man of the flower

SUBSTACK

WORKSHOPS

BUY BLOOMS

MY GARDEN PATH

I AM A

CULTIVATING LOCAL BLOOMS AND A BOLD VISION FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW

GROWING IN 2025

Man of the Flower is currently overseeing the inaugural season of a market garden – a small-scale farm that produces diverse, high-yield crops for sale to the community – in Sperryville, VA, located in the foothills of Northern Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

Blooms available starting in June at the following locations:

A vintage shop located in the Sperryville Marketplace.
ADDRESS – 3 River Ln, Sperryville, VA 22740
OPEN – Thurs-Sun, 11a-5p
Stop by for a bite at this delicious restaurant on the way to/from Shenandoah National Park. Our flowers will be available in the farm store.
ADDRESS – 11692 Lee Hwy, Sperryville, VA 22740
OPEN – Mon, Tue, Fri 10a-5p; Sat & Sun 9a-5p
Flowers will available for pickup on the porch of this future tea shop/book nook, a sister space to Wild Roots Apothecary.
ADDRESS – 10 River Lane, Sperryville, VA
OPEN – TBA

Looking for a special order?

Drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do!

FOLLOW ALONG

“This giant plastic spider and its web of tubing would soon be undertaking a massive responsibility – the dispensation of love to plants under my care, the fate of my experiment in small-scale flower farming, the sustained revelation of l

“A man in his seventies who’s lived here his entire life said he’d never seen a deluge like this one – yet after two decades of atmospheric rivers in Southern California, the rhythm and intensity felt oddly familiar to me. In

If you’re going to be in the Sperryville, VA area on Saturday, May 17th, I’ll be teaching a workshop at @lovewildbotanicals / @wildroots_apothecary from 3p-5p. (Link in bio)

“How the Artist Grows: Tools for Tending Your Creative Ga

the first two blooms of the season appeared today! this precious @floretflower bachelor button and one of the fragrant pitcher sage cuttings i brought with me on the cross-country drive from los angeles.

when i arrived in virginia three months ago,

“Boasting about virility demonstrates weakness. Ignoring collected wisdom hastens our demise. Hoarding abundance incites revolution. I reject this resurgent, idiotic masculinity, embodying an alternative as a Man of the Flower.” More at l

“Your first year growing in a new climate is like watching a movie you’ve seen before, but dubbed in a language you barely know.” Read more about our bumpy start to spring at link in bio!

“… with our first plants in the ground, I thought it would be prudent to name the values rooting our own endeavor, should we lose our way in the wilderness.”

learn more in my latest substack, link in bio!

first arrangement of the season, with flowers offered from the woods (and previous owners who planted daffodils in the decades before we arrived). life is returning to the hollow!

(daffodil, pine, spicebush)

my garden path

Confronted with the blank slate of a former trash heap in my landlord’s Los Angeles backyard, I began with dreams of regenerating the soil and providing food for myself at the dawn of a global pandemic.

Over the next five years, I cultivated curiosity about companion planting for beneficial insects, incorporating native perennials, and tending a cutting garden for my increasingly elaborate flower + herbal arrangements.

Learning to live life in rhythm with the seasons helped me root in uncertain times. The garden became an antidote to dread and disconnect – and a way to reimagine my path forward amid widespread systems collapse.

But then my landlord told me I’d have to unplant my urban paradise, as he was hoping to one day build more units in the backyard – inspired by the massive redevelopment next-door.

I dug up the dahlia tubers, then transplanted the remaining shrubs and trees to plots across the city: friends ‘ gardens inspired by my own, volunteer-tended native plant installations in Elysian Park. The tools went to the non-profit I worked for as a gardening artist, since the middle school garden I tended burned in the Eaton Fire.

I packed up my cuttings and seeds for a cross-country trek, turning my vision toward a place with room to grow – the former parking lot of the old trout farm my family recently purchased in Northern Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. This would be the home of our new market garden, and the site of my continued evolution into a Man of the Flower.

My experiment in personal growth evolved into a third space for friends, family, and neighbors; a refuge for wildlife, artists, and community organizers; a sanctuary where we nurtured positive visions for the future.

I want to understand how these high-yield raised bed plots could be planted across America, offering community and connection in a fragmented world. I am driven by a simple purpose, one my ancestors have pursued across centuries: