Are you looking for unique bouquets, the ideal gift for your flower-loving buddy, or something fun to do on a weekend in the greater Richmond area? Then you’re in the right place! Graystem Farm is a small, veteran owned flower farm located in beautiful Powhatan County Virginia.
We offer ready to go casual flower bouquets at our Powhatan flower stand, or bespoke floral design services for your special event. We also host special make & take workshops on the farm throughout the year. Make sure to check our Events page and follow Graystem Farm on Facebook and Instagram for the latest scoop, or join our email newsletter and unlock access to special offers!
Not able to get to us? No problem! Our flower truck is here to help! “Hyacinth” can be found at the Thursday Great Big Greenhouse Farmers Market and other spots around metro-Richmond area. Check out her page – Powhatan Flower Truck
ABOUT THE FARM
Graystem Farm didn’t start out as a flower farm – it started as a dream that became a plan and is now a reality.
The Dream
John and I grew up in farm country, or to be more precise, in suburban homes surrounded by big Standardbred horse farms. It was always my dream to someday have a farm of my own with horses, dogs and a beautiful garden landscape inspired by English country gardens, the important women in my life, and early lifestyle influences like Martha Stewart and P. Allen Smith. In my mind’s eye I would walk along winding woodland trails, cross large green fields dotted with horses and sheep, passing tall hedgerows, down stone steps and everywhere I look – flowers.
After our youngest child was born, we finally made my dreams come true in Powhatan. The first order of business was clearing trees for pasture and putting up fences – after we brought home a couple of chickens of course. (If you’re a city person, Google Chicken math!) Two horses soon arrived, followed over time by goats, sheep, mini-pigs…and sourdough! We were farmsteading and loving every minute. But time doesn’t stand still; the kids grew up, left home and started families of their own. Most of the animals found new homes and nature started to reclaim the land we’d worked so hard to clear. It was time for a new plan.
The Plan
What could we do with the farm that was something we enjoyed doing, was easily manageable, and might even give us a little income in our retirement? Not growing things was never an option so the only question to answer was fruits, vegetables or flowers? It made more sense to turn our hands to market gardening because food is a necessity, but the test vineyard we’d planted in 2015, our tiny orchard, and small vegetable garden were never going to produce enough to feed us and sell too. In order to grow fruits and veggies for sale, we would need to scale up – a lot. While the gentle slopes on our farm are perfectly suited to pasture, vineyards and orchards, they are less than ideal for row crops and tractors – but just perfect for flowers!
The Reality
Decision made, it was time to make our flower farm a reality.
Flowers have been a part of my life forever. I can’t imagine not having flowers indoors and out, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. They add beauty and that something extra to our homes.
Flowers are also present for every milestone of our lives – weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and even at the end of life. Their fragrance triggers memories of these life events, loved ones, and romance. I can’t smell lavender without remembering my grandmother.
There are so many scientific studies to confirm what we already know in our hearts; flowers make us feel good. Even the youngest child knows this instinctively. If you’re a mom or dad, I’m certain your child has gifted you a little bunch of wildflowers. Maybe a friend or partner has given you a surprise bouquet. Do you remember how that made you feel?
This is exactly what we want to do with our farm. Help spread those feelings of love, joy, and appreciation with flowers, in an eco-friendly and sustainable way. We even open our farm to you for a few special days each year, creating a welcoming escape where you can unwind and enjoy a peaceful stroll among the blooms — picking flowers, capturing memories, and reveling in the delightful scent of lavender!
It is a pleasure to share the farm and its flowers with you!
The Flowers
We take pride in cultivating a vibrant array of specialty cut flowers that thrive in our climate, including blooms you would expect to see in an English country garden – lavender, peonies, roses, clematis, delphinium, allium, snapdragons, and lilies. Growing right alongside are colorful “New World” natives like lisianthus, zinnias, Queen Anne’s Lace, rudbeckia, echinacea, liatris and solidago.
Farm to Fork
In addition to specialty cut flowers, we also grow a variety of culinary herbs. And our bug patrol includes a crew of pastured laying hens, which means we sometimes have fresh, rainbow assortment of delicious eggs for $6.50 a dozen. You can grab eggs and herbs at the farm on Flower Fridays or catch us at the farmers market!
Last, but certainly not least, we may offer excess produce from our little veggie garden.
The Farm Team
Trudy
My mother was a teacher with a passion for spring bulbs and flowering shrubs or trees – dogwood, azaleas and rhododendrons. During her school year I would spend the days with Grandma C. By the time I came along she was living in an apartment and had a huge collection of African violets. It still saddens me that we were unable to keep them alive after she passed, though we tried very hard. Aside from the violets, her apartment was filled with the scent of lavender – and lemon from the dish of candies she kept in the living room. These are still two of my very favorite scents.
Once I was in school, I spent time after with an elderly neighbor, Asta. She would make the most fabulous toast with butter and ligonberry jelly that we would eat at the little iron table set in her kitchen garden.
Asta was an avid gardener who focused on garden architecture. Her garden was really of a series of outdoor rooms including two arbors festooned with climbing roses and clematis. It all felt like a secret garden to me. I credit Asta with my love of historic gardens and large landscapes; she would have loved Virginia’s Garden Week! To this day I can’t resist visiting (and taking notes in) historic gardens.
My early childhood neighborhood was full of older folks like Asta and families with teens. Great when my parents needed a babysitter, but not so great for finding playmates my age so I spent a lot of time reading. One of my favorite books is still The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Mom, Grandma, Asta, and Frances sparked an interest in creating gardens and secret magical places that never waned.
The flower field at Graystem Farm is my magical happy place!
John
My ancestry is 75% Italian so it shouldn’t be a surpise that I love food. I especially love tomatoes – eating them, cooking with them, canning them and growing them. Some of my favorite memories are of me and my grandfather Frank inspecting my tomato patch. As I proudly showed him my plants, he would produce a salt shaker he’d grabbed from the kitchen, pluck a tomato from the plant, sprinkle it with the salt and pop it in his mouth, finishing with a satisfied smile. At the end of our tour he would congratulate me on a job well done. We left behind a much smaller crop, but that didn’t matter, because that is what gardening is all about; sharing the harvest and bringing joy to others.
I was so happy when we bought our farm. I had just planted a veggie garden and my first patch of corn when the Deep Water Horizon disaster occurred and I was shipped off with my unit for a clean up operation. When we returned home, I was transferred to a deployable port security unit and sent to the desert. No veggie garden for awhile.
When you deploy on a mission you expect to miss your family and friends, especially during the quiet times or when you have to say goodbye on Skype. What I didn’t expect to miss was GREEN – the color, the moisture of a temperate climate, even the smell of green. Yes, green has a smell!
During my last deployment, I volunteered in the base greenhouse. I had a blast and learned a lot that I couldn’t wait to implement at home. I also figured out what I wanted to do after retirement.
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