About the Rebellious Garden
The Face Behind the Flowers
My name is Laura and I am the face behind the flowers….also known as the crazy garden lady. I am the owner of the Rebellious Garden & Flower Farm. I have an amazing husband and two wonderful kids. I grew up on a small farm in southeastern North Carolina. I was the typical kid who complained about having to help in the gardens and swore I would never live like that as an adult. Hmmm….look who is eating their words. After relocating to Martin County, I realized how much I missed having fresh vegetables and flowers. My husband built four small raised beds in our backyard as a Mother’s Day gift shortly thereafter and the rest is history. When I am not in the garden, I enjoy serving the community through Fire/EMS. I often refer to the garden as my happy place. It is a place to escape. There is something about working in the dirt, harvesting vegetables, and picking flowers that grounds me. I find so much joy in sharing blessings from the garden with friends and family. I enjoy helping others start their own garden and sharing ways to grow food and flowers in small spaces (no yard needed). I began to focus on growing more flowers in 2020, often cutting them and making bouquets for people to bring a smile to their face. Flowers often stir a happy memory for people and during that time, we all needed a little extra happiness. I hope to bring that sense of joy and happiness to more people through gardening and flowers.
About the Farm
The farm began with four small raised beds in our backyard. Each year, we added more beds. I then got crafty and began incorporating vegetables and flowers into the landscape. If we had extra seedlings, we would give them to friends and family to use in their gardens. There was no need for them to go to waste. Other people began to ask us to start extra seedlings for use in their gardens. In 2020, our neighbor offered the use of his yard where he previously had a garden. We happily accepted the offer and got to work right away planting out lots of beans, okra, and flowers. We enjoyed sharing the garden blessings with friends and family. I began cutting flowers and making bouquets to put a smile on people’s faces and just like the seedlings, people began asking for fresh cut bouquets. The dream of having a nursery and flower farm had been a flicker in the back of my head but now it has grown into a flame. Our farm is located in Martin County, North Carolina. We grow on a quarter of an acre in total. We have dreams of expanding to a larger growing area in the future. We grow vegetable seedlings for home gardeners and make bouquets from the flowers that we grow.
What is in a name?
I have always been curious about how the name of a business originated so I thought I would share how the name “The Rebellious Garden” came to be. I’d like to think I was a good kid growing up. If you ask my brothers, they may say how annoying I was. Ha Ha! Growing up, I never really fit in. In school there were always different groups of people and I never fit into the box of what defined certain groups or their interests. When I realized that it was okay to not fit in the box and quit worrying what others thought of me, I grew and I thrived! I did things that made me happy, things that were interesting to me (nothing illegal, I assure you). I sought out ways to learn more about the things that piqued my curiosity. I never fit into the box and that was okay because outside of the box was where I thrived.
Now, take all of that and apply it to the garden. I love my garden. I like it when it is neat & tidy (mostly so I can see if I’m about to step on a snake…yikes). However, the garden does not care about being neat and tidy. No matter how hard I work to contain the garden, keeping vines tied neatly to a trellis, or keeping plants contained within the raised beds…….the garden grows. It grows how it wants to grow and it grows out of the box. When the garden grows out of the boxes and off of the trellises, it thrives! I love it when the garden thrives. The garden is rebellious. It thrives outside of the lines, just like me. That is how “The Rebellious Garden & Flower Farm, LLC” got its name.
Why buying local matters more than you realize.
Buying locally grown and locally made products is vital to our economy. Not only are you supporting a small business, you are supporting multiple businesses and organizations in your local community. It allows the small business owner to spend locally for both family and business needs, as well as support local charities and organizations.
Flowers that are grown locally are an important part of the local ecosystem. They attract beneficial insects to the area and build healthy soil using sustainable farming practices.
Buying local also reduces your carbon footprint. Did you know that the vast majority of flowers sold in US stores are imported from other countries? Yep, approximately 80% of flowers are imported from other countries. Many of those flowers are sprayed with pesticides to kill off bugs before they are imported to the states.
Speaking of imported flowers, many of those flowers are packed and shipped without water and may be several days old before making it to the store. Local flowers are cut fresh from the farm, packaged, and sold directly to the consumer. This practice allows the consumer to enjoy fresh, fragrant flowers with a longer vase life.
Locally made products and locally grown flowers are put together with passion and love. I know that sounds cheesy but hear me out. The care and love that is put into each handmade item and bouquet makes a difference in the product. It shows through the quality of the product, the personal touches when packaging the products & wrapping bouquets, as well as customer service.
Last but certainly not least……and my favorite reason to buy local……Buying local flowers gives you a selection of beautiful, unique blooms that are typically unavailable for purchase at the store. Ranunculus, anemones, gomphrena, and snapdragons along with unique varieties & colors of daffodils, tulips, and sunflowers just to name a few.
Support local businesses by purchasing locally grown and made products!