Ripley Farm’s 2013 CSA members can look forward to increased diversity in their weekly bouquets!  In order to have a good selection of flowers available for the whole 16 weeks of the CSA we grow both annual and perennial flowers.  In between the showers of the past week, we have been busy putting in over 20 additional varieties of perennial flowers in our CSA gardens near the pick-up area!  Luckily, the rain has ushered them in with a good start.

PYO organic flowers are exclusively for our CSA members!  From July-October, as a free bonus for participating in Ripley Farm’s subscription program we reward our members with several gardens stuffed full with seasonal flowers.  Grab some clippers and get creative and you’ll drive home with a bouquet like this one:

In addition to vegetables, Ripley Farm also grows and sells MOFGA certified organic perennial plants.  This year we are bolstering our CSA cut flower gardens with our own organic perennial plants that were started in 2012. 

Growing perennials from seed to flowers is actually a two year process.  Every spring we start them from seed in our greenhouse.  They grow on in the flats until they’re big enough to be transplanted out into our fields.  Here’s what Ripley Farm’s perennial seedlings look like:

Then, these little plants get put into our fields to grow big and strong throughout the summer and fall.  The plants will overwinter right in the ground until the following spring when we’ll dig them out.  This week we have been digging some of our second-year perennial plants that flower duing our CSA duration.  Here’s an overwintered balloon flower plant just dug up:

This week we transplanted in over 20 additional varieties of perennial cut flowers into our gardens for our CSA members to pick from.  Here’s Mary Margaret putting those plants into the CSA garden:

Come summer and fall, below is what our gardens look like when you come get your CSA shares.  We hope to have you join as a member!