Looking to extend your gift of Mother's Day flowers well beyond May 11?
For the past several decades, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has been an excellent way for people to enjoy seasonal, locally grown goodies from local farmers. Traditionally, folks pay for a subscription upfront—so the farmers can manage their cash flow—in return for a weekly box of vegetables.
Now, we’re seeing floral CSAs, thanks to an abundance of flower farms popping up across the country, including several on the North Shore. The folks who run these farms love growing flowers and want to share their colorful bounty with you and your favorite Mom. Here are several local ones offering CSAs.
Kinsman Farm Flowers
“We’re known for tulips because we go for the dramatic types with flair,” says Marlene Pippins who, with her family owns Kinsman Farm Flowers in Ipswich—run solely as a CSA since 2021. “These aren’t your typical varieties; we purchase specialty bulbs from Holland like apricot and silver Parrot and Rembrandt tulips that, when open, are larger than your palm.”
Pippins, who works a day job as a media manager, also grows—on her six-and-a-half acre farm—nostalgic sweet peas and romantic peonies, followed by summer specialty snapdragons, Seashell Cosmos, giant zinnias, apricot asters, fragrant stock, and designer dahlias, including the showy dinner plate ones. They all go into the farm’s CSA, which runs May through September. Pippins offers a monthly pay-as-you-go subscription for a weekly bouquet, available for pick-up at the Kinsman Farm Flowers barn. The flowers are wrapped in eco-friendly brown paper with the farm’s logo and tied with ribbon.
After graduation from Boston University, Pippins studied floral design and landscape at Essex North Shore Agriculture School. And she has been gardening on the North Shore for over 30 years, including volunteering at Beverly’s Long Hill and Ipswich’s Crane Estate, both run by the Trustees. She is also a former president of the Essex County Garden Club.
“When you have a farm, you have to get up early,” says Pippins. “I just love the morning light. It’s so beautiful and peaceful and the best time to harvest.”
Fioritura Farm, South Hamilton
Fioritura Farm offers a pre-order Mother's Day bouquet, and an array of weekly flower CSA shares to choose from. Options include weekly mixed flower shares and specific shares for tulips, dahlias, and peonies. Fioritura, meaning “bloom” in Italian is owned by Jessie Fabrizio and specializes in sustainably grown flowers. Weekly CSA pick up locations include sites in Hamilton, Essex, Ipswich, Marblehead, Newburyport, Beverly, Salem, Manchester by the Sea, and Rowley.
Whipple Bee Flower Farm, Marblehead
Whipple Bee Flower Farm's owner, Carolyn Whipple Fraser, grows specialty tulips and sunflowers in Marblehead. The business started as a micro flower farm in 2021 and utilizes pollinator friendly techniques. Her offerings include tulip packages that come with work from Marblehead artist Tracy Finn and a pocket nature book from Saltwater Bookstore, weekly tulip subscriptions, and a Summer Sunshine Sunflower Subscription. Pick up sites include locations in Marblehead, Salem, and Beverly.
Anything Grows, Salisbury
In addition to flowers, Anything Grows propagates and grows over 800 varieties of certified organic plants including tomatoes, perennials, berries and fruit, and herbs. A farm store offers their own produce, honey, and eggs. Flower subscriptions include a summer mixed flower share with 6 weeks of bouquets and a 4 week fall mixed flower share. Planning ahead? Anything Grows even offers winter tulip share options. You can choose to pick up at the farm or there are delivery options available.