Why did you pick that name?

Picking a domain name is the playful part of a business. Farming is the hard part. Working in the heat, rainstorms, wind, sleet, and snow—sometimes two or more combined together for a real punch—not always so fun. Boots are worn pretty much year ’round. Fingernails, we won’t go there, but we are talking flower farming here folks.

The name, Once Upon a Dahlia was chosen since it is the beginning of a story. My story. I get to tell it and illustrate it with hard work (insert “farming”) and the flowers grown right here that I am standing in.

Dahlias can tell my story much better than I can so they are my team and my tribe. By September these flowers have a lot of say in my schedule, too. These ladies and gents are my biggest cheerleaders through Summer, if they don’t fall over, I won’t either.

I lovingly return the rallying cry the following Spring, cheering the dahlia tubers out of their slumber. Each get a splash of water in their eyes, some warm soil, to help them wake up, and they are off to reach the end goal.

During the winter months, while the tubers are safely tucked away, I dream about dahlias. Dreams of shape, color, and architectural texture so precise one can’t stop looking at them. Then the alarm shakes me awake. Good dreams to have at night. What the dahlias think about in their sleep is yet to be revealed.

Until tomorrow…when we turn the page in our story, keep your dahlias close and happy.