Bodacious Blooms Flower Farm | Life and Linda

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Bodacious Blooms Flower Farm


This is a guest post written by Karen,  a neighbor, who has a lovely Flower Farm, called Bodacious Blooms.  She grows beautiful Peonies and  Ranunculous.

Linda very kindly invited me to write a bit about my flower farm for her Life and Linda blog. I started my flower farm, Bodacious Blooms, six years ago.  It was part dream, part inspiration and part naivete.
I began by fencing off ½ acre and planting 165 peonies.  Why peonies?  Well, in addition to being absolutely gorgeous, peonies are drought tolerant and the deer and gophers don’t like them.  They are relatively easy to grow in our climate.  My husband made the mistake of saying I could have as many peonies as I wanted if they made it through the first summer.  Well…guess what?  They lived and now I have 820 peonies in all colors and shapes planted on 2.5 acres.


Last fall, I planted 850 imported Italian ranunculus and spring brought forth the most amazing display of color I could have imagined.  I love the ranunculus’ vibrant colors and amazing swirl of petals.


I sell my flowers from late March through mid-May to floral designers, wholesalers and at the Auburn Farmers Market.  Ultimately, I will harvest upwards of 12,000 peonies and 18,000 ranunculus annually. 

It is slow building a business from the ground up. I had no idea the amount of work or commitment required.  However, slow but sure I can look back and see all that has been accomplished.  I now have two fenced planting areas, a fully-automated, solar powered, drip irrigation system, a website (www.bodaciousblooms.com) and strong cadre of customers who love my flowers.  If you would like to stay in touch with me regarding peonies, ranunculus or flowers generally, my email is karenslakeyhull@gmail.com.  I am also on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of flowers from Bodacious Blooms…

Thank you Karen for sharing these gorgeous flowers.  I know many of my readers will love seeing these photos.  Feel free to contact Karen regarding her Bodacious Blooms. She writes a newsletter twice a year about peonies & Spring blooming plants.You can contact Karen by clicking the email button below or visit her website, Bodacious Blooms

About Linda @ Life and Linda

Hello, welcome to LifeandLinda. I am from Northern California. I enjoy blogging, Designing Blogs, Decorating, cooking, entertaining, gardening and clogging. I hope you enjoy your visit.

23 comments:

  1. That's it, I am giving up living in the midwest and moving out to where Linda/You are! I want to be YOUR neighbor too! What stunning flowers, and two of my three favorites. Peonies, rannuculous and poppies are my tried and true. I am so glad you shared this with us....

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  2. Wow that's a fantastic story! She did something right since sh's grown and is still in business! I didn't realize peonies are draught tolerant or that deer don't care for them. I would be in my glory walking around there and seeing all those peonies and ranaculus. Because of our deep cold ranaculus are an annual here. She's created a little bit of heaven there! Thanks for sharing :-)

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  3. I am in awe..for some reason I thought peonies were hard to grow there..wow.. was I mistaken..
    I am longing for ranunculus..I can't find any..anywhere here..they cannot survive here..but just a bouquet would be heaven.
    Kudos for al the beauty and hard work..looks gorgeous!

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  4. This is so amzaing! Karen's flowers are absolutely gorgeous! You must be in heaven when you see her flowers in bloom, Linda! I'm sure it's spectacular!

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  5. What an inspiration Karen is! The blooms are just gorgeous. Thank you Linda, for having Karen share her passion with us.

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  6. So Beautiful. I love gorgeous flowers and these really are exceptional. Sheila

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  7. Linda, I love that your friend Karen shared her gorgeous blooms with us. Congratulations to Karen for making the world more beautiful! ♥

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  8. Oh my...Peonies and ranunculus, two of my favorites.

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  9. I love peonies -- they grow very well here on the Canadian prairies where they are considered a heritage flower. But I've never seen (or even heard of) ranunculus -- OMG they're so big and beautiful!

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  10. Absolutely beautiful! I have not seen such gigantic flowers that are so perfectly shaped :)

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  11. What stunning flowers! I wonder if peonies would grow in hot South Texas?
    Thank you for joining us at Thoughts of Home on Thursday!

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  12. What a lovely won who is following her heart's desire! I adore so many of these flowers, I'd love to visit!

    Thanks for sharing such a great story of a lady who has dedicated her life to something she loves. If only we could all be so lucky :)

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  13. Linda, Karen's graden is so wonderful. You're so lucky you have such a lovely neighbor.
    Love

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  14. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK, I think peonies are the answer to California gardeners' challenges. Drought tolerant! AWESOME! What amazing photos Karen has to share here, Linda! They all look like paintings, especially that first one of her acreage. Stunning.

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  15. Holy Crimoli, Karen & Linda...what a riot of color!!! I have peonies that originally grew around my childhood home but I've never had any ranunculus. They are breathtaking!
    Thank you for sharing this information & the link to Karen's site.

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  16. Wow, these photos are stunning and made me smile so much! The pic in the field with your little girl is absolutely precious. Off to your site to see more, Karen.
    Thanks, Linda, for sharing this beautiful post!

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  17. How beautiful! Looks like a slice of gardening heaven to me!

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  18. What an amazing floral farm! We so appreciate you joining the Thoughts of Home on Thursday gathering. May you have a delightfully lovely weekend.

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  19. Beautiful blooms and two of my favorites! I have a peony that I got from my Grandparent's home before they passed away and it bloomed for the first time this year - such a treasure. I also planted my first Ranicula this year as well. Your farm is just amazing...

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  20. Wow, I can't imagine having 2 1/2 acres of peonies!!! Gorgeous!
    Jenna

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  21. Linda, thank you for sharing Karen's flower farm. She may find my current post of interest. '-)
    Thanks for hosting each week.

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  22. This is my dream occupation in life-a flower farm and this farm has my favorite all time flowers.
    I had no idea about the disposition of the peony and that it was drought tolerant.
    I did plant one root this past Spring and it has turned into a lovely plant, hopefully it will survive our hot Summers.
    Every time I visit Amanda in Sacramento we go the market and there are all of these gorgeous bouquets of flowers and so reasonable too. I think you may be the flower capital too!
    xo
    Jemma

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  23. Those flowers are just gorgeous. Maybe I should see about growing Peony's at the farm since there drought tolerate. Only we are definitely not in drought mode right now in Tomball

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