PepperHarrow Feature in Midwest Living Magazine's Summer 2023 Issue

The Summer 2023 issue of Midwest Living Magazine is sure to captivate readers with its incredible imagery, featuring several unique places around the midwest, including a feature on our farm! The story of our magical flower farm unfolds throughout the feature with a brilliant weaving of storytelling by writer, Hannah Agran, complimented by the incredible artistry of photographer, Adam Albright. It even includes a a beautiful editor’s note from editor, Kylee Krizmanic, that tugs on our heartstrings!

Photo Courtesty of Midwest Living Magazine Photographer Adam Albright

Throughout this beautiful feature, you can see stunning blooms, picturesque landscapes, and the two flower farmers that bring it to life (that’s us!). PepperHarrow Flower Farm stands as a testament to resilience, and also for the beauty that can be cultivated in harmony with nature.

A BIG Dream Realized: PepperHarrow started as a labor of love. Our dream was to create a space where people could connect with nature, embrace its beauty, and take home a piece of the magic. With planning and unwavering grit and determination, we transformed our vision into a reality.

Photo Courtesty of Midwest Living Magazine Photographer Adam Albright

The farm offers an array of experiences for visitors, from strolling through the flower fields and hand-picking bouquets to attending workshops and events. PepperHarrow Flower Farm is not just a place to purchase flowers; it is an immersive journey into the world of floral artistry and all things flower related.

Photo Courtesty of Midwest Living Magazine Photographer Adam Albright

Community Engagement: We extend our impact beyond the farm’s property lines by actively engaging with our local community. We collaborate with nearby schools, Girl Scout troops, and others, organizing educational field trips to teach children about the wonders of nature and the importance of sustainable farming. By sharing our knowledge and passion, we try to inspire the next generation to become caretakers of the environment.

Whether you love flowers, are a nature lover, or simply seeking a moment of tranquility, our flower farm is a destination that should not be missed! Plan your visit to our little treasure of a farm and prepare to be enchanted by its boundless charm.

Photo Courtesty of Midwest Living Magazine Photographer Adam Albright

Ruffly Ranunculus Bloom Season: A Tapestry of Vibrant Colors

As the chill of winter gives way to the warmth of spring, nature unveils its breathtaking tapestry of vibrant colors. Amongst the many wonders of the season, the arrival of the ranunculus bloom season is one that we look forward to each and every year. These strong, soft looking blooms, with their captivating hues and delicate petals, bring a sense of joy and beauty to any garden or floral arrangement. In this blog post, we will share a little about the ranunculus we grew on the farm this season.

Curious about some of the specifics on ranunculus? Ranunculus, known as Ranunculus asiaticus, from its scientific name, belongs to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Native to Asia Minor and cultivated across the world, these beautiful flowers have become beloved for their striking appearance and strong vase life. Ranunculus blooms come in a mesmerizing array of colors, including shades of red, pink, orange, yellow, purple, and white. They typically have multiple layers of delicate petals, giving them a rosette-like appearance. In fact, we have many customers that often mistake them for cabbage roses.

Ranunculus flowers are cool-season plants, and their bloom season usually falls in late winter or early spring. They typically stop blooming when the soil temperatures hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The exact timing of the bloom season may vary depending on the climate and growing conditions in different regions.

To cultivate ranunculus, it's essential to provide them with the optimal growing conditions. These flowers thrive in cool temps, and well-draining soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH. They require a minimum of six hours of sunlight per day, although they appreciate some shade during the hottest parts of the day. Adequate watering is crucial, but care must be taken to avoid overwatering, as it can lead to rotting of the bulbs.

One of the best things about the ranunculus bloom season is the sheer beauty of their flowers. Each bloom is a mesmerizing work of art, with layers upon layers of delicate, crepe-paper-like petals. The texture and form of the petals give the flowers a soft and romantic appeal, reminiscent of peonies or roses. The ranunculus blooms' vibrant colors range from pastel shades that exude elegance and grace to bold and fiery hues that command attention.

Ranunculus flowers are not only visually stunning but also possess a delightful fragrance. Their subtle yet captivating scent adds an extra layer of charm to any garden or floral arrangement. Whether used as focal points in bouquets, mixed with other spring blooms, or showcased in a dedicated ranunculus garden, these flowers never fail to captivate the hearts of all who encounter them.

Beyond their visual allure, ranunculus flowers have acquired symbolic meanings over time. They are often associated with charm, radiance, and attractiveness, making them popular choices for wedding bouquets and romantic gestures. Ranunculus blooms also symbolize admiration and are believed to bring good fortune and prosperity. Their enduring beauty and delicate nature make them an ideal gift for loved ones or a charming addition to any occasion.

Can y’all see why ranunculus bloom season is so magical? Their captivating palette of colors, petals, and scent just cannot be rivaled. After last season, dealing with the tornado damage and cleanup, we didn’t have a great year growing them, but this year has made up for that 10 fold!

Spring Planning for the Flower Garden

Spring is the perfect time to start thinking about your flower garden. Whether you're an experienced gardener or just starting out, there are a few tips and tricks that can help ensure a successful, beautiful display, full of blooms all growing season long. Here are some spring flower garden tips to help you get started with a beautiful flower garden:

Choose the Right Plants: When selecting plants for your garden, it's important to choose ones that are well-suited for your climate and soil type. You can consult with your local nursery or gardening center for recommendations on plants that thrive in your area. Check out our flower, shrub, tree, and ground cover suggestions for each growing zone in our guest contribution for MarthaStewart.com. You can access it here!

Choose Easy to Grow Flowers: We love growing easy to grow flowers, because they give us high impact color and blooms for very little effort. These are also great to look at when you first start a grade, because they’ll help you to build confidence as you grow! Here’s some great ideas via our guest feature in MarthaStewart.com for 12 Easy Annuals for Beginner Gardeners.

Zinnias are Easy to Grow Flowers & attract butterflies at PepperHarrow Flower Farm

Prepare the Soil: Before planting, make sure to prepare the soil by adding compost or other organic matter to improve its texture and nutrient content. This will help your plants grow strong and healthy.

Water Wisely: It's important to water your plants regularly, but be careful not to overwater them. Too much water can lead to root rot and other issues. Check the soil moisture regularly and water as needed.

Provide Enough Sunlight: Most flowering plants require plenty of sunlight to thrive. Make sure to choose a spot in your garden that gets plenty of sunlight throughout the day. We recommend at least 6 hours of sun each day for a plant that requires full sun, part sun or also shade. For shade plants, they just really don’t like a lot of intense sun, dappled is best!

Deadhead Regularly: To encourage your plants to produce more blooms, it's important to deadhead them regularly. This involves removing spent flowers from the plant to promote new growth.

Protect from Pests: Unfortunately, pests and insects can be a problem in any garden. To protect your plants, consider using natural remedies like neem oil or companion planting with herbs like basil and mint, which can repel pests.

We hope these tips help you create a beautiful and thriving spring flower garden! If you need more flower garden inspiration, follow along with us on Instagram via pepperharrow_ or on Facebook: PepperHarrow. And let us know if you have any questions, by commenting below!

XX Jenn and Adam

The GREAT Tulip Harvest of 2023

The Great Tulip Harvest of 2023 at PepperHarrow Flower Farm is sure to go down in history as a remarkable achievement for our team. This year's harvest has been outstanding, with a bountiful crop of vibrant tulips that have delighted the senses and brought joy to all who have had the pleasure of experiencing them.

Growing in our indoor growing space, forcing our tulips through the coldest months, we took our first harvest of tulips for a special pop-up at Des Moines Mercantile at the beginning of April. It was amazing, and we were so humbled, to see the amount of local support for our local flower farm and small business! People came out in force to grab a tulip bouquet to add a sprinkle of joy to their day!

Below is a photo of how the bouquets turned out. We added a few sprigs of willow, which gave them an even prettier look. They sold out the quickest!

tulip Bouquets for pop-up at DSM Mercantile

Right behind out indoor grown tulips, the field grown tulips were ready about two weeks later. They ended up blooming about a week and a half earlier than we expected, because we had a few days in the 80’s (F). Way too warm for this time of year and it made them grow a little more quickly than they normally would have

Once we saw that a few of them were starting to show what we call ‘color crack’, we knew it was time to open our you-cut tulip bouquet experience to the public. It’s a popular on farm experience we get to offer in the spring for people to come out and pick their own tulip bouquet. As an extra benefit, we give them the option to take the bulbs home with them to plant as well. Everyone has an absolute blast!

We welcomed each guest and gave them the run down of how they can harvest tulips. Everyone loved idea of simply pulling them from the ground bulb and all, a fan favorite! There’s something pretty enjoyable about pulling tulips from the lose ground bulb and all!

Field grown tulips at pepperharrow flower farm for you-cut tulip bouquet experience

Once the you-cut tulip bouquet experience was over, we knew it was time to get ALL of the tulips out of the flower field as quickly as possible. The deer pressure is so incredible, we knew we couldn’t leave an ‘all you can eat skittle buffet’ for them. Lol!

When we were within an hour of our last guest arriving, we started pulling all of the tulips from the ground as quickly as possible. Two people = 2,000+ bulbs = 5 tractor loads of tulips into our cooler to give them nice chill time until we sell them in bouquets, which should happen over the next 2-3 weeks. It. Was. Incredible.

We stopped for a few minutes for Adam to capture this remarkable sight of one of our many tractor bucket harvests of tulips. It was a pretty cold night, but the sun was out and the sky looked incredible as the picture was being taken.

Tractor full of tulips harvested over the weekend

You can find these cheery, bold colors over the next few weeks at small retail shops of Des Moines Mercantile, Gateway Market, and for our appearance at the Des Moines’ Downtown Farmer’s Market over the next few weeks.

Reflecting on the Great Tulip Harvest of 2023, we’re left with a sense of pride and accomplishment. We’ve worked tirelessly to bring these beautiful flowers to life, and their hard work had paid off in spades.

For us, the success of this year's harvest was a testament to our love of tulips and our commitment to growing them. We are grateful to our customers for their support and appreciation of the farm's efforts.

Looking ahead to next year's harvest, the team at Pepperharrow Flower Farm is already planning and preparing for what promises to be another spectacular season. We are committed to continuing our tradition of excellence and to bringing the beauty and joy of tulips to as many people as possible.

Happy Growing!

XX Jenn and Adam

Unique and Unusual Flower Varieties to Try in Your Garden

We’re constantly looking to add interest and excitement to our growing practices and into the flower garden. We love planting unique and unusual flower varieties to experiment, try and see how flowers grow that we’ve never grown before. These flowers can add a touch of whimsy and beauty to the garden, and they are sure to be a conversation starter for any locally grown flower lovers!

Here are some unique and unusual flower variety ideas to try in your garden this year:

Black Flowers: All types of black flowers have been popular, because they’re so rare to find in nature. Some of our favorites are Black Night scabiosa, hellebore, dahlias, hollyhocks, iris and petunias, but there are so many different flowers to look at here. We especially love black hollyhocks, because we use them for botanical dyeing.

Double Petunias: These unusual flowers have all of the fragrance of a regular petunia, but they have so many more petals! They are a great choice for adding drama to your garden and are relatively easy to grow.

Blue poppies: These exotic-looking flowers are native to the Himalayas and are known for their bright blue petals. They can be a bit finicky to grow, but their striking appearance is well worth the effort. We first saw these at Longwood Gardens, outside of Philly. They took our breath away with their beauty! We were instantly hooked on trying to get them to grow at the farm.

Gloriosa lilies: These exotic-looking flowers have long, curling petals that come in shades of red, orange, and yellow. They are native to tropical regions and can be grown as annuals in cooler climates.

Flying saucers: This unusual flower is native to South Africa and is known for its unique, saucer-shaped blooms. The flying saucer flower comes in shades of pink, purple, and white and is a great choice for adding a touch of whimsy to your garden.

Linaria The flowers are small, delicate, and come in a range of colors, including pink, purple, yellow, white, and orange. The blooms are arranged in dense, spike-like racemes that rise above the plant's foliage.

Spider lilies: These unusual flowers have long, thin petals and a spidery appearance, hence their name. Spider lilies come in shades of white, pink, and red and are great for adding drama to your garden.

Moonflowers: These fragrant flowers are native to South America and are known for their large, white blooms that open at night. Moonflowers are a great choice for adding a touch of magic to your garden. We’ll talk more about these in a later post about planting a moon garden!

We hope this short list of cool and ‘weird’ flowers excite you to try some new varieties you may never have grown before. Each year we always add a variety or two that’s new and a bit more challenging. New varieties keep us excited as gardeners and plant lovers. Let us know in the comments below if you have any cool varieties we should try out!

XX Jenn and Adam