It’s mid-September and the farm feels like fall as leaves start to dot the landscape and the colors shift to golden tones. Fall is one of the top seasons for visiting the Shenandoah Valley, with the Skyline Drive curling through our ridge line, pumpkin patches, and corn mazes capturing weekend adventurers. We frequented them as kids but I never fully appreciated the bounty of beauty that fall provides in the Valley until this stage of life.

As I begin to really acknowledge my gratitude for fall I wonder if subconsciously it plays a part in my selection of heirloom mums as my ultimate favorite crop. As our last fresh flower crop of the season, this one has my heart.

The heirloom chrysanthemums have a story as old as time and have become a year-long obsession (strike - passion). And one we dug into when we created our Mum Growing Course helping folks learn about this beautiful flower and how to grow them just like we do!

Last year, we had the honor of hosting the national breeding trials for new mum varieties, and this year we are doing the same times 10! We even built a high tunnel specifically for this crop and packed it to the brim with new and old varieties of all kinds.

As this beautiful crop that we are growing a lot of comes into its last full month before bloom, it's gearing up to put on quite a display. Rest assured we will be focusing more on my favorite crop soon. From our signature Mum Bouquet (which you can now preorder!) to our newest event, the Mum Showcase. we plan to show lots of gratitude to the grand finale crop off the farm: the heirloom chrysanthemum.

XOXO, Jess