Meet Andrea, A Local Floral Farmer

I always say one of the best things that came out of the pandemic was connecting with Andrea of Lynnvale Flower Farm. I was desperate for flowers at a time that local wholesalers were shut down, and she had an abundance of flowers to sell during a season of canceled weddings. At each delivery, our chats next to her van got longer and longer and became a bright spot during a strange period in the Covid era. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen endless photos of her dahlias, hydrangea, peonies – you name it. Her flowers are flawless. Aside from growing the dreamiest product, she also happens to be one of my favorite people on the planet. If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes with Andrea, you know why. She’s hilariously funny, full of New Jersey sass, sharp as a whip, and full of the most interesting stories and tidbits. (For example, her husband is a world-renowned sandcastle builder!) She, along with her husband and team, have the most picturesque flower farm in Gainesville that has been in the family for generations. If you are lucky enough to get a Helen Olivia arrangement with dahlias this summer, chances are they came from Andrea’s farm. And, if you want bunches of her dahlias for your home you should add a trip to the Palisade’s Farmer’s Market to your list. She’s there every Sunday, in her trademark overalls, with the most incredible flowers you’ve ever seen. 

I’m so excited to give our Stylebook readers a little introduction to Andrea and her farm as we head into the growing season. 

p.s. if you’re on Instagram and aren’t yet following @lynnvalestudios, you’re missing out. 

How did you get into farming?

It was a quality-of-life decision to move back to the family farm so our children could experience what so many previous generations had - space, freedom, and independence surrounded by extended family.

Where is your farm? 

The farm is in Gainesville, VA on my husband’s eighth-generation family-owned land. We are only a mile from the tiny town of Catharpin where the one-room schoolhouse my husband’s great-grandmother taught at and where his grandmother attended via horseback still stands.

Why flowers and not some other crop?

Lacking the knowledge and large equipment of a conventional farmer and with a keen desire to complement the artistic efforts in making a beautiful place, we opted for growing flowers. Growing flowers offered the potential of a much higher yield and return per acre compared to conventional field crops (soybeans, corn, etc.).

What time do you start your day?

5 am

What is one thing that would surprise people about running a flower farm?

People often comment, and even I assumed initially, that harvesting would be the most relaxing job on the farm. In reality, it involves constant evaluation on the fly. Every crop is different and with every cut, we are evaluating the ideal harvest stage, stem length, quality, quantity, etc. We count to ten a lot. I find weeding the most relaxing job on the farm, although physically taxing it allows me to enter more of a flow state.

Do you have a favorite flower?

I love most any type of dahlia and ranunculus, and specialty zinnias with more subtle tones.

What is the most high-maintenance flower you grow?

Dahlias by far are one of the few crops that require significant labor at any time of year. In the spring we plant as early as April 1, early summer we are focused on staking and supporting all of them as the weather and soil warms. In the fall we are consumed with harvesting them multiple times per day every day of the week. When we’re not harvesting them, we have to hustle to get them into the hands of both our retail and wholesale designers as fast as possible. Our winters are spent dividing thousands of tubers. They also require a fair amount of research to discover varieties that are both suitable as cut flowers and grow well in the heat and humidity of the mid-Atlantic. Given these challenges, finding new varieties to inspire our customers and feed our own dahlia addiction is a year-round effort. I often look to Australia’s flower farmers who are harvesting dahlias in their fields when we are typically ordering tubers for the following year. Their posts serve as visual reminders throughout the spring, so I am ready with my wish list come August when I anxiously hover over the purchase button.

You also design - and beautifully! How did you get into the floral design side of the business?

Thank you so much! Both Lou and I have Bachelor of Architecture degrees from Virginia Tech, where we met in a first-year design studio. Once I began to conquer a bit of the horticultural learning curve concerning growing flowers commercially, I began to incorporate event and design work fairly easily. I can’t imagine designing without a field nearby to forage from. Being designers ourselves and knowing the design value of each of our crops has made us especially attuned to addressing our wholesale client’s needs. Seeking out new and interesting foliage and flowers fuels us every year. 

If you could travel back in time to when you first started flower farming and tell yourself something you know now, what would it be?

The quicker you get comfortable with uncertainty the better grower, designer, and business owner you’ll be. That is what I tell myself: that pesky inner voice is my biggest obstacle and learning to control it and learning to control how I respond to it will be my greatest asset.

Do you ever just pinch yourself when you look out at a field of dahlias?

About every 15 minutes, or basically all the time.

You have such an interesting family. Tell us a little more about them.

My husband Lou is an incredible artist, sculptor, teacher, and designer. Before moving back to Virginia, Lou was a lead concept designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. Our daughter Virginia (@wyrmsfornerves) is a professional freelance illustrator and character designer in Philadelphia and is a few weeks away from finishing her second graphic novel, the culmination of a four-year effort. I hope to squeeze in a few LynnVale graphic projects before they get too busy again. Our son Max, a professional motorcycle mechanic, is busy customizing and rebuilding a variety of off-road bikes and when not entertaining us with his jump skills in the adjacent field, he’s busy documenting his efforts on his YouTube channel. (@titan_mx_customs). Basically, we live in Lou’s creations, we read Virginia’s and ride on Max’s. There was a time when we had a little budget for “art” on the walls, and now we battle for wall space, shelf space, and garage space.

One of the things I most admire about you is your passion for making locally grown flowers more accessible to florists. Where do you see our industry in the next 5 to 10 years?

I hope to see stronger grower-to-designer relationships aided in large part by the rise of easily accessible e-commerce solutions. I hope to see a robust e-commerce marketplace for American-grown flowers that serves the floral design community nationwide. I see the rise of regional grower cooperatives and I hope to see a strong network of farming “mentors” helping a new generation of farmers as well as more support within higher education for those who wish to pursue small-scale flower farming.

Any tips for those of us who want to grow (on a small scale) in our own backyards?

Building a foundation of different types of foliage with woody shrubs to provide season-long texture, and seasonal herbs for fragrance and blooms. We recommend easy-to-start-from-seed repeat bloomers like petite zinnias, smaller-scaled dahlias, and cosmos.

How do readers get their hands on your dahlias? Do you sell direct to the public at any farmer’s markets?

We sell directly to the public from April through mid-December at the Palisades Farmers Markets on Sundays in DC from 9 am and 1 pm We also sell through our home delivery program and accept pre-orders for market pick up at our Farm-to-Porch Flower: Here's our online shop.