A Look at January on the Farm
We hope your 2025 is off to a great start! After some much-needed rest with friends and family, we're back at it, ready for the exciting year ahead.
This time of year, crop planning and seed starting take center stage. Still, I've learned to pace myself—otherwise, I end up planning for double the space we have! So, I'm also clearing closets and attic spaces, tackling tasks we don't have time for once the season ramps up.
Outside
Things are quiet in the field now, at least above ground. Underground, the root systems are extending and strengthening. Even above ground, in the hoop house, we’re seeing buds form on the poppies and blooms on the pansies. The lone bloomers outside are the hellebores and they are a welcome sight.
Despite the record cold we’re experiencing this week, it won’t be long until we see the early bloomers. The Persephone period, when daylight lasts fewer than 10 hours and plant growth slows, ended for us on January 6th. With more light and warmth coming, the early bloomers will soon make their debut. We can't wait!
Inside
Farmhouse repairs are progressing after a water pipe burst last fall. With plumbing, drywall, and flooring replaced, we're adding a new back door and bathroom vanity top next. Painting and final plumbing are next, and we're optimistic about finishing before flower season gets busy.
Bouquet Subscription Season is Coming Up!
Looking for a Valentine’s Day gift or a little joy for yourself? A bouquet subscription might be just the thing! New this year, we’re offering Friday pick-ups at Molly Creek Company in Ridgeway.
We look forward to serving you in 2025.
Best,
Linda
Our 2025 Bouquet Subscriptions: Fresh Flowers Delivered to Your Door
Looking to brighten your week? Our farm-fresh bouquet subscription delivers vibrant, seasonal blooms right to your doorstep. Choose from weekly or bi-weekly deliveries throughout the season, and enjoy the beauty of locally grown, handpicked flowers. Select Tuesday or Friday as your preferred delivery day, and receive a thoughtfully curated bouquet featuring the best of our harvest.
How It Works We make it easy and contactless: simply leave a vase or a bucket of fresh water outside, and we’ll take care of the rest, delivering your flowers right to your door. Each bouquet is unique, as we choose the best available flowers for the season, so you can look forward to something new with every delivery.
Perfect for Gifting Looking for the ideal gift? A bouquet subscription is a thoughtful and ongoing present. When you order as a gift, just provide the recipient's name and delivery address within our service area. Let us know in the comments if you'd like us to announce your gift via email, or if you'd prefer to let the recipient know personally.
Flexible Scheduling Worried about missing a delivery while on vacation? No problem! We can easily reschedule your deliveries to accommodate your schedule. Your satisfaction is our priority, and we guarantee it!
Service Areas We offer delivery to the following zip codes: 29201, 29204, 29205, 29206, 29209, 29016, 29045, 29169, 29223, 29229.
Are You in the Ridgeway Area?
We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with The Molly Creek Company! As a small farm, we’ve had some limitations on where we can deliver, but thanks to this collaboration, we’re excited to expand our reach. Starting with our 2025 subscriptions, you can now sign up for a Friday bouquet subscription and pick up your flowers at The Molly Creek Company.
Molly Creek Company will be opening in January 2025 at 1051 Hwy 21 South in Ridgeway, 29130, just 5 miles north of Blythewood. They’ll be open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, giving you plenty of time to visit before we begin deliveries in March!
While you’re there, be sure to explore a fantastic selection of locally made products, including food, art, refinished furniture, and the amazing Molly Creek soaps. Don’t forget to follow @MollyCreekCompany2025 on Instagram for updates on their progress as they prepare to open!
Limited Availability Our subscriptions are available in limited quantities and may sell out for the season. Be sure to place your order soon before they're gone. We also reserve the right to limit deliveries to certain areas.
Click the link for more information and to sign up : Subscription Information
Last Call for Holiday Bulbs!
We still have a few amaryllis and paperwhites available for you on our website. Our last pick up date is Friday, 12/14. Our final delivery date is Tuesday, 12/19/24.
Thank you so much to all of you who have supported our farm in some way this year. We are grateful for your interest in our flowers. We look forward to more flower fun in 2025!
Wishing you a happy holiday season,
Linda
About our 2025 Subscriptions
For those of you who are familiar with out bouquet subscription service, the 2025 subscriptions are available to order here. Thank you all so much for allowing us to bring farm fresh flowers to you!
For those who may not be familiar with this service, here is the scoop:
Enjoy Fresh, Seasonal Blooms Delivered to Your Door!
Imagine having farm-fresh, hand-picked flowers brightening your home every week or bi-weekly throughout three seasons. With our flower subscription, you can enjoy the best of each harvest in beautifully crafted bouquets, delivered contact-free right to your doorstep!
A Perfect Gift
Looking for a thoughtful gift? Our flower subscriptions are a lovely, lasting way to show someone you care. Gift Subscription Order: Place the order and provide the recipient's name and address (within our service area). Let us know in the comments if you’ll be notifying them or if you’d like us to share the news with a special email announcement.
Seasonal Offerings
Early Spring Blooms
Our Early Spring offering includes an enchanting mix of tulips, anemones, ranunculus, hellebores, and hardy annuals like nigella, bachelor buttons, agrostemma, and orlaya. These vibrant blooms mark the start of the season, which begins on or near March 1 and runs through April 30. (Mother Nature has the final word on the start date!)
Spring to Summer Blooms
Our Spring to Summer offering transitions to a stunning array of heat-loving blooms, including lisianthus, sunflowers, zinnias, calla lilies, and more. This season begins on or after May 2 and extends through June.
Late Summer to Fall Blooms
Celebrate the changing season with our Late Summer to Fall offering, which brings you the vibrant colors of fall. This season’s bouquets feature dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds, and more, with late-season heirloom mums adding a pop of color and elegance to each arrangement. With a dahlia’s 4-5 day vase life, a weekly delivery will keep your home full of fresh beauty all season long. This season runs from mid-August to mid-October, with no deliveries on Labor Day weekend (August 29 and September 2).
Subscription Options
Choose between Tuesday or Friday delivery, and select either a 4-week subscription (biweekly) or an 8-week subscription:
4 Weeks: $180
8 Weeks: $320
Flexible Scheduling
Planning a vacation? No worries – we’re happy to adjust deliveries around your schedule, and customer satisfaction is guaranteed!
Service Availability
Our delivery area includes the following zip codes: 29201, 29204, 29205, 29206, 29209, 29016, 29045, 29169, 29223, and 29229.
Please note, subscriptions are limited and will close once we’re sold out for the season. We may also reserve the right to decline certain delivery locations.
Order now to secure your spot and enjoy the best flowers of each season, delivered right to you!
Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season,
Linda
Easing into Fall
We’ve enjoyed some time off in July, alternating days of rest with days of planting for fall. We’ve had nearly 12 inches of rain on the farm in July – a welcome change from June. It is especially helpful for the new plantings. We’re looking forward to the days ahead with cooler temperatures and an abundance of flowers. For fall, we’ve been planting dahlias, zinnias, celosia, yarrow, snapdragons, callas, sunflowers and heirloom chrysanthemums.
Fall Wreath Workshops
Now that August has arrived, we are opening registration for our fall wreath workshops. Grab a friend and join us for a fun workshop at Purple Tuteur Farm. In this 2-hour session, we will talk about the basics of drying flowers and we will help you build your own custom dried flower wreath. If you would like to do this class for your private group of 8 or more, please send your request to purpletuteur@gmail.com and we will try to accommodate! Here’s the link: https://www.purpletuteur.com/classes
Fall Subscriptions
Our next subscription season will begin in late August. If you have signed up, we will be getting in touch closer to the first delivery day to verify schedules. We still have a few spots open if you are interested. Sign up here: https://www.purpletuteur.com/wwwpurpletuteurcom/new-products-1/fresh-cut-flower-bouquet-drop-off-service/late-summer-to-fall
We hope that you are enjoying the last days before school starts!
Best,
Linda
April On The Farm
We have been delivering our subscriptions for 5 weeks now and people who are unfamiliar with our services are always surprised to hear that we have flowers this early. Most of what is blooming now and in the next month or so is prepared in the fall. It is a more challenging way to grow, especially when we have late frosts or freezes, but worth it for the early blooms. There have been years when we lost crops to the late cold. We always plant extra in anticipation of a weather event.
This year, we have had a mild winter, meaning we haven’t had any severe cold snaps that can kill our crops. 4/15 is considered our last frost date. These dates are determined by historical records kept by NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). NOAA uses 30 years of historical data to project the last frost date in the spring and the first frost date in the fall. There is more to it, but not for today. We are just celebrating the fact that the forecast looks great for this week and frosty weather appears to be over!
Colibri Poppies
I got a question about the poppies in the subscription bouquets, so others may also be wondering too.
These are a type of Icelandic poppy, bred in Italy. We use a pastel mix for our early spring bouquets. It does come in a few brighter colors too. They need cold weather to grow, so we will probably only have them for another couple of weeks. You can see them in a few forms in our subscription bouquets. The flower forms in a pod and when it is ready to bloom, the pod cracks and falls off. We generally put them in bouquets at the cracked pod stage or when they have just opened.
Subscription Flowers for May and June
We’re just a couple of weeks away from wrapping this subscription season up. Then we’re on to the Spring to Early Summer season, which starts in early May. There is still time to sign up if you want to give this a try or add another season to your home deliveries. These also make great gifts, so if you are stumped for a Mother’s Day gift, a subscription could be the answer you are looking for. To find out more and to sign up, follow this link to our website.
https://www.purpletuteur.com/subscription-information
Ag and Art
Thank you for being part of our community. I hope you have marked June 8th and 9th on your calendars to come see the farm. That is the Richland County Ag&Art Tour weekend and we are a host farm for the event. The event is free to the public and lots of fun. We would love to see you! Hours are 9 am to 4 pm both days. More information here : https://www.agandarttour.com/richland
Best,
Linda
Bouquet Subscriptions for 2024
The 2024 subscription shop is open
Have farm-fresh cut flower bouquets delivered to your door weekly, or bi-weekly. Choose from three seasons or sign up for all three!
Early Spring – March and April deliveries
Spring to Summer – May and June deliveries (No deliveries June 7th or 11th – come see us during the Richland county Ag+Art Tour on Saturday June 8th)
Late Summer to Fall – Mid- August to mid-October (No deliveries August 30th or September 3rd, Labor Day Weekend)
We use a contactless delivery approach. Please leave a vase or a bucket of fresh water out for us and we will leave your flowers there for you. Flowers vary with each delivery. We pick the best of the harvest to include in your bouquets.
Subscriptions also make a great gift. We offer two ways to give a gift subscription:
Order the subscription directly. When ordering as a gift, simply provide the delivery name and address within our service area that you want us to use. In the comments, please let us know if you will let the recipient know or if you would like us to announce your gift via email.
Order an e-gift card. This allows the recipient to decide on the details when they use the gift card to purchase a subscription. Gift cards are good for the year of purchase only.
We can schedule deliveries around vacations-no problem. Customer satisfaction is fully guaranteed.
This service is available in the following zip codes: 29201, 29204, 29205,29206,29209, 29016, 29045, 29169, 29223, 29229
A limited number of subscriptions are available. Subscriptions are closed when sold-out for the season.
Holiday Bulbs and Greens - Last Call!
Many thanks to those of you who came out to our open house last weekend. It was fun to meet some of our followers face to face for the first time and to see old friends too.
If you couldn’t make it, we will be at the Christkindl Market at Doko Meadows on Saturday, December 9th with amaryllis, paperwhites and greenery bouquets. This is a really big market with lots of local makers. Don’t miss it!
Christkindl Market
Saturday, December 9, 2023
10:00am-7:00pm
Doko Meadows Park, 171 Langford Rd, Blythewood, SC 29016, USA
Join us for our 2nd Annual Christkindl Market in conjunction with the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce!
Live Nativity Scene
Arts & Crafts Vendors
Seasonal Baked Goods
Gluhwein and Beirgarten
Food Trucks
Santa Land
That’s it for now! We hope that you are blessed with a joyful holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Linda
Here Comes Spring!
With the unusually warm weather we’ve been having, some flowers started to bloom earlier than normal, giving us a welcome jumpstart into spring. We started our Early Spring subscription deliveries the last week of February which is a week ahead of plan. Mother Nature has her reasons.
We’re busy getting the last of our winter projects done so that as the volume of flowers increases, we can stay focused on getting the flowers out of the field and into your hands.
This winter we did a lot of maintenance on the raised beds, added a new peony bed (more on that in a future post) and prepared some new beds for new plantings. We divided our Tuberose and dahlia tubers. We expect to have some of these tubers available in our summer bulb sale, a new offering for us. Date is still tbd, but we will mention it in this newsletter first.
On the farm Tulips, Poppies, Anemone, Ranunculus, Hellebore, Delphinium and Narcissus are in bloom. The hardy annuals are also on the verge. The peonies won’t be far behind!
If you didn’t get signed up for our Early Spring subscription, we still have space available in our Spring to Summer and Summer to Fall offerings. You can sign up on our website. If you don’t like the internet world and would rather not order that way, contact me and we will work it out.
Amaryllis Care
Not sure what to do with your Amaryllis after it has bloomed? Keep it going with light watering until September. Check out this blog post for what to do to get it to bloom again. https://www.purpletuteur.com/blog/2021/9/10/want-your-amaryllis-to-bloom-for-the-holidays-easy-as-123
Anemones and Ranunculus Harvesting Tips
For those growing anemone and/or ranunculus corms, if you got them planted by November, you should be seeing growth now. (If you didn’t get them in the ground, you can keep them in the paper bag on a closet shelf until next November. They will hold if they are kept dry and cool.
Anemones tend to come up first. The first stems are short and they get longer with each cutting. The flowers open during the day and close at night. They need to do this a few times before they are ready to harvest. The best time to cut them is when the collar, which is just below the bloom, moves about an inch away from the bloom.
Ranunculus also start a bit short and get taller as the season progresses. They should be harvested (ideally) when the bud is colored and soft as a marshmallow.
That’s it for now! We continue to be grateful to all of you for your support of our small farm. We couldn’t do it without you. We look forward to bringing you bundles of joy (the kind that don’t need college tuition) through out the year. Many many thanks.
The Start of a New Year - The Subscription Shop is Open!
I hope that your 2022 has gotten off to a good and happy start. We have been enjoying some time with friends and family while the growing is slow-going. For me, this is a time of reflection and for home projects that I don’t have time to do when the farm is in full swing.
Sign up at www.purpletuteur.com
We are ready to open the subscription shop for Early Spring and for Spring to Summer! Here is the link to the website: www.purpletuteur.com . I will make a public announcement a few days after this email goes out. This gives our subscribers an opportunity to sign up first.
Fall will be opened up in June. Thanks to all who made our first offering a success iin 2020.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet with several garden clubs and speak on various growing topics over the winter. It has been fun to meet some of you and others, and I look forward to meeting with two more groups in February. Its great to know that the love of gardening is alive and well here in the Midlands of South Carolina!
Thanks to all of you who supported our bulb sales in the fall. If you got your ranunculus and anemones into the ground in the fall, you should be seeing the early signs of blooms, if not flowers. Ours have both started but are growing slowly during these cold days.
Photo: Becky Haggard
I always enjoy the photos that you send to me of your amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs. It does my heart good to know that you are enjoying them. They are such a ray of sunshine while we are indoors. Our second-year bulbs are poised for the early spring subscriptions. I have been keeping them at 60F to keep them from blooming too early. It is time to turn the heat up to 70F so that they will have the temperatures they need to bloom.
We had such a warm fall that everything we planted to overwinter for spring has had a robust start. As a result, when the weather warms consistently, everything will pop! The extra green/larger plants make them more vulnerable to freezing so keeping them covered is critical. Our hoop house does the job for us.
The snow is a welcome sight for many of our cold-loving plants. We’re hoping this bodes well for great daffodils and peonies this year! We’ve added another 48 peonies this winter. It’s a big job to get them set up but we’ll be so glad to see them in bloom three years from now.
We will be a host farm again this year for the Richland County Ag+Art tour. This year, the dates are June 11th and 12th. This is our annual open house and it is free to the public so come on out!
Thanks so much for all you do to support our farm. We are truly blessed.
Linda
These are Amaryllis and Delphinium
Doubling up now since the season is changing and soon many new flowers will be showing up in the bouquets!
This is Amaryllis
Amaryllis is something that most of us are familiar with for the Christmas holidays. At that time of year, they are most often red, white or a combination of both. Beyond the traditional, amaryllis come in many colors and some alternative flower shapes as well. They make an excellent, long lasting cut flower.
We grow them just as you do for the holidays: indoors in a warm climate. See our blog post on how to grow them here. This year for bouquet season, we have used hot pink, white, burgundy and red striped varieties. They also come in green, orange and yellow. We will probably try some of those as well in the future!
This is Delphinium
Delphinium is actually a whole genus of plants but what we use specifically is the Guardian variety. The colors are gorgeous shades of blue and white. We grow these from plugs (baby plants grown in a greenhouse) since they are difficult to germinate. As they require cooler temperatures to grow well, we plant these in the fall. They overwinter in the garden and break out into bloom in early spring.
There are other great varieties to grow. Belladonna has more of a spray growth habit and is also nice for cutting. Pacific Giant is the same shape as the Guardian but much taller. These are well suited for the back of the garden border where they add height and drama. Probably too tall for bouquets.
In some areas delphiniums are perennial but we treat them as annuals since they typically can’t make it through our “famously hot” summers. They are repeat bloomers, so when you cut them, cut close to the ground. The stems start off a little short and get longer with each cutting.
Our spring season subscriptions are winding down. If you missed them and want farm fresh flowers delivered to your home or business we still have openings for our spring to summer subscriptions. For more information, see our website at : https://www.purpletuteur.com/subscription-information
Happy flowering,
Linda
This is Anemone
We are about a week away from getting enough blooms to begin delivery! Thanks to all who have signed up. We have just a couple of spots left for Friday delivery for the early spring season.
This is the first in a series of blogs introducing some of the flowers we grow.
Anemone (Anemone Coronaria) is a late winter/early spring bloomer for us in Columbia. The corms (bulbs) come in many colors and in single double flower forms. In addition to the longer stemmed varieties that we use for cut flowers, there are short-stemmed versions that are nice to have in the garden.
All types can survive our winters in the ground but the flowers don’t do well in the rain. If you don’t have time to be concerned about every bloom, you simply dead head those that have gotten wet. Otherwise, you can grow them under cover to protect them from our wet spring weather. Each plant will bloom several times while “in season”, so even if a flower gets drenched, all is not lost.
Anemone does best when the daytime temps are in the mid-60’s and the nights are in the 40’s. This translates to March for us. They will keep blooming until the daytime temps are consistently in the 70’s. After the heat comes on, they fade away until November or so. Then they green up and take up the sun until the March blooms.
There is a proper time to cut every flower in order to maximize its vase life. For Anemones, the right time is when the collar under the bloom is about a half an inch from the base of the bloom. They may wilt if you cut them sooner. When properly cut, they will last a good week in a vase.
If you are thinking that you knew of anemone as another flower, you are right. There is a shrub-like perennial called Japanese Anemone (Anemone hupehensis). The blooms look very similar to the bulb form but they bloom in a spray in the fall. This is why botanists revert to Latin names for flowers. Many common names apply to multiple plants but each has its own unique Latin name.
What do you think of this flower? Have you grown it? Is there another flower that you like to see this time of year?
I hope you are as excited for Spring as I am!
Best,
Linda
Fresh Flowers Delivered to Your Door
Our subscriptions shop is open! This year we are doubling down on our charge to get a little joy into your lives by offering 2 seasons of farm-fresh mixed bouquet flower subscriptions.
Early Spring
Season 1 is the Early Spring season. The Early Spring offering will begin February 23 and go through April 30th (OK, technically late winter- early spring). This is the season of tulips, anemone, ranunculus and the hardy annuals (bachelor buttons, nigella, orlaya to name a few). This is a 10-week window, which allows 9-week subscribers to miss a week if needed. (Note: we are getting closer to Valentine’s Day deliveries but won’t have enough blooms to start by then. A future goal!)
Spring to Summer
Season 2 is the Spring to Summer season, including late spring and early summer. This Spring to Summer offering includes lisianthus, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, lilies, dahlias and other heat loving flowers. The Warm Season begins on May 4th and continues through July 20th. This is a 12-week window to allow for some other events. First, we are proud to be part of the 2021 Ag + Art tour in Richland County. This will be held (tentatively) on June 11th and 12th so we won’t be delivering on June 10th or 14th. We hope you come and see us and tour the farm that weekend! Also, we will not be delivering flowers the Friday before July 4th or the Tuesday after since typically people get away that weekend.
We hope there is something for everyone in this offering! Please let your friends and neighbors know. Our mission is to spread as much joy as possible by delivering every beautiful bloom we grow.
On another note, many of you have been asking about the flowers in our bouquets so our blog updates this year will include features on the flowers that we grow.
Thank you as always for your continued support of our small farm. We are so blessed to be able to do what we do. While hard work, being surrounded by flowers on a daily basis keeps me smiling and happy. I hope that we will be able to open up the farm in the fall for flower arranging parties and growing classes so that you can spend some time with us in this cheerful atmosphere.
Wishing you many blessings and good health,
Linda