Central Oregonians love their seasonal blooms! Maybe it’s the lack of flowers in our freezing winters that makes Central Oregonians love their resilient little buds even more.
Local flower farmers put so much care into every petal so that you can treat yourself or someone else to a sustainable, carefully personalized, loving gift. Join a Flower CSA (weekly flower share) to keep that love going for you and your local flower farmers. The sustainably crafted arrangements can then be preserved past the typical growing season by drying methods.
Find Central Oregon Flowers
Our Get A Taste website is great for finding fresh food locally, but did you know you can also search for flower farms? From nurseries, to u-pick gardens, to flowers delivered weekly to your home – you’ll find exactly what you need when you search on Get A Taste!
Be a farm’s best bud (pun intended) by joining a CSA this year! By purchasing a CSA farmers are paid the costs upfront which provides them with the revenue needed to start the growing season off strong. You pay one initial fee and then starting in early Summer you will get weekly or biweekly flowers.
Roots Wild, Stumpmunk Farms and Fibonacci Farms all offer flower CSA memberships for Spring, Summer, and even Fall! Some of them even deliver to you! They will sell out, so sign up now and ensure that your house is filled with fresh-cut, beautifully arranged flowers all season long.
Flower Preservation
Your collection of blooms doesn’t need to end when the season ends. Keep your home smelling like a field of fresh flowers by preserving them through methods of hanging or pressing! Dried flowers can be used as decorative bouquets, crafty projects, and thoughtful gifts.
To preserve flowers, start with a bouquet or individual stems – lots of people like to use lavendar for it’s lasting fresh smell. Check out SunLife Farm’s Lavendar Day or connect with Central Oregon Flower Collective to find local flower farms that carry your favorite blooms and find classes on how to arrange beautiful bouquets.
Larger flowers, like roses, should be dried separately. Once you have selected the flowers, tie the stems together using twine or rubber bands, and hang your flowers upside down in the open air with 6 inches between each assortment. You’ll know when your bouquet is dry and ready when the flowers are crisp. Drying can take up to four weeks depending on the size of the bouquet.
Pressing flowers is just as simple, and is a great method for flowers with thick, flat petals like daisies. Choose a thick book or a heavy flat object, then lay your flowers between waxy paper (like parchment paper) and press them down or close the book. Let your flowers sit pressed for at least a week. After you have nicely pressed flowers you can display them in a picture frame or laminate them to make things like bookmarks.
When you gift flowers for Valentine’s Day, an anniversary, or just because it is truly wonderful for both the recipient and the farmers who cultivated its beauty. Support your local flower farmer this year, learn a new sustainable practice like preservation, and remember to stop to smell the roses.
