Planting Roots

The fall planted bulbs and roots are in the ground. The field is empty of last summer’s growth and the muscle tensing work for the season is over. It’s time to enjoy the warmth and slowed pace of a winter indoors.

This year I planted 10 new perennials on the farm. 10 different flowers and greenery that will grow and bloom year after year.

I planted daffodils for spring and delphiniums for summer, peonies for the in-between times when the days are warm but the nights are cold, solidago to carry the sun’s light into our homes,  mountain mint for summer fragrance, and ninebark for autumn colors.

And as these flowers and foliage grow every year they will bring with them familiarity. They will bring a knowledge of the seasons as they come into bloom. They will create a sense of place on this farm.

Growing up I never lived in one place for very long. My family moved every one to three years and so I learned to put my home into my belongings; my favorite stuffed animal, a shirt from an old elementary school, letters from a friend from a state I used to live in. 

These things became my home. 

But I craved a place where I knew the world around me and was known by the world around me.

So planting perennials feels like I’m putting myself into this soil, that I am rooting myself, my family, and farm in this ground. 

Planting perennials is a promise that I will be farming in three years' time when the peonies finally bloom, in 6 years when the hedgerows will be tall enough to protect the flowers from the wind, and in 10 years when the foot paths are well worn in the field. 

It is a promise that I will farm here for longer than I can imagine.

And these flowers will bloom every year. And they will become a part of our belonging.

They will hold for us the memories of where we were and what we were doing last year when they bloomed.

They will want us to ask ourselves where we might be next year when they bloom.

And every year we’ll be eager for them to bloom again. 

We will know them and they will know us. 

I want you to know you belong. You are seen. The flowers know you and love you. 

Your Flower Farmer,

Heather Griffiths