Page 44 - Southern Oregon Magazine Summer 2019

neck of the woods | art

BOUQUETS OF

JOY

Flower growers in Southern Oregon

by lynn leissler
provided by ann nguyen, flora farm & zuzu’s petals

“The earth laughs in flowers.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

lowers make us smile, make us happy. They evoke memories and emo-
tions. We associate them with birth or death, weddings, various com-
Fmemorations, holidays and more. From a home garden to commercial
fields, from lush forests to mountain meadows, flowers abound. Even the
desert produces spring bloom, though less profusely than the jungle.

Can we imagine a world without them? Claude Monet, painter of flow-
ers certainly could not. “I must have flowers, always, and always,” he said.
Perhaps it is his subject as well as his talent that give his artwork its enduring
quality.

The majority of cut flowers purchased in our country are foreign grown.
However, we have a number of flower farms in the Rogue and Applegate
valleys (and beyond), a layer of specialized agriculture beyond beer, wine
and vegetables. This stunning bounty is generally available March through
November. Growers either have organic certification, or employ sustainable
practices.

A tour of a flower farm plays with all the senses—a gentle breeze brush-
ing your arm, the drone of diligent honeybees and the lilt of birdsong, the
fragrance and sight of flowers. While touring Stacey Denton’s Flora Farm in
Williams, she and I stopped to enjoy a sip of nectar from a Jerusalem sage
flower. Stacey proudly showed off fields of flowers, greenhouses and her
newly fashioned design studio for arranging. She has about an acre to grow
her flowers, although she shares a second field with her partner Don Tipping
at Seven Seeds Farm. Don harvests for Siskiyou Seeds, his bioregional seed
company. When Stacey isn’t harvesting, she’s designing flower arrangements
for weddings and event clientele, transplanting, weeding, processing flower
seeds or drying flowers, or planning for the next season.

Flora Farm recently hosted a Seed to Vase…to Table Dinner, featuring a
tour, flowers, flower-arranging demonstrations, and flowers-centric artisan,
foods and beverages. Check the Our Family Farms website for upcoming

42 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2019