Today I would like to first remember and honor all those who have served and gave their lives in service for our country.  These are the real heroes and we definitely give thanks and honor their memory.  Memorial Day is so much more than cook outs and fun times, but a solemn day to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  

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 We are working hard at the farm.  We will have planted replacement plants for any lavender plants in the field that didn't survive the winter or were decimated last summer by the bunnies.  We have the tractor scheduled to come tomorrow on Memorial Day.  We will get the rest of lavender field tilled so we can plant the couple of trays of Hidcote and Phenomenal we have.  We also are having a field tilled for fresh cuts - zinnas and sunflowers, and a section tilled for a wildflower meadow.   I was also very pleased to see the Purple Boomerrang lilacs bushes we planted last year are blooming beautifully already this year!  We plan to start harvesting lilacs as well to make potpourri and lilac jelly.  

We had rive rock dumped this past week.  This is going to serve as  mulch for the entire lavender field. It will be a lot of work, but we be spreading it over time this summer on top of the lavender field weed barrier.  The rocks serve a couple of purposes.  First, it looks aesthetically pleasing.  Second, it helps keep the weed barrier intact and from being pulled up or blown away in high winds.  Lastly, it helps with sunlight reflection and drainage.  Lavender likes dry and warm conditions.   ​

Our products will begin to be carried in the Vintage Market Home on June 1, 2018!  We are really excited about becoming a vendor with them.  The Vintage Market Home is located at 110 Sycamore Street in Wyandotte, Mi.  They are right next to Stroh's ice cream in downtown Wyandotte.  

The Vintage Market is an upscale flea market style shopping experience.  They have pop-up markets in Monroe (at the country fairgrounds) and in Wyandotte and other locations.  The Vintage Market Home is their new brick and mortar store in downtown Wyandotte.  Their boutique features vintage, furniture, home decor, clothing, jewelry, upscale handmade, unique gifts, and more!  

Lavender Rose Farms LLC will be providing our various floral designs/bouquets, English and Grosso lavender bundles (wrapped), hand-painted lavender mason jars, wreaths, and sachets.  Later in the season fresh cuts will be available as well.  Again, look for our products on June 1st at the Vintage Market Home!   As always, a full line of our products are available at our store on www.lavenderrosefarms.com. 

We also have a fall market coming up with Chic and Unique Vintage and Handmade Market in Brownstown on September 22, 2018.  This is at the Events Center on King Road.  Please see our Events page for full details.   Our table will be inside the Events Center building.  We will bring a full line of our products and floral designs with us for you to see in person! 
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I hope everyone has a lovely and happy Memorial Day weekend.  

We will not be at the Brownstown Market this next Saturday for Mother's Day.  We are sorry for the late cancellation.  I would encourage everyone to still attend as it's a great event!  We've been dealing with some personal/health issues.  Just keep us in prayer.  We are still signed up for the market in September and I will update our events page with this information.  Hoping some of these issues will be taken care of by then. 

Because we aren't doing the show next Saturday, we will be keeping the online store open next week instead of closing for vacation.  This good news for those who would like to continue to order gift baskets and other items for Mother's Day online.  I can ship as late as Wednesday/Thursday using Priority Mail and still have it arrive by Saturday.  Please keep in mind the processing time of items, which I have expedited to 1-2 days on the gift baskets and few other products.  If you'd like a bouquet or another item that has longer processing time - contact me via the store.  I can see if I can help in getting that item to you in a rush for the holiday.  We also offer Priority 1-day shipping on gift baskets or other items.  This is an upgrade in cost so please be aware of the extra cost for this option.  Unfortunately this option has a significant upcharge (blame the Post Office! It's their pricing lol). However, if you need it quick and are willing to pay the extra cost it's an option for those who order late. 

 As far as our brick and mortar markets - Those arrangements are still in effect for June 2018.

 We will still be starting with the Vintage Home Market in Wyandotte on Sycamore Street on June 1st.   I will not be selling there or working at this market, as they handle that for us, which is one reason this appeals to us.  We simply keep the items stocked and that frees us up to do our farming and filling online store orders.  This store is a regular business hour store location is 110 Sycamore, Wyandotte. Tuesday-Saturday 11-6.

We also will be still be starting with BayCreek & Co. in Erie on June 7th.  This is brick and mortar MONTHLY market.  The are open the the first Thursday-Sunday of each month only.  Address is 9770 S Dixie Hwy, Erie, MI 48133. 

Both stores will carry our floral designs, wreaths and some of our other products such as candles, hand-painted mason jars etc.  We are still working out details on the rest of our product lines.  We also hope to supply both with fresh cuts (not just lavender! but sunflowers, dahlias, other wildflowers) this summer - pending harvest.  You can still buy all our products online.  Also if you'd like bulk floral designs for weddings please use the online store as this is the best way for me to help create your wedding party or event bouquets or centerpieces. 

We believe for now the two brick and mortar stores, our online shop (which is jamming this month for Mother's Day), and trying to get rest of our field planted is more than even activity for the summer.  Our plans for the lavender fields this month are to do some replacement planting as needed to any plants that didn't make the winter.  We also will be planting about 100 more Royal Velvet - I am eagerly awaiting these plants as I looked all over for them last summer.  We also plan to get a huge load of river rock delivered to spread on the lavender field as mulch.  This will help keep our weed barrier down under high winds and also will look beautiful and help the plants with sun.  

Our last project is a cutting bed.  We will have our friendly tractor fellow come out mid-May to till a new bed where we will be growing dahlias, yarrow, sunflowers, and more for fresh cut flowers.  

Lavender Rose Farms LLC News Story Reminder:  Our short news story will still run on May 6 and 7th through on NBC24 Toledo.  6pm or 11 pm broadcast on May 6th and 6:30 a.m. on May 7th.   I will post the link to the story online at NBC24 Toledo as soon as it's posted.  

We have some exciting news to share.  Channel 24 NBC News out of Toledo contacted us for an interview and a story about our farm.  The reporter, Allison, is from the Monroe area.  She contacted us for a feature on our business and small lavender farm.  Unfortunately, it was a bit cold so the lavender had not awoken from their slumber for the story.  Maybe they will do a follow-up when the lavender is in bloom.  

The story will air on NBC24 on May 6th 6 p.m. newscast - unless bumped by hockey, then it will be shown instead at 11 p.m. newscast.  It will also air on May 7th at 6:30 a.m.  If you are out of the local viewing area for NBC24 Toledo then you can go to the NBC24 website and view it there under local news here:  nbc24.com/news/local.  

We were really excited with this opportunity.  Not only did we go out to the fields we had good deal of our products shown in the piece. I set up the display table pictured on this blog for the story to display some our favorite products. 
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Mothers' Day Updates/Online Shop:  Our shop will remain open through next week.  Unfortunately we will be unable to attend the Brownstown Market as planned due to family/health issues.    

​ We've had a few days in the 70s and today in the low 80s and the dormant lavender is greening right up.  We will be laying pea gravel mulch and planting the rest of our field in the new few weeks.  Hope to see some of you at the show on May 12th.