True Blue Flower Co.

11/06/2024

Whether you're early to pull out the stockings and put up the tree or you push Christmas off until last minute we don't judge! We do however want to give you a few dates for your calendar.

We have two greenery centerpiece workshops, one at Vergas's Small Town Christmas inside Summer's Design Center that is a greenery bar style with no pre-registration for $25/centerpiece and $10 for kids Nov. 30 and a little less one on one instruction. The other centerpiece workshop is in partnership with Elevate on Dec. 16 . Preregistration for more structured class is on their website for $27.

https://elevateotc.org/event/exploratory-winter-greens-centerpiece/

The farmstand will open mid November -
Christmas with wreaths and greenery bouquets.

And lastly we are offering centerpiece delivery on Dec. 19 and Dec. 23 as a way to tell your loved ones you're thinking of them even if you aren't able to be with them this holiday season. I'll post this in the coming weeks.

11/05/2024

Add a touch of Minnesota’s North Woods to your holiday table with a centerpiece crafted from greenery gathered right here in our native landscape.

Join us to create your own festive arrangement using our materials, and enjoy some practical tips and tricks to use at home. Decorating with native, compostable materials brings a natural, cozy feel to your holiday décor while reducing plastic use—a simple way to bring warmth and simplicity to a season that can often feel hectic and consumption-driven.

All materials, tools, and gloves will be provided.
Hosted by True Blue Flower Co.
Cost: $27

Preregister at the link below.

https://elevateotc.org/event/exploratory-winter-greens-centerpiece/

11/04/2024

The majority of our roots are still on their way. Strikes at shipping ports have slowed down their journey from Holland. My wholesale representative assured me they will get here in the next two weeks. I apologize for the delay. To make up for the inconvenience I’ll add in an extra free bare root for those who are waiting. I appreciate you working with me and can’t wait for you guys to have peony gardens of your own.

If worse comes to worse you are still able to plant these roots in frozen ground. I’ve planted them frozen ground two years ago with great results. And again this year I’ll be planting my roots at the same time you get yours.

A few options for planting as it get cold :

-Pile leaves, a blanket, straw bale etc on the place you hope to plant now to keep frost from setting in . The ground should be soft when you go to plant

-Dig the holes now, leave the back fill dirt in a pail in your garage. After planting the peony root, fill with the loose dirt from garage or a bag of potting soil.

-if the ground is too frozen to dig you can pour boiling/hot water on the spot you want to plant to take the frost out if top soil is frozen

-you can always dig a hole as normal even if the ground is slightly frozen and plant as normal! This is what I have done and they have turned out well and are very resilient.

Another option is to keep the bare roots in a cool place with slightly damp soil in your house watering periodically and plant in spring

I will keep you up to date as soon as they get to me! I appreciate you guys, I apologize or this unexpected delay!

10/31/2024

🎃 If you’re looking for an extra stop Halloween, I put out a few goodies for the kids and a little tulip bulb goodie bag for any adult who has to deal with them 😘 Grab one and send me a picture of your costume, I’d love to see!

35191 Co. Hwy. 4 Frazee MN

10/25/2024

Two years ago 37 wks pregnant with 7lb8oz and 6lb 5oz twins! The twins were here two days later and what a wild ride those two years have been.

10/24/2024

🌲 We’re hosting a make and take greenery center piece bar that at this year’s Vergas Small Town Christmas on November 30th!

Bring a touch of the Minnesota North Woods into your holiday table with a centerpiece made from greenery gathered and grown right in our native landscape.

Come participate by using our materials to make your own or simply stroll through and learn some tips and tricks for you to use at home. Centerpiece bar is a come at your leisure open house style. We will provide all the materials, tools and as much or as little instruction as you like!

🕰️ 2-5pm
📍 Summer’s Design Center to keep hands warm!
🗓️ November 30th 2024
💲 $25 or $10 kids option

Using natural and compostable materials in Holiday Decor is a great way to bring a little connection to nature this winter season. Not only is it simple way to reduce plastics but it also brings in a cozy simplicity to this what can easily become a hectic, consumption driven season

Plastic wreaths, plastic trees, plastic tinsel. It all has to go somewhere after it's served its purpose of holiday cheer. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year but somewhere down the line it has to go somewhere. Buried under ground, washed out to sea, or burned in the air. Nobody's perfect - I’m far from that - but maybe we can be conscious because all change all starts with that.

10/21/2024

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said... Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die... The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." - Granger Farenheit 41

Every Fall since the beginning of True Blue Flower Co. I have planted around 100 peonies. I have planted them with the help of a one year old, I have planted them 2 weeks postpartum from the twins, I have planted them as soon as we settled into our new homestead, and this year just as the others I will plant them again in a new designated peony garden at the flower field.

Peonies are magical - heavenly scent and beautiful blooms. But to me its about something a little more. There is a legacy that goes along with a flower that continues to bloom for over 50 years. That can be split and share and passed down for generations. I hope their bloom every spring serves as a reminder to my future self and loved ones of the difference between " the man who cuts lawns and a real gardener." Because through this intentional land tending I too hope my impact will be here a lifetime.

This year I have extras roots for preorder on the website. Roots will arrive to our farm in Late October and early November. Emails will be sent out with pickup or shipping information shortly after that. Our standard varieties are $25 each or five for $100 and our yellow varieties are $30 each or four for $100. At purchase you can choose pick up your bare roots at the farm or one of our partner businesses for free or to have them shipped to you for $20. They can be planted up until the ground is too solid to dig or stored in a cool place and planted in the spring. Each year we plant ours around the second week in November.

VARIETIES INCLUDE
Sarah Bernhardt - Alexander Flemming - Lorelei - Shirley Temple - Gardenia - Chiffon Parfait - Dutchesse de Nemours - Sunny Girl - Lemon Chiffon - Bartzella

https://www.trueblueflowerco.com/peonybarerootsale

10/19/2024

🍁Raking leaves this weekend?! I will happily take them off your hands! Feel free to leave them in bags by the farm-stand or by the flower field gate and I will put them to work composting and insulating our flower rows!

35191 Co. Hwy 4 Frazee MN is the drop off address!

10/14/2024

10/14/2024

🌷 This week is the PERFECT tulip planting weather! The ground has cooled down but it’s still warm enough to enjoy the weather outside!

Today I filled our new tulip beds full of U-Pick tulips for next spring! I can’t wait to share them with you. If you want to add a few fancy tulip varieties to your home stop by the farmstand or purchase online and I can bring them to one of our local pickup places in Frazee, Vergas, DL, or Pelican Rapids.

https://www.trueblueflowerco.com/store/p/tulip-bulbs-for-fall-planting

10/11/2024

🌷 Want to know what bulbs we have for sale in the farm stand and how to plant them? Head to our website!

https://www.trueblueflowerco.com/tulip-planting

10/11/2024

The rest of the narcissus and tulip bulbs arrived and are stocked in the stand! Check out the types we have available and how we suggest planting at the link below!

https://www.trueblueflowerco.com/tulip-planting

10/10 - 10/26 the Farm Stand will have fancy tulip bulbs for sale for planting this fall!

🌷Bulbs are sold in bunches of 10 for $15 each

Farm stand is open sunup to sundown for cash check or Venmo

35191 Co. Hwy Co. 4 Frazee

10/08/2024

Tulip and Daffodil Bulbs for Sale!

10/10 - 10/26 the Farm Stand will have fancy tulip bulbs for sale for planting this fall!

🌷Bulbs are sold in bunches of 10 for $15 each

Farm stand is open sunup to sundown for cash check or Venmo

35191 Co. Hwy Co. 4 Frazee

Ive mentioned many times that to me its about more than just the flowers. In the spring my love of tulips has to do with more than just the flowers too!

Their loud burst of color before many other things have even shown up green is a little ode to us in the north. A little display to congratulate us for making it through another winter. With the tulip buds come the sounds of robins and the buzz of bees and the stirring of life after a long hibernation. Little memories of “tulip fairies” also come to mind. In my childhood these fairies would put trinkets in the tulip blossoms as they closed at night. In the morning, my daycare provider would bring us to the the garden with a twinkle in her eye to look for the treats left in the blooms as they opened for the day.

The simple cheerie single tuilps are lovely but flower farming has brought a whole new world of tulips with frilly edges, parrot feather fringes, deep moody colors, and layers and layer of peony like petals that are harder to get your hands on. Once again this year I will be offering my favorite varieties of tulip bulbs for sale in the farm stand. This year to join our tulips we have fancy double daffodils (narcissus) as well!

https://www.trueblueflowerco.com/tulip-planting

10/03/2024

🫙🍁🌸 What a busy and beautiful season. This fall felt a little less like the end of the 2024 growing season and more like the start of the 2025 growing season. This is because I have started a lot of prep work for next year already this fall and typically this is reserved for the spring of next year. A few things I have been doing to prep is adding a few more early season perennials, planting some annuals to over winter in the fall to bloom early next year, putting up our high tunnel greenhouse and planning the field lay out for next summer.

🌸 I am not trying to wish away my current season but more so I feel like I am learning what I want my business to look like what needs to be done to achieve that.🌸

🫙I am looking to build a more sustainable rhythm - I am excited because I feel these changes can make this business enjoyable for the long run. As someone who grew up with a family farm and is around many families that farm I see how many benefits there are in building a business that includes the land and family and so many strong ties to hard work. I also know first hand the many ways family farms teeter from enriching family life into becoming an entity that there is no break or down time from.

I am hoping that taking a little time and conscious effort now will keep the True Blue Flower Fields as a place of refuge for not those who stop to visit, but also myself and my family!

👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍🌾👩🏻‍🌾

A few of the things that I love about my business and want to narrow in on are:
creating a gathering space
more focus labor intensive and mentally intensive part on the earlier in the season and fade out into more casual side of the business by late summer and fall
less rows to care for but manage them better

Things I am doing to create a gathering space:
-marketing the availability of the field for causal occasions
-making landscaping inviting/adding blooms in spaces for pictures and year round color not just in rows for harvesting (i.e. around the pergola and around the shed, taking rows out for peonies)

Things I am doing to ease the work load from late summer and fall and push it earlier in the season
-adding daffodils, peonies, and early blooming perennials
-overwintering flowers in the middle row not in the back
-adding lilies as a big focus
-putting sitting space by new peony rows
-making subscriptions every other week starting in may vs July
-dahlias in the high tunnel

Things I am doing to have less rows but cared for easier
-taking out sunflower and annual rows on the back side
-using the space in the high tunnel
-focusing on the front of the field
-adding irrigation turn offs

🍁🌸🦋An this fall we have continued putting a lot of heart into making this a reality.

We are closed for U-picks but tulip bulbs will be available in the farm stand next week!

09/28/2024

🫙🌸Last weekend of U- Picks at True Blue Flower Co.!

Our last day is Sept. 30th and it is a beautiful weekend to say good bye to the fields that have shared their splendors with us for the last 18 weeks 🍁🌸

Farm stand and again for holidays will open until the first frost if you still have vouchers to utilize ❤️

09/21/2024

🍁Beautiful morning for a U-Pick bouquet! Stop by on your way to the Backwoods Art Crawl in Vergas or before you hit up Maple Hills Orchard or one of the many pumpkin patches close by!

Our Self Serve U-Picks are open daily sunup to sundown until Sept. 30!

Fall special is $20 U-Pick bouquets!