Dear Farm Family,
Holy Antarctica, y'all. What a month January was! We started out with some beautiful 78-degree days, only to be plunged down to 14 degrees less than a week later.
If you’ve lived around here for a while, you know our Carolina weather likes to keep us on our toes, but this was a wild one even for us. Honestly, we needed some cold weather to keep the plants dormant, but we’d sure prefer it stayed above that 15-degree mark.
Late February through March is the most "nail-biting" part of the year. We are glued to the two-week forecast, praying we don't see any more of those 65-degree "pop-up" warm spells. We’re looking for a slow, steady wake-up call for our plants—not a roller coaster that tricks them into blooming early only to get nipped by a late frost.
🌸 Flower Farm Spotlight
Our winter project—our cut-flower high tunnel—is coming along beautifully, and we’re getting close to the finish line. This space will let us grow more specialty cut flowers for our bouquets—lisianthus, delphinium, ranunculus, anemone—with better quality, longer stems, and a wider variety throughout the season. Check out the high tunnel build video!
You’ll see these blooms in bouquets at the farm stand, at the Waxhaw Farmers Market, and through our flower subscriptions. While we do grow a wide range of flowers in our you-pick field, varieties like lisianthus and delphinium really thrive in a high tunnel setting.
Cold snap protection: With spring flowers already growing in the field, we’ve been protecting them with row covers and lots of leaf mulch. These cold-hardy annuals were planted last fall and benefit from cool temperatures—strong roots now = beautiful blooms later. Fingers crossed they ride this cold spell out. 🤞
💐 How to get early blooms from Ivy Place
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Imagine a fresh, hand-tied bouquet of Ivy Place blooms sitting on your table every week. From March to October, our subscribers get the "best of the field."
- Waxhaw Farmers Market: We’re back biweekly at the Waxhaw Farmer's Market starting February 21st with flower bouquets. Great way to brighten up the late winter blues.
New option: Pre-order by noon Friday → pick up Saturday at the market.
Check all things Ivy Place Flowers on our Instagram.
🍓 Berry Farm Spotlight
We honestly haven’t seen the strawberries in a while. We covered them with row covers on January 15th and haven’t been able to uncover due to weather. First time we have gone through a winter covered for this long. Typically we would only cover a few days if it was under 20 degrees sporadically. We have been peeking under the row covers but are anxiously waiting to roll them back.
Early February we’ll uncover and see how they’re doing.
Behind the scenes, planting season is already warming up:
- Our first round of tomatoes are huge and had to be bumped up into pots. It’s been too cold for the high tunnel, so they’re hanging out a bit longer in the grow room.
- Speaking of that—our grow room build-out has been a game changer for seed starting and getting a jump on spring for veggies and flowers.
We are going to be very busy moving forward. Large amounts for plants to be planted in the ground and bumped up in pots from seeding trays. The strawberry field will need to be weeded and believe it or not we will start getting the strawberries ready for spring - targeting early April if weather will calm down a bit. Plus we need to finish our winter projects.
Catch up on all the latest farm reels and field updates by following us on Instagram and Facebook. We’d love to see you there!
🌞 Give the Gift of an "Unplugged" Summer
2026 Kids’ Farm Camps are filling fast! One of most popular offerings. Our camps give kids (ages 6–11) the chance to see where their food comes from, meet the pollinators, and simply be kids in the great outdoors. The typical days is checking out the farm, picking some fruit, arts/crafts, playing camp games, exploring the garden and having fun making friends.
- When: Weekly sessions starting June 15th (9 AM – 4 PM)
- Investment: $325 per week
👉 Secure Your Child’s Spot Here
It’s wild to think that while we’re still bundled in coats today, in just about 60 days, we’ll be trading these frost covers for berry buckets. Can't wait for that first sun-warmed, juicy strawberry—and we can't wait to share the harvest with you. See you soon!
Warmly,
The Ivy Place Berry Farm Family
Locally Grown. Family Rooted.
