Happy Spring! I think... It's still cold here in SE Mi.  Our town and areas near the lakeshore of Lake Erie experienced some massive flooding with several communities being evacuated.  Here are the farm we are west of the city of Monroe (actually in Frenchtown Twp) so we were safe from lakeshore flooding.  The River Raisin at the back of our property didn't flood by us either.  When we purchased our property the river gave us pause at it's well-known for flooding especially in springtime.  However, the former ribbon farm land that we occupy is set up with two berms.  There is also several acres between the lavender field and the river.  So far so good.   

I would like to ask for prayer for those in the city of Monroe and the Lakeshore communities that have been affected by the floods, lost property/homes and that have been evacuated.  How utterly devastating.  I don't recall such flooding in the area ever. 

I have posted some pics of our Spring Romance Bouquet above.  We have had this listing on  the shop for awhile now.  It's one of the first bouquets I created.  I have revamped it slightly.  It makes a great Mother's Day gift with it's pastel and deeper pinks.  I also will have these bouquets along with other bouquet designs at our show on May 12th in Brownstown Event Center - see events page.  

I also recently revamped the design of our gift basket.  The products are the same but our basket style as changed. These baskets make a great mother's day gift  The include goat's milk guest soap, soy botanical candle, tin of culinary lavender, embroidered lavender sachet, bath salts in small mason jar, and lavender linen/floral water spray.  

Reminder:  Our farm is closed currently.  We are not open to the public at this time.  We will not be open to the public this summer.  We are still in process of planting the lavender field.  As such it would be difficult to have people come to the lavender fields while we are still working on them. When we do open to the public, we prefer by appointment rather than open public hours.  We will definitely keep you posted when that option is available!  

Pick up for products!  In certain instances I can arrange a pick of products if you are local to our area and do not wish to use shipping.  An occasional pick up particularly of large wedding party orders for bouquets or favors often  just make sense for local orders.  You can email at elaine@lavenderrosefarms.com or use the contact form. 

I don't have large quantities for wholesale lavender bundles or dried loose lavender.  As I mentioned, we are newer farm and not to that point yet.  However, I am a member of the United States Lavender Grower's Association and these great group of farmers do network and support each other.  I can reach out and try to connect you with another farm in Michigan (local residents) that may have bulk items you are interested in.  You can make arrangements for shipping with other farm or take a drive out if they have public hours. 

I hope everyone has great day and hopefully some warmer weather!  

Hopping along halfway into April!   Mother's Day is around the corner so I wanted to share some gift ideas as well as update everyone on our spring market coming up the day before Mother's Day.  

 We have many lovely choices for Mother's Day gifts. Our gift baskets our most popular. Any one of our lovely handmade dried bouquets made a beautiful gift. These are not for weddings only. They can be a lovely a gift for home decor for that special someone. We have embroidered and hand-stamped sachets, floral water (linen spray). Our hand-painted solid color and lavender flower mason jars also made a lovely gift. These jars look cute as vases, as bathroom, kitchen, or living room decor. They are also cute for a child's room. Please take a look at our offerings.

LOCAL RESIDENTS: SE Michigan: We will be at Chic and Unique handmade/antique market the day before Mother's Day (May 12th). Don't miss the fun!  We also will have our homemade lavender jelly - only available at our in-person markets!

LOCATION: 23345 King Road Brownstown Mi. This is a mostly outdoor market, but a select few vendors will be inside the Events Center Building behind the community gardens.  This is where you will find our table. Go to www.lavenderrosefarms.com/events.html for more details and market hours.  

FARM UPDATE: The lavender is just barely starting to green up.  We've had a cold spring so far.  Yesterday was our first day in the 70s.  However, I am assured the plants are alive!  I did a scratch test to te wood stems (just use your fingernail to lightly scratch the wood), and I found the inside was green.  That means they are indeed alive.  If the stem is hollow or brown the plant is dead.  Lavender can be tricky as often the plants will look dead, but they are still just dormant.  If you want to be sure if a plant is alive just do the scratch test.  

 We have plants on order to fill the lavender bed that was tilled but not filled last year.  These will be arriving the beginning of May. We also will be going to get replacement plants on the row of Hidcote that we lost to bunnies last year.  

My husband and I started on maintenance of the field already despite the weather.  We tacked down any loose barrier that the high winds had loosened.  We ordered and received new barrier to finish off the field.  We are waiting for high winds to die down before we start spreading the barrier.  We also made a trip to a local landscaping company to price pea gravel/river rocks for the field.  We are using this as mulch on top of the barrier.  We should be getting this in the next few weeks and it will be quite the job to spread on the entire fields, but the means justify the end.  The rock will give the field a finished look and help with a variety of issues we have encountered.  

While, you can do rows with grass in between (we didn't want to mow) or  do as we did and use weed barrier between rows and mulch with gravel (no limestone please, as it can change pH of soil).  We are using a small river rock which is slightly larger than pea gravel.  We made this choice because this is what our local landscaper has in stock for a good price.  The river rock as a bit of color and will look nice on the field.   The rocks helps protect the weed barrier especially weighing it down from high winds or tears.  The rocks also assists with keeping weeds down.   River rock or pea gravel is decorative and pleasing to the eye and has the added benefit of  helping reflect the sun. as lavender loves the sun/heat and does not like wet feet. 

Hope to see local folks come out the market on May 12th!  We will post some pictures of our progress in the field soon!   Everyone enjoy spring where ever you are!