Flutterby Flower Farm

09/05/2024

We do not anticipate having any pop-up sales this spring. The daffodils bloomed earlier than usual this year, and the timing was such that we were unable to harvest them before heavy rains which made them unusable for bouquets.

While we are certainly as busy as ever during our "retirement," it is rather strange not to be monitoring the weather for harvesting windows or potential frost risks. It's also lovely to just be able to wander in our growing areas with perennial blooms and to marvel at their beauty without assessing if they are suitable quality for bouquets!

There's a possibility we will have other opportunities for pop-up sales with some of our perennials later on in the summer. If we do have a pop-up sale, we’ll email communications to our distribution list and post on our page and the Flutterby Flower Farm website. We anticipate closing down our website, page, and Flutterby email by the end of August.

We've noticed a few new local cut flower farm/bouquet CSAs and encourage you to check them out if you have not already!

Wishing you a wonderful summer!

31/10/2023

Happy Halloween!
(keep volume off unless you want to hear noisy road work!)

28/10/2023

The photo is a few years old, but the Little Free Library FB page featured Flutterby Flower Farm's Little Free Library today. See comment sections for photo of what it looks like today, in its Halloween glory!

The Library of the Day is Little Free Library #92160 in Northfield, MN! This gorgeous library is a replica of the farmhouse behind it, originally built in 1883 by New England settlers! Find it on our world map: https://bit.ly/3HLPMPV

28/09/2023

Today were the final bouquet deliveries and pick-ups of our fifth flower subscription season. As you may have heard, we are retiring from our bouquet subscription service so that we can focus on completing the renovation of our home, which is the project that enticed us to move to Northfield more than 8 years ago.

Depending on our schedule next spring and summer, we may have pop-up sales when our many perennials bloom: spring daffodils, early summer peonies & delphiniums, mid-summer Roselilies, and more. We’ll email communications and post on this FB page and the Flutterby Flower Farm web site if and when we have such sales.

Some of you may also know that Sara offers pet/house-sitting and dog-walking services year-round. She’ll continue to be available during renovations work. Contact her through text/phone at 763-213-2002 or email at: [email protected].

Wishing you a wonderful autumn and winter!

Sara Payne and Erik Wardenaar, Flutterby Flower Farmers/Florists

01/09/2023

ONLINE PRE-ORDER ONLY LISIANTHUS SALE with pick-up tomorrow, Friday, 9/1, 4-7 PM if order by 9/1, 1 PM. Saturday, 9/1, 9 AM - 1 PM pick-up if order by tomorrow, Friday, 9/1, 10 PM. Paper-wrapped bunches of lisianthus, mini-bouquet bloemetjes and paper-wrapped mixed bouquets. Don't miss the opportunity to buy freshly harvested, locally, sustainably and organically grown flowers! Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. Hope to see you there! https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

26/08/2023

REMINDER: We're having another LISIANTHUS POP-UP SALE tomorrow, SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 11 AM to 5 PM. In addition to paper-wrapped bunches of lisianthus and our mini-bouquet bloemetjes, we will have a limited number of paper-wrapped mixed bouquets (see photo on right below). Our season ends in just 5 weeks (and then we are retiring from flower farming!), so don't miss the opportunity to buy freshly harvested, locally, sustainably and organically grown flowers! Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. Hope to see you there! https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

23/08/2023

We're having another LISIANTHUS POP-UP SALE this coming SUNDAY, AUGUST 27, 11 AM to 5 PM. Our season ends in just 5 weeks (and then we are retiring from flower farming!), so don't miss the opportunity to buy freshly harvested, locally, sustainably and organically grown flowers! There will be paper-wrapped lisianthus bunches of various sizes and our Bloemetje mini bouquets, and maybe a few other surprise blooms. There is an online pre-order option that's not required but highly recommended to save you time and to make sure we have what you want when you stop by. Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. Hope to see you there! https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

22/08/2023

Found a lisianthus admirer while harvesting today!

21/08/2023

Thanks for a nice lisianthus sale today! We may have another one next weekend, weather permitting.

19/08/2023

We're having a LISIANTHUS POP-UP SALE on SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 11 AM to 5 PM. There will be paper-wrapped lisianthus bunches of various sizes and our Bloemetje mini bouquets. There is an online pre-order option. It is not required but highly recommended to save you time and to make sure we have what you want when you stop by. Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

26/06/2023

It was a lovely peony season this year!

15/06/2023

The air was incredibly smokey yesterday and not much better today at Flutterby Flower Farm due to the forest fires in the Boundary Waters and in Canada. Our son took this drone footage starting at the farm and showing the skies around Northfield on the afternoon of June 14. Looking forward to some clearer air soon!

04/06/2023

It's always a little sad when tulips are done for the season, but it is fun to rediscover each year the perennials that make lovely bouquets long before any annual flowers are ready to harvest. This week's bouquets have peonies, zizia, baptisia, alliums, geum, bush clematis, nepeta and more. And the oriental poppies, "Beauty of Livermere" are peaking along our front walk. We love them and enjoy their glorious red even though they are not suitable as cut flowers.

27/05/2023

We're having a SPECIALTY TULIP POP-UP SALE on SUNDAY, MAY 28, 10 AM to 4 PM. There will be paper-wrapped tulips of various sizes (some wrapped in St. Olaf College colors in celebration of CLASS OF 2023!) and our Bloemetje mini bouquets of spring flowers. There is an online pre-order option. It is not required but highly recommended to save you time and to make sure we have what you want when you stop by. Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. We also have a limited number of bouquet subscriptions (our flower CSA) still available for our Summer and Late/Summer Fall Blooming Periods. They make wonderful gifts for others and treats for yourselves! More details available on the Pop-Up Sale and subscriptions at our website: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

18/05/2023

We're having a SPECIALTY TULIP POP-UP SALE on SUNDAY, MAY 21, 11 AM to 4 PM. There will be paper-wrapped tulips of various sizes and our Bloemetje mini bouquets of spring flowers. There is an online pre-order option. It is not required but highly recommended to save you time and to make sure we have what you want when you stop by. Details on the flower options, prices, and ordering process are all on our website. We also have a limited number of bouquet subscriptions (our flower CSA) still available for our Summer and Late/Summer Fall Blooming Periods. They make wonderful gifts for others and treats for yourselves! More details available on the Pop-Up Sale and subscriptions at our website: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

14/05/2023

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, everyone! Today we made 45 Bloemetjes and a couple of large bouquets of tulips and daffodils in time to deliver Mother's Day treats to Three Links Care Center residents--the first delivery to them of the 2023 season.

13/05/2023

UPDATE: 4 PM Saturday--Erik is enjoying being outside now that it is not raining, so we are still open if anyone still needs flowers. If you don't see anyone at the stand, just look for the guy in the Flutterby Flower Farm turquoise shirt weeding the front garden! We have plenty of tulips, daffodils, and bloemetjes! 708 St. Olaf Ave, Northfield.

13/05/2023

WE ARE OPEN IN SPITE OF THE WEATHER! Come on over to our Pre-Mother's Day Pop-Up Sale, 708 St. Olaf Ave., Northfield. We are open today (Sat. 5/13) until 4 PM. Specialty tulips, specialty daffodils, and bloemetjes (mini bouquets in a tiny milk bottle).

10/05/2023

Online pre-ordering is now open for Mother's Day Flowers! A limited number of specialty daffodil and specialty tulip Mother's Day Bouquets in a Vase can be ordered for Saturday or Sunday, May 13 & May 14, farm pick-up or local delivery. Ordering for Mother's Day Bouquets in a Vase closes on Friday, May 12 at 10 AM.

We are having a pop-up sale at the farm on Saturday, May 13 (weather permitting) with paper-wrapped specialty daffodils and specialty tulips, as well as Bloemetjes (mini bouquets). Online pre-ordering for pop-up sale items is available now until Friday, May 12, 10 PM. Orders must be picked up on Saturday, 5/13, between 11 AM-4 PM. All details and to pre-order, go to our website https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

07/05/2023

Some recent photos from our garden flowers--many of which do not make good cut flowers (too short in height, too short of a vase life, doesn't grow reliably, etc.) but are lovely to look at!

06/05/2023

Have you ever wondered how we manage to have a 22-week bouquet subscription CSA from what we grow on less than 1/2 acre? Our growing area isn't open to the public due to insurance restrictions and it doubling as our backyard, but here are photos of some of the growing area in the back. We have lots of raised beds for annuals (including tulips--cut flower farmers treat tulips as annuals) and incorporate most perennials in beds that are part of the landscape. It is intense, especially because many annuals (including tulips) require that their planting beds be rotated every year. It takes a lot of planning and some trial and error!

We often are asked if people can come take photos of our flowers in bloom. It might surprise you that we harvest most flowers (including tulips!) before they are fully open, and so our growing area never looks like the tulips on display at, for example, the U of M aboretum, the St. Paul Observatory, or, for that matter, at the Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. Our front gardens, from which we rarely harvest, are display gardens, and you can see a variety of flowers in full bloom there, many of which make poor cut flowers but look lovely in the garden. Feel free to take photos from the sidewalk.

30/04/2023

Mother's Day Flowers! Despite the chilly spring, we will have flowers this year for Mother's Day, May 14! We'll have a pop-up sale at the farm on Sat., May 13 (weather permitting) with preorders available for pick-up & local delivery on Sat. & Sun. May 13 & 14. A limited number of bouquet subscriptions are still available and make wonderful Mother's Day gifts. More details available on our website https://www.flutterbyflowers.com

11/04/2023

Our 2023 Flower Season Starts Soon! This will be our final subscription season before retirement.

We still have some CSA/Bouquet Subscriptions available. They make longlasting gifts for Mother's Day and other occasions. For complete info and to order, go to our website here: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com/2023-csasubscription-flower-service

If you are already enrolled in a 2023 subscription starting in May, we will be in touch the last week of April to confirm your start date. Now that the snow has melted, we can monitor our spring bulb growth. We hope the warmer temperatures will result in plenty of flowers by May 1 (and for Mother's Day), but it is entirely up to Mother Nature!

We look forward to many lovely tulips and daffodils in spring and a summer filled with a variety of seasonal blooms. It won't be long!

03/02/2023

There is still time to order for Valentine's Day! Gift subscriptions to our Northfield Area CSA/Bouquet Subscription bring weeks of beauty and cheer throughout the growing season. Order soon! Full details and order form are available on our website. www.flutterbyflowers.com
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19/01/2023

Valentine's Day is coming! Gift subscriptions to our Northfield Area CSA/Bouquet Subscription bring weeks of beauty and cheer throughout the growing season (and are a nice treat for yourself, too!). Flexible options with subscriptions from 2 to 22 bouquets. Full details and order form are available on our website. www.flutterbyflowers.com

22/12/2022

Gift bouquet subscriptions (with PDF electronic gift certificate) are still available in time for Christmas! Our 2023 Northfield Area CSA/Subscription Flower Service makes a wonderful, long-lasting gift for others and a special treat for yourself. We are selling at 2022 Season prices until January 1, 2023! Complete info and order online at our website here: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com/2023-csasubscription-flower-service

11/12/2022

Still looking for a special holiday gift? Our 2023 Northfield Area CSA/Subscription Flower Service makes a wonderful, long-lasting gift for others and a special treat for yourself. We are selling it at 2022 Season prices until January 1, 2023! Complete info and order online at our website here: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com/2023-csasubscription-flower-service

01/12/2022

We don't have flowers in winter but our Little Free Library is full of books and often has treats for visitors!

28/11/2022

Our 2023 Northfield Area CSA/Subscription Flower Service is now available to order at 2022 season prices through December 31, 2022. Prices will increase New Year's Day. Order as a wonderful, long-lasting gift for others and as a special treat for yourself! Gift certificates (electronic & paper) available. Order online and get full details at our website here: https://www.flutterbyflowers.com/2023-csasubscription-flower-service

06/08/2022

While it was a flutter of monarch butterflies among our flowers that inspired the name of our farm and our logo, we love all butterflies who visit our growing areas. This week we filmed an Eastern giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) enjoying our zinnias. It's the largest butterfly in North America north of Mexico. The wingspan is easily 6 inches. They are lovely!