False Starts, False Hellebores
Hello!
Happy Earth Day!
If last week had us off to the summer races, the start of this week sent us back to the blocks. Luckily, no disqualification on this flower farm, just a major reset and some extra training sessions moving plants back inside and unfurling frost cloth on the new growth and flowers that could not risk a freeze. Who really needs garage space? When you’ve got hundreds of tender seedlings and young plants to look after, cold nights in the forecast aren’t something you can ignore. Sure enough, in the morning the weather station read 16F.
Out in the woods, the ultimate flower farm, Mother Nature seems to be taking it all in stride. Early spring flowers appear to be carrying on despite the cold – bluets, wood anemones, bracken, and bright green false hellebores are there during our morning walks. (False hellebores in the woods have broad, strap-like, bright green veined leaves. They are not to be mistaken for the “Lenten rose” hellebores like those by my house, whose dusty rose, plum, and cream blooms are starting now. Those flowers are earmarked for bouquets like this one, so I made a point of covering them, too.)
With all that weather-prep hustle taken care of, and plants tucked in as best I can muster, I get to have some cozy time too. It feels good to just sit and breathe for a few minutes. During such quiet times I like to flip through the various lifestyle catalogs that somehow appear in our mailbox. I enjoy studying the colors, styles, shapes, textures, and the language used to sell them. It fascinates me that even a simple T-shirt can be described in ways that hint at sentiments, yearnings, even nostalgia. So, that’s what’s on trend? Ah, zeitgeist. How interesting…
What would such a catalog from Canaan Valley look like? In my house, it’s mud boots piled next to river sandals (both damp from being used in the past week); flannel sheets (snowflake motif still relevant) under a floral bedspread (hope springs eternal); wildflower guides and White Grass Café cookbooks open on the kitchen counter; and of course, vases, vintage bottles, pitchers and jam jars on any remaining horizontal surface displaying what’s in bloom now.
And in your home? What would your Canaan Valley catalog, spring 2026 edition, look like right now? What’s making the page? Hit reply and let me know.
Let there be flowers!
Lizz