For as long as I can remember my Dad planted hollyhocks along the kilometer of roadside at our family farm in Newcastle, Ontario. Summer after summer the otherwise unaffected stream of cars that whizzed by, slowed to a crawl during hollyhock season to admire them. When people asked why he grew them his tongue-in-cheek answer was always "traffic control". Over the years his hollyhocks became a local landmark and our stretch along the Lakeshore Rd became known as Hollyhock Lane.
During the first winter of Covid, while visiting in my parents garage, dreaming of spring and lamenting about the things we missed most, I somehow managed to convince him to help me grow flowers so that we could sell them at his roadside peach stand in the summer. When he died unexpectly in the spring, I couldn't bring myself to plant the seeds we had bought together. Summer came and went. There were no hollyhocks, and it broke my heart a little every time a car slowed down in front of the house.
The following year I decided to plant those seeds in the hope it would help me overcome my grief and feel connected to him. As it turned out, it was so much more! For the first time I understood why he planted hollyhocks all those years and Hollyhock Lane Flower Farm was born.
There's something inexplicable about the joy that flowers bring and the connection that's made when someone else feels that joy too. I'm honoured to continue his legacy and share that joy with you!
