabinets with Cranberry red walls.   Stop in and see the folks at Honeycomb Creative if you are in the Monroe, Mi area.  They are so willing to help you with the Fusion Paints.  You can also go the Fusion Paint website or google repainting cabinets with Fusion. There are a lot of blogs out there from crafty people who repainted their cabinets or other projects. 

My tidbit of info is - make sure you clean your cabinets really well in order remove grease.  TSP is a great product to clean/prep the cabinets first.  Remove all the hardware from doors and hinges from cabinets.  My hubby set up a makeshift paint shop in our attached garage.  Our barn was a bit too dusty.  He used saw horses with a board across them to lay out the doors and did one side at a time. He also used tarps on floor.  Some people even tent with tarps.   We did have to use a primer.  Why?  Well we had a oil-based paint on the cabinets, which would not allow the Fusion to adhere very well.  It was beading.  So we went to Lowe's and got a bonding primer.  Just ask your paint dealer for a bonding primer if you run into adherence issues.  Then after priming all doors and the cabinets and allowing them to dry , we were able to spray Fusion.   You will have to use a paint brush on smaller areas and base boards etc. Being novices, we were going to do this in a weekend, but we found quickly it's not really a weekend sort of project given the issues we ran into.  I would recommend probably taking more like 3-5 days.  Plan for more rather than less in terms of timing.  Besides any issues you may run into you have to remove and clean existing hardware (if reusing), plus allow drying time between coats if you are using a primer.  This all takes time.  If you are painting wood cabinets that are not painted already, I would recommend meeting with someone at Honeycomb or looking up  instructions with Fusion as to what is the best approach.   

Listing for Mason Jar Bouquets can be found here.  We also have available arrangements with lavender and baby's breath.  Multiple choices of jar colors.  Jars are pint size.  

 Wow it's been since August since I have blogged!  Time flies.  We are full on into fall,  my favorite season. The lavender/flower farm is still keeping us busy.  Everything had a later harvest than usual.  I was harvesting plenty of tomato, eggplant, cucumbers, and herbs and other veggies until just last week.  I did our final English lavender harvest last week as well and we got a good number of bunches.  Considering what a tough year it was with plant loss and cold winter/wet spring combo, those plants that did survive produced well, but just a bit later than usual.  I still have a lot of big empty spaces in the field.  These were the plants I pulled.  Because it was too late in the season by the time I really learned which plants were going to make it or not, I was unable to order replacements.  I did put in an order for a bunch of Royal Velvet English lavender plants for next spring to fill in the field.  I have decided to keep what Grosso and Phenomenal I have that made it, but not to purchase more and stick more to the English lavender.  For our Michigan winters and sometimes wet springs, these seem to do the best.  Plus I do love a good English lavender. 

Speaking of English lavender.  I have some new designs incorporating it.  I have been really busy creating some lovely wedding parties with English lavender as bridal bouquets and bridesmaids.  They look particularly lovely mixed with baby's breath and this has been very popular. 

I also have created two new vertical swags/wall hangings. The first is an herbal swag.  It really can be used year round, but the rose hips and sunflower give me a fall vibe.  It's a great piece for home decor anywhere in your home or in the kitchen.  It has lavender, rose hips, flax, oregano and Sweet Annie.  The other swag I just listed yesterday.  It definitely has more colors of spring and summer with pinks and purples, but again for home decor it can be used any time year round.  Would look lovely in any room in the house.  Both swags are about 20-24 inches long about 18 or so inches wide at the widest point (bottom).  They really make a statement.  I had one hanging a bedroom at my house and the smell was lovely.  Sweet Annie and lavender mix is just wonderful!  These are not intended for outdoor use or outside doors!  They are dried flowers so they cannot tolerate elements such as rain, snow, wind, excessive direct sunlight etc.  

E-commerce site will be up November 1st and possibly before.  You will be able to come to our website and click shop and go to our own personal store rather than directed to Etsy.  Why the change?  Mostly to have more control over our own designs and products and the fees! Etsy is starting to charge more and more and that means shop owners have to pass that on in terms of higher prices.  We will still keep our Etsy shop as some prefer it and honestly there will be some things I offer on Etsy I might not on e-commerce right away.  The bonus and reason to shop online at our own e-commerce is it takes out the middle man and I can price down from the Etsy store on most items on a regular basis.  So please look for the new shop coming very soon!

I am headed to our little log cabin in the woods this weekend with hubby to prep the cabin for coming winter. I will be working on our e-commerce shop from up there as well!  

I hope everyone has a great fall and remember Christmas items are already starting to pop up on our shop!  

Have a great fall!  I  have created a slide show of some of our new designs and some photos that were sent to me from our brides. 

Wedding 1: Photo Credit: Ashley Auger Smitten Mitten Photography.  All photos are copyrighted Smitten Mitten Photography.   Bride is carrying the Cottage Garden Bridal Bouquet.  Bridesmaids are carrying medium English lavender and Baby's Breath bouquets.  Groomsmen and Groom have English lavender and Baby's Breath boutonnieres. 

Wedding 2:  The very last photo is the Midsummer's Night Dream Bouquet, large, with thistle.  This was photo was donated by bride Danielle Denning.  Copyrighted.  

Keep them coming brides!  I love to see and use (with permission) the photos from our brides or photography studios.  How I use them:  On our blog and website, our listings for the floral designs.  I always give credit to photographer and will use watermarked photos whenever possible/provided.  

Hey everybody!  We have been busy this August.  We just had a second harvest of our lavender.  English lavender tends to produce a harvest in June and then again in late summer.  So I was out in the fields this past weekend doing a harvest.  We have been working on weeding and some repair of the lavender fields.  We still have some empty spots for replacement lavender.  I have been waiting on getting the Royal Velvet lavender to replace the Phenomenal plants we lost earlier this year.  As I mentioned previously, we are going to grown more English lavender in our fields as we find it's more hardy for our growing zone.  However, we still have quite a few Grosso and Phenomenal plants and those actually gave a bit of a second harvest as well in August.  

The Pollinator Garden (wildflower fields) are also looking amazing.  The annual zinnas and cosmos I intermixed with the perennial wildflower are blooming and look gorgeous. There are just so  many pollinators coming to the garden.  

A short announcement regarding our retail stores.  After much thought, we have decided to stay with one retail location, which is Honeycomb Creative in Monroe at 415 N. Monroe Street, Monroe Mi.   I found maintaining products and stocking two stores too time consuming for the return.  This past year was our first foray into retail locations.  As a vendor there is upkeep, stocking, changing out products for seasonal items etc.  We have decided to stick with just one hometown location and concentrate on our online shop which is bulk of our business.  

Since Honeycomb Creative is quite literally less than 3 miles from my home and in our hometown, it's easier of the two for upkeep and restocking.  We love Dayna and her family!  They have such a cute store housed in an old historic house that was renovated in the Downtown Monroe corridor.  They also offer classes upstairs and one of the few locations that carry Fusion Mineral Paint.  Follow them on Facebook for updates.  

We enjoyed and love The Vintage Market Home in Wyandotte.  I want to wish them luck on their new location and expansion. They are moving to a new location (just down the block) in September.  We love Rina and Angie - the owners!  They have been very helpful to us in this past year and they did such lovely displays with our lavender products and floral designs.  However, August is our last month with them.  The distance is really the main factor in this decision.  As we are not residing Downriver any longer and we are really only up in the area once a week for church, we decided to withdraw from the store. 

I have been asked many times for floral crowns, wall swags, and more wreaths.  I am working on those.  Here is the delay:  Spring through summer into fall is our busiest season, especially for floral design and weddings. Doing floral designs for wedding parties is time consuming.  I am doing multiple weddings per week as an average plus all the field work that is required and harvesting.  So, as summer winds down and we start to slow down,  you will start to see more of the new products cropping up on our shop later this fall.  I also will post them on social media and our blog. 

I did have have a chance recently to do one fall wreath which is listed on our shop! It's the Fall Meadow Wreath.  It has Sweet Annie, safflower, sunflower, oats, flax, and daisy.  I love it and it smells WONDERFUL!   Also included in our gallery are some English lavender and baby's breath bouquets and boutonnieres for a local wedding and a bud vase arrangement in the Summer Festival Style.  

Sometimes there is confusion on the coloration of lavenders.  Especially with floral designs clients many are expecting deeper colors on the Intermediate (Grosso/Phenomenal).  The intermediates really have a wide range of coloration. The long-stemmed Intermediate lavenders are much sturdier and have larger buds so they hold up better to mixed floral design arrangements, but I do occasionally mix in some English lavender for color in season.  I will break down the color differences between Intermediate and English below. 

Our farm is moving towards growing probably about 75% English lavender after this season.  We were about half and half between English and Intermediate lavender previously.  However, our intermediates were hard hit by the winter and not as hardy.  I will keep what we have that survived and have babied them back to health, but I will be starting to grow a longer stemmed variety of English lavender soon and we will move to incorporate it more into designs.  All our English lavender - Hidcote and Melissa survived quite well despite the harsh winter and cold, wet spring. 

Here is the breakdown of color on the two types of lavender I use in my designs:  

Intermediate Lavender - Are long-stemmed- (Grosso and Phenomenal) vary in color from purplish blue to soft faded blue to gray-blue.  Color is highly dependent upon what is in stock and varies.  We do grow our own Grosso and Phenomenal lavender, which tends to be a deeper color than many I have received as supplemental from other farms.  I will use our own lavender whenever possible and when in season.  However, when our supplies are exhausted we do supplement with lavender from other farms in order to offer floral designs year round.  We are a small farm and we cannot possibly grow enough to supply the demands for lavender bouquets and floral designs year round.  

While I cannot control the color factor on lavender I receive from other sources, I will use the best blooms and color possible and tend to know which suppliers have the best color/sizes.  I am very particular about who I receive supplemental bunches from.  It needs to meet a certain standard.  Since I work with it daily in designs,  I know how sturdy I need it be and the size I prefer.  I request pictures before I purchase to see if it will meet my needs. Right before the new harvest can get a little towards slim pickings as many supplies are starting to run out or blooms are more faded . Please be patient while we get our harvest in (usually July for us here in Michigan) and also for our supplemental suppliers to get their harvests ready as well.   

Intermediate lavenders are used in oil production for essential oil.  As we are a flower farm that grows for cut flowers and floral design, we do not distill oils at this time.  

We also use English lavender. English lavender is generally smaller in size and length and has a more delicate look.   We also grow our own English lavender and will have it for sale in season but I am usually out of our stock very quickly.  English lavender is harvested usually in late June, but I will also get a second harvest in August or even September although not as big. I mostly sell it in small petite bundles and sometimes in larger wedding bouquets.  To me it is a more premium lavender.  We personally grow a mix of Hidcote - small deep purple flowers - and Melissa, slightly large flowers and lighter true lavender color.  I will mix the two together, which makes a unique two-toned bouquet.   When I have to supplement lavender from other farms It is usually Munstead or Hidcote, which is the true purple.  I do not tend to keep English in year round as supplemental.  However, at times I will get it by special request if I am out of my own. 

We will start to grow a longer-stemmed version of English Lavender in 2019 and our farm is moving more and more towards English lavender production as it is hardiest for our growing zone and winters.  Look for it to start to be available more on our shop and in our designs as we convert more to English lavender.  My personal preference is the English lavender so I am excited about moving towards growing more of it. 

A good example of different lavenders is our mixed bouquet of English and Grosso bouquet - See picture at top of blog. 

Grosso and Phenomenal Intermediate Lavender Pictured below.  First picture is fresh intermediate from our farm before drying.  Middle and third pics are bundles of dried Grosso.  Notice the light faded color.  This completely normal for dried Grosso or Phenomenal. Our home grown tends to be a bit darker than this although buds are a bit smaller, which is more due to the size of the plants not being fully mature.  Last row:  Our Dried Grosso - somewhat deeper color.  Second pic:  Fresh Grosso Drying from our fields.  Last pic:  Mixed Grosso and English lavender. 

Below is the English lavender.  First picture is fresh English lavender, before drying, from our fields. Second picture are petite bundles of English lavender from our fields.  Last pictures - larger bundle of Munstead lavender.  Notice the English lavender has a deeper colors although there are some variations.  Second row of pictures are our bundles of Mixed Hidcote and Melissa - Notice the deeper color of Hidcote and lighter lavender of Melissa.  Not all farms mix lavenders - most do not.  However, I just really like the look of these two mixed so since they bloom at the same time I usually mix them together in finished bouquets.