River Road Flower Farm

Name: River Road Flower Farm
Address: 1364 River Road, Sequim, WA, 98382, US
Telephone: +18008601420

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River Road Flower Farm

We grow lavender and dahlias on our farm at 1364 River Road in Sequim, Washington.

11/29/2023

We grow both English and French lavender. It is all naturally grown and harvested by hand. (Actually, we do everything by hand). Most of the English lavender is dried, which Carol carefully disbuds and packs into sachets. The French lavender is best suited for oil. We steam distill the buds into pure essential oil. It's a slow process with the distiller holding 40 liters of buds. We run a batch every day for about four months. And now it's coming up of the holidays. Lavender makes a great gift. Our web site for orders is RiverRoadFlowerFarm. (I'll put the link in the comments, but it's easy to find.

11/19/2023

Lavender is the perfect gift. Stay tuned.

11/19/2023

Lavender is the perfect gift. Stay tuned.

11/02/2023

Resting up on a bale of straw in the dahlia field after pulling the last 100 stakes. Lucky the rain has held off while we worked. And the sun is even shining!

11/02/2023

Four rows down, two to go. Carol has done the heavy lifting on this part of the project. Yesterday she had 10,336 steps up and down the rows. It's looking like it's clearing after the rain and we may even get finished today. Well, one row at least.

10/31/2023

Shades of Halloween. Heaps of melting dahlia stalks on the edges. Thanks to our son Luke’s help. Bruce and I have another 4 long rows left to put to bed. Hopefully, it won’t be wet work! 🌧

10/29/2023

What a difference a week makes. As you can see, dahlias pretty much melt when they freeze. But it's good for the plant, it sends a signal to the tubers to get ready for winter and their skins get a bit thicker. It's a process, cutting the strings that tied them up, cutting the stalks at the ground, hauling the tops to the compost. Our son, Luke, helps with the heavy work of cutting while Carol and I cut the strings and haul them away. The next step will be double checking our tags and pulling the posts.

10/26/2023

That's a wrap!

10/24/2023

------ FREE FLOWERS ------ So the dahlias will be frozen tonight. It was a good run this season, and we expect even better next year. We are grateful to all you folks that stopped by the roadsind stand and bought blooms. As we prepare for the inevitable frost, we are walking through the patch and cutting what we can. They are free for the taking by the flower stand. Thank you all!

10/23/2023

So we are busy preparing for the next season. We are still getting a few blooms, but not enough to take to the farm stand. We did manage to cut some nice specimens of BloomQuist Jean, which is by far this season's most popular dahlia in the dahlia society shows and farm stands around the country. Those went to the post office, bank, etc. for folks to enjoy. The last photo is a tray of Bloomquist Jean pot tubers, a valuable bit of real estate in the dahlia world. There are 18 sturdy plants in each tray. These will be sold this spring.

10/15/2023

Today (Sunday, Oct. 15) is our last day for dahlias in the farm stand. It feels a bit sad as we truly enjoy sharing the blooms with folks. And while there are still some blooms in the field because we have missed the early frosts, we need time to get the farm ready for next year and to gear up lavender sales for the holidays. We have a great crop of lavender buds and essential oil that will make great holiday gifts. If you have a special event that calls for dahlias and it hasn't frosted yet, call and leave a message at (360) 200-5571. We will do our best to accommodate you.

10/14/2023

Out here on River Road, we’ve had front-row seats to the eclipse. Confused, the birds stopped singing and the dahlias reverted to their night-time closing. Neighbors joined the party. We shared the eclipse glasses our daughter bought us, and small colander gave us the effect of hundreds of pin-hole cameras. The birds are singinging again with the return of an almost-full sun. The dahlias in the full farm stand are bright and beautiful.

10/13/2023

Wonderful interactions as I finished adding dahlias to the farm stand this morning. The first with a young artist, a recent arrival to Sequim who loves drawing dahlias. Then came several sweet elders. Each car parked next to the stand so I could help. I like helping, holding up dahlias to choose, making people happy. Makes me happy too.

10/12/2023

Sun’s back! So thankful for our rain though.

10/11/2023

It's nippy and a bit wet this morning. Carol has been working in the greenhouse trying to undo the mess I have made of it over the summer. I am perhaps a bit too casual 🙂. But this bit of rain isn't keeping her out of the dahlia field. We are going to keep cutting through this weekend. That is to say, Carol will keep cutting, while I work my way through the last of the lavender.

10/10/2023

It ain’t over yet! Lots of bright colors, especially the ball dahlias. Of all the forms, balls outshine the rest late in the season. Weather permitting, we could see some buds finish opening on the others.

10/09/2023

I am pretty sure there are dozens of songs about dreary Mondays. At least, 60s era songs. But dahlias will brighten any dreary day.

10/08/2023

Well, yesterday was a beauty for sure. Today, maybe not so much. But Carol cut some nice dahlias. And this one curious specimen. I'll skip posting a bunch of photos, but I thought this one was sort of appropriate in these times. Don't let gray skies get you down. Just lift your head up and get on with it.

10/07/2023

And it's another perfect fall day. The dahlias are loving the sun. As the days get shorter, the dahlias are feeling their need to procreate and the blooms are tending towards open centers so they can be pollinated. It's not our favorite look for a dahlia bloom, but it's the nature of nature, and that's beautiful. We are thinking we have about a week left.

10/06/2023

It's a beautiful fall day. Were this forty years ago when we grew apples, we would call it a perfect pick-your-own day. No apples for us now, but we do grow dahlias and lavender. Carol made some great selections this morning.

10/04/2023

Lots of dahlia photos to share today. I walked all around the field capturing images of blooms on all of the plants. I was really focusing on the dahlia form, and their petals. Enjoy the walk; I’ve spared you the wet feet!

10/03/2023

That seemed like real rain last night. And it left the dahlia patch full of sparkles.

10/02/2023

There is nothing like an overcast and damp Monday. But our dahlias don't seem to mind. And for that matter, Carol seems to be OK with it too. We have a very nice cut today, along with some nice mini-arrangements from a few of our smaller dahlias.

10/01/2023

I knew the bright moon and starry skies this morning meant a chilly start. It was. The wet dahlia stems were so cold I kept checking for frost. Just cold, but it is the first day of October, and our dahlia days are numbered. The dahlia blooms are slow to open now. But I found several nice Bloomquist Jeans and Hart’s Bonnies as I started cutting. Still, the rest of the cut today was light, but gives contrasting colors and accents to the showy dahlias. Today promises to be a perfect fall day, good for hiking the trails in the DNR land next door, stopping for some dahlias on the way back.

09/30/2023

It's a perfect day, crisply cool and a blue sky. The chamber of commerce will be beside themselves 🙂. Carol is cutting some very nice dahlias, and she made a special bouquet this morning (we usually don't make floral arrangements, but this was special). And she has been saving some excellent dahlias for the weekend. There are plenty of blooms, sold by the stem for making your own bouquets, on this beautiful Saturday. 1364 River Road.

09/29/2023

Let's hope this was the last cold night. Some folks had temperatures as low as 34F here in Sequim. The dahlias are fine. In fact their colors tend to be a bit more intense in cool weather. But we have to find Carol's gloves. We are here every day until a hard frost.

09/28/2023

An enormous Mary P dahlia stood in the gallery display at the back of the farm stand for a week. That was it. She was shedding her petals this morning, which started the autumn display out on the table. I have started dressing for fall, adding a wool sweater layer to my cutting uniform after chilly winds in a rain-soaked dahlia field this week. The dahlias are changing with the weather too, with bolder colors. Feels a bit warmer today though, cloudy with no wind or rain. But the clouds did block the rainbow our daughter saw to the west on Lewis Rd. Just clouds is okay though. The dahlias always look brighter without the sun. And today’s cut certainly brightened my day!

09/27/2023

It's a bit on the cloudy side and may even rain a little later today. But Carol cut some great dahlias this morning. Though I am surprised she didn't cut that giant red dahlia still in the field. Mix and Match, sort of a salad bar of blooms. 1364 River Road.

09/26/2023

Welcomed to a rain-splashed dahlia field bathed in soft sunlight this morning. Calm after our wind storm. I worked my way side-to-side, adding dahlias to the buckets in my wagon, moving toward the end, and the farm stand. The load of blooms just fit inside. I was just finishing when a young farmer and her toddler walked up, looking for dahlias for her mom. Made me think of yesterday’s celebration of daughters. Two men stopped next, buying dahlias for their wives. Another man came to buy dahlias for his co-workers. There’s something about dahlias ….

09/25/2023

That was a merciless wind that battered the dahlias yesterday! A quick status-check this morning, however, and all is well. But I was sure worried yesterday when I barely kept my hat on despite the chin strap. I threw an extra twine-wrap around my fave dahlias. And actually cut our big red balls that were growing on a seven-foot plant. All that fretting, and no need to worry this morning. A calm, even warmer Monday. The dahlias look great! We do need to take a day to walk the dahlia field to dead-head spent blooms and disbud again. The farm stand will stay closed today, but open as usual tomorrow morning.

09/24/2023

Clear skies, Venus shining brightly, and 40 degrees at 6:00. Fog rising with the sun. Cutting cold, wet dahlias again! But the droplets and beads on them adds another layer of beauty. Lots of photos before I finally got back to cutting and bringing them to the farm stand.

09/23/2023

The sun made a brief appearance before the clouds turned the sky gray. But autumn colors in the dahlia field made up for it. Bloomquist Jean’s orange orb stopped me first, and I put her in my cutting wagon. The ball dahlias were hard to resist. I kept cutting lots of orange, yellow, purple, red, and hues in between. I took a moment to check on Crève Coeur’s progress in the second row. She’s stretching! I found plenty of yellow Hart’s Bonnie with her red-lined petals. And an enormous Vassio Maggos with her lavender-pink petals swooping behind her. My wagon was stuffed when I made it to the farm stand. Ready to take home!

09/22/2023

Sunny this morning, but long sleeves for sure. Plenty of dahlias.

09/21/2023

The morning sun often makes it difficult to get good photos from the roadside stand, but these turned out ok today.

09/20/2023

Carol had a beautiful cut this morning. And yes, it's wet in the field. It was a proper rain at last. And for what it's worth, we didn't lose any blooms to the wind and rain. I managed to get them all tied before it started. This was the fourth tie. It's a bit of a pain, but that's what it takes. We w**d them, pinch the buds to help make these wonderful stems, and tie them to the stakes as they grow. For every bloom we cut, we have removed five to seven buds to let it grow to the best it can be. It's worth the effort.

09/19/2023

Carol is skilled in many arts, but what she does with this field of dahlias is the best.

09/18/2023

We cut our Crève Coeur dahlia today. I hate to see it go, but there’s another big, open bud and several tight buds coming.

09/18/2023

Gusty winds through the night and today too. It’s a good thing Bruce tied the new growth on the dahlia plants to their posts yesterday. Some of the blooms are quite large with long stems. The big red at the end of today’s photo stream is a true dinner plate size. But we’ve helped it grow a sturdy stem. It was the first to get tied yesterday. Our efforts paid off! We just had a few of the big balls hanging upside down this morning. Plenty to pick, and the farm stand is loaded today.

09/17/2023

No smoke today! Though we did have some ash on the dahlias this morning. But no harm. I had to go looking for Carol as she was in the field longer than usual. And I see why; it's a remarkable cut today.

Address

1364 River Road
Sequim, WA
98382

Telephone

+18008601420

Website

http://riverroadflowerfarm.com/

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Videos

Trying to figure out how "reels" work.

We are from Ohio and when they call for a storm there, you better have your dahlias well tied to their stakes. So we scurried this past week and tied the dahlia patch for the third time. And they fared well overnight, though I hardly call that quarter inch or so a storm. But we need the rain. Carol made some great cuts this morning.

Cool breezes and a clearing sky is setting us up for a perfect week. We are starting to have a heavier harvest every day, and this morning was no exception. 1364 River Road, make your own bouquet.