SHEGROWS

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SHEGROWS

SHEGROWS is a lavender and cut flower farm in Arvada, Colorado. Private gardens in Arvada, Colorado | Est. 2018
(6)

20/04/2024

Today’s flowers from yesterday’s harvest. On the way to deliver, I swear I heard the other snow covered flowering branches, who were drooping to the ground, beg to be in a vase too.

17/04/2024

2024 here we come! I’ve been offering apprenticeships since the very first season. It’s started with my friends teenagers and my own girls, and over the years turned into a community of women. We are missing a few people from this picture but I couldn’t resist capturing the day. All the roses got pruned, crabapple trees were blooming, and the peonies blew everyone away with how big they are already. Spring is at least two weeks early.

14/04/2024

Greenhouse view third week of April. This time last year the greenhouse was full of tulips but I told myself that next year, in April, we need space for seeds (think Mothers Day plant sale). So, this week we have our very last variety of tulips in bloom and they are the most beautiful magnolia colored tulip who are blooming at the same time our magnolia tree burst into bloom. Florists, you can find lots of them at the CFC this week and I’ll have them for Farmgate Friday too.

14/04/2024

“Who would have thought my shriveled heart
Could have recovered greenness?” - George Herbert “The Flower”.

25/03/2024

Mondays flowers. Exotic Emperor Lily Tulip, Multiflora White Pearl Hyacinth, and Finnis Muscari.

19/03/2024

Wow—it’s the first day of spring! How did that happen? While there is still snow on the ground in Colorado I harvested our first daffodils in the greenhouse this morning which feels like a spring celebration!

Outside in our garden, I had a huge row of them growing then to keep the weeds down I put mulch on top. Big mistake. They went “blind” the year after which means a lot of leaves but no flowers. I tested the soil and it was extremely acidic. Very rare in Colorado so I knew it was from the mulch. Lesson learned. Never use fresh tree mulch directly in your garden.

I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way which is exactly why I’ve created an online class for home gardeners! It’s now open for registration on the website. This Design & Build Course will either help you get started on the right foot or will take your garden to a new level. The class starts on April 2, can be taken from home on your own time, and includes online coaching all season. I can’t wait to get started you!

19/03/2024

Happy Spring! While there is still snow on the ground in Colorado I harvested our first daffodils in the greenhouse this morning which feels like a celebration!

Outside in our garden, I had a huge row of them growing then to keep the weeds down I put mulch on top. Big mistake. They went “blind” the year after which means a lot of leaves but no flowers. I tested the soil and it was extremely acidic. Very rare in Colorado so I knew it was from the mulch. Lesson learned. Never use fresh tree mulch directly in your garden.

I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way which is exactly why I’ve created an online course for home gardeners! It’s now open for registration on the website. This Design & Build Course will either help you get started on the right foot or will take your garden to a new level. The class starts on April 2, can be taken from home on your own time, and includes online coaching all season. I can’t wait to get started with you!

18/03/2024

Hope you had a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day! 🍀

17/03/2024

Spring flower crowns are so sweet for Easter, May Day, showers, weddings, or a child’s birthday. My girls used to wear them all the time on special occasions and it always made the day feel extra special. If you’d like to order one for a little person in your life, I’ve added them to our website. Pick up only.

ps. Thank you to the little girl sitting next to me in church today for the inspiration, and to my niece for being as excited to make one as I was. 💗

16/03/2024

We experienced a massive spring snowstorm yesterday and today when the sun came out the snow on the trees was magical. The weight of 19” of wet snow almost collapsed our chicken coop but it also made a pretty cool snow fort for the hens.

07/03/2024

Beauty in the mundane. My favorite kind. If you too love to fill the ordinary moments of life with simple beauty, perhaps you’d like to be a CSA member. As a CSA member, you purchase a share of the harvest up front then come to the farm every Friday and pick up a bouquet.

Our Spring CSA is 6 weeks of flowers and will be starting in a few more weeks so now is the time to sign up. This year since we have tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and muscari growing in the greenhouse so we are going to start on March 29th (right after spring break) and end the first week of May. Hope to see your name on the list. Emails with all the logistics will be going out soon.

05/03/2024

Everyone needs a garden! Gardens have helped me in so many stages of life and I think everyone needs one to simple understand themselves, and other’s, a bit deeper.

For the month of March, I’m hosting three free webinars called Garden by Design. They are 1-hour long, over lunch, and I promise to send you into spring with more confidence to start a garden or make your garden better.

Dates are:
March 5 (Today! It’s not too late to join)
March 14
March 24

Comment GARDEN below and I’ll send you a link to register.

03/03/2024

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” - Mother Teresa

The parrot tulip variety is called Cabana. It started as pink and white and ages as smooth as silk.

29/02/2024

I love it when color palettes come together naturally. In this bucket are Apricot Parrot, Strong Gold, and Alison Bradley.

28/02/2024

Order Online! Wow—it’s taken me 7 years to figure this out but now you can order flowers online and either pick up on Friday’s or we’ll deliver to a 3 mile radius from the garden. Orders must be placed by close of day on Wednesday. The greenhouse, garage, and cooler are overflowing with tulips so if you or someone you know could use a little spring color and aroma, check out our new online ordering page on our website—->SHOP/Ala Carte Flowers. You’ll also see many new Ala Carte options for all your special events.

22/02/2024

As if this week wasn’t already exciting—the webinar, the partnership with the Makerie, and now working with .pro to learn how to distill our own essential oil. It’s always been part of my dream to distill our own essential oils to use in products, so stay tuned to learn right along with me.

21/02/2024

There are moments that take you back in time. A feeling, an image that pops up in your mind, a story someone shares… It all started when I bought myself a birthday gift thirteen years ago, a ticket to my first creative retreat and the first one put together. Little did I know how that experience would help me find the key to unlock my creativity, and I made a vow to myself to make creativity part of my everyday. The heartbeat of this flower farm is exactly that and so much more, and when Ali (founder of the Makerie) visited the farm almost exactly a year ago, those Makerie memories ignited a beautiful flame to harness that creative energy to help others unlock theirs too.

It is with enormous excitement to share a very special creative retreat partnership with ~ She Grows Makerie: Garden to Craft ~ as we lean into the arts to develop the heart of our farm. Our retreats will be led by outstanding artists and teachers, varying from one to three days in length and spanning from botanical dyeing to floral design, painting, photography, fragrance making and more. Combining creative nourishment, thoughtfully curated, healthy snacks and meals, and an element of self-care, makes for the kind of experience that fills our spirits and hopefully yours too. Our hands help us find our hearts, and a way home to ourselves when we’ve lost our way. We can’t wait to to share what’s in store! {hint ~ coming next week}

14/02/2024

The love of plants will hook you into starting a garden, but the peace you find when you learn to love yourself and others through gardening will turn you into a gardener for life.

So much love to my garden, and to my husband for helping me grow in ways I never knew possible. Happy Valentine’s Day. ❤️

Ps. Next Tuesday, Feb 20 is my very first LIVE WEBINAR. There are over 150 people signed up so it’s officially a party! While I’m nervous for the technical things to work out, I know that when we start talking about gardening all the nervousness will fall away and I’ll be talking to a room full of new gardening friends. So excited to get started I can barely sleep. Comment GARDEN to get a link to sign up.

12/02/2024

Today’s flowers.

02/02/2024

My own groundhog prediction just hit your inbox, if you subscribe to my newsletter. If not, you should sign up. Today is also the last day to sign up for our Winter CSA. It will start next Friday, February 9th so you will have locally grown tulips for Valentine’s Day.

01/02/2024

Year 2 of our potted bulb planter experiment. There is something so intriguing with coaxing bulbs into bloom in the middle of the winter on a cool windowsill. These are filled with daffodils, hyacinths, muscari, tulips, and fritillaria. We will have this large planter, and a few other smaller sizes available at our first Farmgate Friday of the year next week, February 9th. Just in time for Valentine’s Day.

16/01/2024

The temperature dropped to -11 today in Denver so a good time to hunker down and read all your comments and DMs. I’m so moved by your stories, and realize that what is most powerful is that many can see their own reflection in my reel about grief. Loss does come in many forms and the language of turning grief into growth through gardening is something we all understand.

Several people asked for advice, and I’m certainly not a trained counselor, but here is what has helped me.

1. Keep saying their name. Most people are afraid to say their name because they think it will make the persons loved one sad, but really not hearing their name is what makes them sad. Growing up, I loved hearing stories about my mom from friends, family, and even my 3rd grade teacher. My moms name was Barbara, they called her Barb. She was the editor of her school newspaper which was called “The Barbed Wire.”

2. Plant a Garden. If you are caring for a child that has lost a parent, or you’ve lost someone yourself, planting a garden is incredibly healing. Not only does it get you moving but it will provide answers you didn’t even know you were looking for. My first garden was at the cemetery where my grandmother would take me every Sunday. We planted and prayed.

3. Trust that energy never dies, it just transforms. This one is so hard to believe because it takes faith in something you can’t see. Opening my mind to the mystery has been a life long journey. It’s kind of like planting seeds. No matter how many times you plant them, and see them sprout, you still have doubts the next year. Trust.

Thank you for following along. I hope to help you become a better gardener in the season to come.

xo
Gina

04/01/2024

If you want to become a gardener in 2024, I want to help you. Finding a mentor is hard but can take years (and dollar signs) off your learning curve.

I offer mentoring two ways:
— Apprenticeship Program : Apprentices work alongside me and the team on Wednesday mornings from April through November. We are now accepting applications for this season. You can apply on our website until Sunday, January 21st.

—Distance Learning Apprenticeship: To make the information more accessible, you can also sign up to be a long distance apprentice via IG Subscriptions for the cost of two cups of coffee per month. This is new this year but super excited to see where this goes.

If you have any questions, put them below in the comments and I’ll answer them for all.

#2024

21/12/2023

Nothing in nature blooms all year long, so why would you?

07/12/2023

Peony Bowl of Beauty, voted as the favorite peony by this year’s Summer CSA members.

And a quote from John O’Donohue in his book, “Beauty. The Invisible Embrace.”

“Beauty is not just a call to growth, it is a transforming presence wherein we unfold towards growth almost before we realize it. Our deepest self-knowledge unfolds as we are embraced by Beauty.”

A Flower CSA, and the book, would make a great gift for someone who sometimes gets lost in contemplative life.

01/12/2023

From one season we go right into the next. Our 2024 Flower CSA program is now open for registration. It’s one of my absolute favorite ways to be in community and share the garden with those who make beauty part of ordinary life. Sign up today for a beautiful new year. #2024

01/11/2023

Just reminiscing this October bouquet while we wait for the snow to melt so we can begin digging dahlias. We normally have them dug by now but we decided to wait. Experiment a little. How about you? Are you a hurry-up-and-get-them-out of-the-ground type of gardener or an eh-plants-are-tough type of gardener?

p.s. I refuse to post holiday things until after Thanksgiving so come join us for a Potted Bulb Workshop next Friday. Planting now during the season of gratitude will reward you with abundance in spring.

01/11/2023

Till death did her part. 💀

28/10/2023

I dedicate my rose garden to my Grandma Thelma and her ability to keep her heart soft through a lifetime of being pricked by the toughest thorns. Her birthday is coming up on November 9th and she would have been 102. She passed away in August when the farm was running full speed so I haven’t had time to really sit with my new reality.

When my mother died, she stepped up and played a huge role in helping my Dad raise my brother and I. We were quite young so she was like a mother to us. Instead of “call your mom”, it was “call your grandma.” She has an amazing life story, one that I want to share with you when I can find the words. It includes a children’s home for orphans of the war, a college degree in the 40’s, military service, nursing wards, travel, great losses and full harvests, always with a side of kielbasa and homemade horseradish.

I’ve written posts and even made a reel but all sit in drafts, inadequate to describe someone so special to me. But she loved to grow yellow garden roses like the one in this picture. I had a sick feeling that she would pass this year so I talked about her often as we were planting the rose garden and even gave her a Facetime tour when they started to bloom, telling her that I dedicate them all to her. She was definitely the most beautiful rose in the garden and I will forever talk to her when I see them.

27/10/2023

Nothing is wasted. That’s the goal at least. Doesn’t always happen but I’m sure I’ll find something to do with these roses petals this winter…dry them for soap, steam facial, pressed cards. What would you do?

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https://www.shegrows.com/

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This home office is getting better and better. #farmlife

Lavender—the plant that brought me down this path to begin with. Here is a look at my most mature plants that are healthy and strong. But don’t think they all look this way….this spring we lost about 200 plants {ouch!} After 4 years of research and testing different cultivars we planted our very first big field of this drought tolerate plant last spring, then we had the wettest winter and spring in years filled with blizzards and flooding. While the moisture was good for a lot of things it wasn’t great for these young plants who were just getting established. So, we will start again and this time we are propagating from cuttings, adding a lot more grit to the soil, making bigger mounds, and covering for the winter. While lavender can be finicky, I still love it so much and will cherish every last bouquet I harvest and share this season.

Saturday morning meditation. I could watch bees zoom in and out for hours. Some are cleaning their home and taking debris out from the hive, others are flying home with pollen filled sac on their legs, others are making honey and caring for babies and the Queen, whose sole purpose is to lay eggs. This week we were visited by my bee mentor, Bill Ott, who came to help us check on our two hives, particularly one that was requeened. We learned that the queen is only fertilized once in her lifetime and then she’s fertile for 5 years. And when you buy queens to replace one, she comes marked (for easy identification) and fertile (to start laying right away). We recently had to requeen one of our hives so we are watching to see if the nurse bees will accept her or kill her. It’s a hard life inside the hive. 🤞

It’s ranunculus and anemone season! Anyone else struggle to grow these treasured beauties? Don’t fret! You are not alone which is why I asked (okay begged) Dustin and Kate from @littlehollowflowers to share how they successfully grow thousands of them every year. Whether you are growing them as part of your farm, in pots, or in your backyard raised beds, this class will teach you step-by-step how to source, grow, harvest, and enjoy these spectacular flowers that last over two weeks in a vase. Head over to our website to register now. This 1-hour course is now available and can be watched at anytime. One of the perks with our online courses is you will have lifetime access to it so you can watch it and rewatch it whenever you like. We look forward to having you in class!