My Roots
I have felt a strong connection to nature since childhood which has continued to impact me to this day. Like many Southerners, I have vivid memories of running through my grandfather's bountiful Mississippi garden, stopping to smell the sweet peas or admire the gladiolas. I fantasized about getting married under his lush muscat grape orchard. As an adult, working a small cutting garden in order to surround myself with flowers has been a habit since my first college rental home in Athens, Georgia—if I had access to a patch of ground, it would not remain barren for long. The magic and emotion found in flowers has rarely been duplicated in any other area of my life.
Later, I married a talented landscape designer who not only provided the plant knowledge I was lacking, but our years of operating a small business together provided the inspiration for this venture. While the landscape of our home has always offered various perennial blooms to cut & enjoy three seasons out of the year, at the urging of a friend, I tried my hand at starting old-fashioned annual flowers from seed during the dreary gray days of a Nashville winter. It gave me something tangible to do while I waited for the re-birth of spring & let me dream of the gardens to come.
Sustainably grown from seed with care.
My goal that first year was to grow just enough to keep myself & my neighbors in flowers...how quickly that goal was surpassed! Not only did I love every aspect of seeding a garden indoors during winter, but I quickly became addicted to trying seeds I remembered from my childhood but hadn't seen in a cutting garden in years- everything from sweetpeas to snapdragons to poppies.
Now, seven years later, my favorite part of any day is walking the gardens with my children in the early morning to see what has flushed overnight, or what may be ready to harvest by day's end.
In only a short span of time, my petite urban gardens have attracted the attention of other Nashvillians who also enjoy the beauty of local bloom & bounty and I'm honored to share my passion with friends, new & old.
-Meredith Bishop