Niki and William Irving have created a floral wonderland, with flower fields, pastures, wooded hillsides and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains just 15 minutes outside of downtown Asheville, North Carolina. Flourish Flower Farm grows only speciality and heirloom varieties that produce high-quality, organic blooms. While the flower farm isn’t open to the public, Niki offers both group and private floral workshops giving attendees a behind the scenes look at life on a flower farm, and the chance to create a stunning floral arrangement.
In this interview Niki shares about a typical day on the farm, a few of her favorite flowers and what floral varieties they will be harvesting later this spring.
You grew up as the daughter of a landscaper and tree farmer. When did your love of flowers begin?
I’ve loved flowers for as long as I can remember. My parents always planted our yard full of flowers and my mom and I would make little arrangements together. My grandfather bought my grandmother flowers every single week of their 60+ year marriage, so I learned early on that flowers were how you communicated that you care about someone, including yourself. As a single gal living alone in her 20s, I bought myself fresh flowers all the time because they made me happy, and I planted tons of flowers in the yard of my first house. Flowers have always been a part of my life and I’m so grateful to be raised in a family where I was taught that beautiful flowers have intrinsic value because they bring a smile to your face.
How did you come up with the flower farms name and the concept behind it?
Flourish as a verb means “to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.” When we were deciding on a name for our farm, we wanted something simple and meaningful to our business and our lives. My mom came up with the idea of Flourish (she is a wealth of creative inspiration!) and we were hooked instantly. We started this business at a time of transition and deep personal longing for something more in our lives – we wanted to be flourishing as people and to be doing something heartfelt and important. Our goal is not only to provide a favorable environment for our plants to flourish, but also for our employees, customers, workshop guests, wedding clients and for everyone who is a part of Flourish Flower Farm to flourish, to grow in a healthy way.
Tell me about a typical day on the flower farm.
The pace of my days changes with the seasons and I’m constantly multi-tasking, juggling the different aspects of the business. I wake up early and usually check my email while sipping coffee. Then meet my farm staff in the studio at about 7:30am. {We’re so fortunate to finally live on the farm, after years of commuting back and forth, and we converted our basement under the house into a light-filled studio space.} We talk about what needs to be harvested in the morning, what orders need to be delivered or shipped, and what farm projects need to be tackled that day. Then we divide and conquer. I usually help harvest and pack orders, then I either head upstairs to do office work, design for weddings or elopements or work on farm projects. Priorities and constantly shifting and my days never look the same, which I love! It’s always a blend of physical work outdoors, administrative work indoors and creativity while designing.
Flourish Flower Farm is located just 15 minutes from downtown Asheville and is spread out across 9 acres featuring pastures, a creek, wooded hillsides and views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. What do you enjoy the most about being part of the Asheville community?
Even though I grew up at the beach in South Carolina, the mountains have always had my heart. I moved West in my early 20’s and spent a decade leading wilderness trips in the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, Colorado, Utah and Idaho, but the Blue Ridge mountains eventually called me back East. Asheville has the perfect combination of a small town, artistic vibe with incredible food, a community incredibly supportive of local food and businesses, great music and easy access to mountain trails and rivers. People here truly have a community mindset of supporting each other and of being active and healthy.
As the farm moves towards sustainability, you grow only specialty and heirloom varieties that produce high quality, organic, fragrant blooms. What are some of the floral varieties that you will be harvesting in the late spring season?
Spring is my favorite time on the farm! Though the weather can be fickle – 75 degrees and sunny one day, and rainy and 45 degrees the next – spring flowers are just incredible. This spring we’re harvesting ranunculus, anemone, baptisia, campanula, delphinium, feverfew, forget me not, foxglove, garden roses, geum, love in the mist, orlaya, peonies, snapdragons, sweet peas, yarrow and more!
Out of all the flower varieties that you grow at Flourish Flower Farm, do you have a few personal favorites?
Choosing a favorite flower feels a little like choosing a favorite child, but ranunculus, dahlias, zinnias and garden roses will always be my favorites.
You offer both group workshops and private workshops. What should attendees expect from a group workshop?
We love sharing our love of flowers and the magic happening on the farm, but the farm is not open to the public because its also our home and we need to maintain a work/life balance. So our workshops are a way for folks to get behind the scenes and experience the beauty of Flourish Flower Farm. We start with an in-depth tour of the flower fields, sharing about our growing techniques and practices. After the tour of the fields, everyone enjoys delicious catered hors d’oeuvres and I demonstrate how to arrange a centerpiece while talking about my basic design philosophy and principles. Then, everyone begins to create their own lush centerpiece from a huge display of flowers. Guests can also stroll through our fields and snip to their heart’s content. We intentionally limit attendance to just 15 participants so that the entire experience is personal and intimate. Some guests come with a friend or family member, and many come solo and make new friends. We pack a lot into 3 hours and the goal is for everyone to simply enjoy a beautiful day on the flower farm.
How does a private workshop differ from the workshops with a group setting (other than being private?)
We offer private sessions focusing on flower farming and on floral design. They are available for 1 to 8 participants and we intentionally limit the size of these sessions so that you receive our full attention, plus the absolute best of our flowers.
During the floral design private sessions, our guests choose a focus, such as bridal bouquets, centerpieces or floral jewelry, and we dive deeply into the entire design process. Everything about the private session experience is customized and we cover everything from color palette selection to creating a balanced arrangement and all the fun details in between.
Our flower farming private sessions are created to help aspiring flower farmers get a jump start on their business. I share resources and expertise that I wish was available when I was just starting out. Depending on where someone is in their flower farming journey, our sessions include business start up considerations, crop planning, variety selection, soil preparation, tools/supplies/equipment, succession planting, stage of harvest, record keeping systems, sales outlet selection and more.
Flourish Flower Farm is also available for professional photography, editorial and film photo shoots and you’ve hosted photoshoots for brands such as Anthropologie’s BHLDN. What is the best part about working with brands and seeing the flower farm through their lense?
Hosting brands for photoshoots has been the biggest unexpected source of enjoyment for us! William and I work so hard to maintain our home and property and we’re grateful for the opportunity to share it with a wider audience. Learning about all the many details that go into the production of professional photoshoots is just incredible – they think of everything! The production teams that we’ve hosted were so kind, considerate of our space, our animals and its amazing to see the beauty they create and capture – so much better than my iPhone snaps on Instagram!
Your home on the farm features wrap around porches and a gold fish pond with views of the flower fields. When you’re not tending to the flowers, what do you like to do in your downtime?
Downtime is hard to come by, especially in the spring, summer and fall, but I’m slowly learning to make self care, rest and time away from work a priority. We love hiking on the nearby trails with our dogs, paddleboarding on the river and hanging out at local breweries. I also LOVE cooking, reading and doing yoga. William says that I’m always thinking up some new home project for us, and its true! I have a hard time sitting still, but drinking a glass of wine on the porch while watching the sunset is probably my favorite downtime activity.
Niki & William Irving
Keep up with Niki and Flourish Flower Farm, sign up for a flower workshop, and follow via Instagram @flourishflowerfarm
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