I love all the flowers.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

Fraces Hodgson Burnett
author of The Secret Garden

A Lifelong Love for Growing

Flowers have called to me my whole life. I have always been drawn to bold, saturated colors with green being the favorite, hands down. Add to that the the pure satisfaction I feel when I dig in the dirt - well that’s why I am now a flower farmer.

It’s not been a straight line. After college, I was spent three decades as a financial analyst and had great adventures in a few locations. I put down down figurative and literal roots in a number of cities as I moved along in my career. I made certain I always had at least a little piece of outdoor space - from a balcony in Charlotte to a backyard in Atlanta and then a deck in Manhattan. I was compelled to try to unlock both the art and science of cut flower gardening.

It was not without its challenges, key among them being the stubby conventional bedding plants found at most local and big box garden centers. I did not know where to find the luscious long-stem varieties I love. I tried growing from seed but let’s just say that I fell victim to misguided belief that I did not know grow lights or heat mats. I was beginning to lose hope.

A pivotal moment came when my dad, who grew up on a farm and who was a very skilled vegetable gardener, and my mom, a kindred spirit with a passion for cut flowers, gifted me a book titled "Cool Flowers." This literary gem became a catalyst for transformation in my life. In 2019/2020 it was finally go-time with the pandemic giving me a unexpected opportunity to be home for a significant amount of time. After a year of testing, I launched Tin Can Flowers in 2021.

Today, I live with my husband and two tweens/teens on a small plot of land, a stone’s throw from our nation’s capital. From mid-January through mid-December, I devote myself to producing cut flowers. This heartfelt pursuit that brings me sheer joy and fulfillment. I can confidently say that I've found my own slice of heaven amidst the blossoms and blooms.

Julie

One of our favorite tulips - Columbus which is a Double Early.

Grown with care.

On my little farm, there are typically several thousand plants in some stage growth.

It could be the 10,000 tulip bulbs or over 1000 hardy annuals I plant each Fall, or perhaps the tender annuals I begin to sow in February so I can plant out by May or maybe it is the 50 mums or 50 dahlia in the ground to produce Fall flower bunches?

I have hundreds of perennials that support these annuals including my workhorse rudbeckia/Black-eyed Susan plants that started from 3 wimpy plants over a decade ago.

The flowers have given me so much and so I grow them with care.