Reflecting on Our Third Season at Whistling Bee Farm

Happy New Year, garden friends! I’m back after taking time to be with family over the holidays. I hope you also enjoyed the holidays and had time with loved ones. It’s 2025! With a new year comes new beginnings, and when a new year begins, it ushers in a sense of renewal and hope. A new year allows us to reflect on the previous year’s memories and embrace the new year’s possibilities.

As growers, we are intimately connected to renewal as our gardens grow with the seasons. There is a constant ebb and flow(er) as our plants go through the cyclical stages of life, from bud to flower to seed to death or dormancy. Each year, we are given a blank slate to plan and dream for our next growing season. And while we dream of what’s to come, we also reflect on the past. The beginning of the new year offers an excellent opportunity for reflection.

I’ve been busy working on seed inventory, seed sowing schedules, and bed plans, all while dreaming of the season to come. I’ve also been reflecting on what our third season at Whistling Bee Farm has meant to me. It was a challenging year with many ups and downs, but as I look back at the last couple of months, I’m so proud of what we accomplished.

From a business standpoint, I ask myself some difficult questions, such as what I love about the business, what I like the least, what worked well, and what needed improvement. I think about all the varieties I grew and whether I should grow them again. Was the amount I grew too much, too little, or just enough? I reflect on the farm’s future and where I see it heading and think about goals I can set to get me there. There are so many aspects of the season that I want to take the time to reflect upon.

So, in today’s post, I thought I’d take you along while I reflect on the 2024 season and share a brief overview of our third season on the farm.

Here is our 2024 farm recap:

By the Numbers: The numbers are in! In 2024, we grew close to 300 varieties of flowers and foliage on our micro-farm. We harvested and sold over 1100 tulips this season and planted 2000 bulbs for 2025. I made hundreds of bouquets and donated twenty-seven buckets of flowers to Abloom. We held three CSA subscriptions incorporating ten weeks of continuous subscription bouquets and offered nine months of florals for our community. We had one pop-up event, and I shared my love of growing with 23 blog posts written and two classes held.  Over ten thousand stems lovingly went through my hands this season and into our community!

Challenges: There were many challenges this season, the most significant of which involved the climate. We had early heatwaves that devastated our dahlias, a season-long drought, and new invasives to battle. An invasion of spongy moths nearly wiped out our blueberry crop, and the notorious spotted lanternfly has finally found its way north to the Hudson Valley, landing at our farm at the end of the season. Vigilance and daily inspections were the key to managing these pests. Besides climate challenges, this season, I continued to be challenged by balancing the many aspects of being a grower and a businesswoman with my family life. With my son in his senior year of high school, I needed to prioritize spending as much time as possible enjoying these last months with him at home. That meant putting the business aside sometimes, but I’ll never regret that, as my family always comes first. Through all these challenges, I learned a lot this season, and I hope to continue improving into the next season.

Triumphs: Despite all of these challenges, we grew and shared a lot of beauty this season, and for that, I am so grateful.  I’ve been on a mission to bring joy with every flower I grow, ultimately bringing more happiness to the world through flowers, and I’m happy to say I have accomplished this over the past three seasons. I’m thrilled that we were able to donate over 27 buckets of flowers this season to brighten the lives of those who need them most. I was also delighted to grow heirloom chrysanthemums for the first time this season and finally grow one of my unicorn dahlias, Kelgai Ann, which took me years to acquire. I am also proud that our dahlia, Whistling Bee’s Dawn’s Early Light, was accepted into the Triple Wren Farms Novice Hybridizer Program. This season, we also started a new sales channel by selling flowers wholesale to other growers. And having a cooler this season was a game-changer! There has been much to celebrate in 2024!

Recap: Lastly, before we officially say goodbye to the 2024 growing season, I thought I would share a look back at some of the beauty that bloomed on the farm. Here is a list of our top ten flowers of 2024. Some are tried-and-true farm favorites, while others are new to the top ten list this season. It wasn’t easy to narrow our choices to ten, so I felt I also had to add some runners-up and honorable mentions!

Tulips: The tulips were stunning this season and will always be one of my favorite cut flowers. We grew 28 varieties this season, including farm favorites Silver Parrot, Marie Jo, and Drumline, and fell in love with some new varieties such as Black Hero and Black Parrot.

Daffodils:  It’s new to our top ten list this year! We have come to love these cheery spring blooms, which were incredibly gorgeous this season. We specialize in growing fragrant heirloom varieties and currently have twenty varieties on the farm.

Peonies: Always one of my favorites! In 2023, we added a new peony garden, and as our peony plants mature, we’ll have more to offer each season. We currently grow sixteen varieties on our farm.

Sunflowers: We grew a few new varieties, including several in the ProCut series, and had the most beautiful sunflower crop yet! I love these cheery flowers.

Dahlias: The queen of the garden never disappoints! Despite some early season issues with unseasonable heatwaves and a summer-long drought, we still harvested bucketfuls of these beauties.

Iceland Poppies: These are new to the farm and on our top ten list this year! Wow, just wow! These gorgeous papery blooms completely stole our hearts this season.

Baptisia: It’s new to our top ten list this year! I adore Baptisia for its flowers and foliage. It’s also a favorite of pollinators, is a native perennial, and is practically maintenance-free. What’s not to love?

Feverfew: It’s new to the farm and our top ten list this year! I fell head over heels for these adorable daisy-like filler flowers.

Hydrangea: Always a favorite! This season’s hydrangeas were absolutely stunning. Whether fresh or dried, they shine in bouquets and arrangements.

Heirloom Chrysanthemums: These are new to the farm and on our top ten list this year! It was our first time growing these fall flowers, and we were impressed with their beautiful blooms and hardy nature.

Runners-Up: Three varieties narrowly missed our top ten list this year but deserve a shout-out. Our celosia, cosmos, and Japanese anemones shined this season and will always be farm favorites.

Honorable Mention: I’d also like to give an honorable mention to several varieties that bloomed beautifully this year, were a wonderful supporting cast to our focal flowers, and provided plenty of food for the pollinators. They include veronica, nigella, sweet peas, snapdragons, zinnias, sedum, allium, and helenium.

Thank you for taking the time to walk down memory lane with me and look back at our third season at Whistling Bee Farm. I hope you take a moment to reflect on your growing season and delight in the successes while learning from any setbacks. And remember, 2025 offers a blank slate to grow the garden of your dreams. Why not grow for it?