Hedgerow Flower Co. // May 2018 //

Spring has become one of my favourite times of the year since moving to Nova Scotia. I love the gray, rainy, yet warm days, the lupins that fill the ditches along the highway that just add some gorgeous colour to the green landscape and the hesitant growth of the leaves on the trees until one day, you wake up and see that all the tree tops are full and green.

Last year, at the Annapolis Royal Farmer’s Market, I met Eileen who owns Hedgerow Flower Company. She had the most wild, colourful and unique bouquets that I had ever seen. She had buckets of picked flowers, and, in the rain, she hopped around, grabbing different stems, creating me a spectacular and individualized bouquet. I had never seen someone so passionate and joyful when it came to flowers. I was thrilled to see her again this spring at the last “Winter” Annapolis Royal Market where she gave me her card and told me that she would LOVE to have me down to her flower farm this spring to take photos.

I’m not sure she expected me to get in contact within a few days, but about two weeks later, Finn and I hopped in the car, and drove the 2 hours down to Clare, Nova Scotia.

I don’t know if you have ever heard of Clare, but I’m here to tell you that, even though I’m from a small town in rural Alberta, I consider Clare to be in the middle of nowhere. I finally came up to the farm, drove right passed, backed down the highway, found her driveway and pulled in. Eileen had Finn and I in for a cup of mint tea (which she picked from the garden, fresh, when I arrived), and we chatted. She is originally from Scotland, and has lived all over the world. It was so neat getting to know Eileen and hearing how she got to Nova Scotia, what her dreams and ambitions are, and what she plans to do in the near future!

After a nice visit, we grabbed the stroller, my camera and the bug spray, and we set off to wander through her expansive gardens. I had NO idea there were so many varieties of tulips! Seriously. NO IDEA! It was amazing. Apparently pretty well all of the tulips had JUST finished for the year, but I was able to see so many gorgeous colours, and the leftovers of what are amazing tulip species. Eileen told me all about the different flowers that she grew, what were hybrids, what were natural, what would try to poison you, what won’t. She knew all about what grew in this climate, what didn’t, and what she was experimenting with. Her knowledge in all the different names and varieties of flowers blew me away, and I told her right at the beginning that there was no way I was retaining much information for later, and I was right – I don’t remember most of the names she told me.

I am so excited to return later this summer to see the flower fields in bloom, to see Eileen with her arms full of flowers as she hikes up the ridiculously steep hill back to her family’s old farm house, to have another cup of tea and get to know more about her and her lovely family.