The golden days of summer have faded. Sun drenched afternoons have been replaced with crisp mornings. Nature pauses to exchange it’s wardrobe from lush green, to autumn reds, golds and orange. How kind of our Creator God, to fill the earth with such inexplicable beauty, all for sheer pleasure of mankind! Sad as I am to say goodbye to my flowers, autumn has a way of wooing my heart.

I am not a gardener. Having a flower garden was nowhere close to being on my radar. Until two winters ago when life knocked me over with pregnancy vertigo and more dizziness then I ever had in my life. Held subject to the bed or chair, I grieved the loss of normal busyness and everyday living. I had countless hours to rest, sleep, muse and read. But that rapidly gets old. And so I dreamed. As 2024 came to a close, I created a vision board for 2025. I had a tremendous longing for the very ordinary, daily living, as a stay at home mom and wife. There were a number of goals or ideas I wanted to implement in the next year. A few were; hugging my family more often, creating a better laundry routine, and sprucing up our bedroom. Another desire was to plant plenty of flowers for my own enjoyment. Simple zinnias and sunflowers. Nothing exotic. How delightful it would feel to be up and busy with normal, humble mom life. To walk outside and breathe in aromas of summer. To cut bouquets to my heart’s content. To scatter cheerful blossoms throughout my house. Oh joy of the ordinary!

Spring of 2025 we planted about 4 rows of flowers. The children happily helped with planting. Pulling weeds; not quite as willingly, but they did well. Early July, we were rewarded with cheerful zinnias and brilliant sunflowers! I found myself basking in the pure joy of flowers! I was living out the tiny dream of flowers to my heart’s content! I also loved hosting a few flower garden parties. We gave away many bouquets over the summer besides filling our own house.

Enter my entrepreneur, gardening loving husband. He did the planting and measuring rows, plus offered to build me a work bench for arranging bouquets. He was rapidly implementing ideas to make a business out of flowers. I was cautious but considering, and soon, was caught up in the zeal myself.

In November of 2025, we sat down to dream  flowers and order seeds, as well as discussing a name for our U-pick flower garden. We originally thought to have it more of a place for small groups to enjoy flowers and parties. ‘Gather’ seemed fitting. Gather with friends and gather your flowers. That is still an option, but by far most of our business this summer was for U-pick. We both wanted something else besides ‘flower’. Blossom was not as ordinary. Gather + Blossom clicked! And so it was, Gather + Blossom was born.

We briefly considered using my name as part of it since I’m named with two flowers. But I was bashful about repeating my name in a business. Violet Rose was too flowery for my liking. Imagine me saying, “Hey you all, welcome to Violet Rose Blooms!” And they’d ask, “So where are the violets and the roses?” And I’d say, “Oh, sorry, I don’t have any besides myself, and please don’t cut me. In fact, I’m a transplant here, but haven’t sprouted any blooms yet in the 8 years I‘ve lived here!” “I go barefoot alot and been trying to put down roots but just see no fruits!”

Obviously, that’s a stretching imagination, but still.

My name’s been spelled Violet Rose instead of Rhodes and its weird; they’re like wrong and right both. But let’s get back to the garden….

Starting early July, we were open several evenings a week as well as Saturdays. Our goal was to create a memorable experience in a rural setting. Early this summer, Jerald landscaped a wood chip pathway that led from our driveway, down to the gazebo and all the way over to the gardens.

Guests chose their vase out of the assortment we offered, as well as packets of flower food to extend the life of their bouquet. Over at the arranging tables, we kept snips for cutting and buckets or barrels of water for vase filling. Large decorative pitchers were used for dipping and pouring.

Here’s a basic list of the flowers we grew:

Zinnias- Benary’s giant, ballerina, Oklahoma and Agave. Pro-cut horizon sunflowers,  Mexican sunflowers, gomphrenas, flamingo feather celosia, calendula, silver tip grass, purple fountain grass, lisianthus and a few dahlias. Later on we planted African marigolds and celosia that we picked up at local greenhouses, just to offer more variety. 

We order most of our seeds from Johnny’s  Seeds, but still shopped greenhouses. Plus had a friend start some flowers for us in her greenhouse.

There is so much to learn along the way and we made definite mistakes. Dahlias are gorgeous but finicky and bloomed later. Hopefully over time we can grow more of those, with better skills.

We set up our grainbin bar for payment and vase choosing. We learned people love colored vases and Josie and I spray painted plenty. We scout thrift stores for vases and also take donations.

We used my cabin as a mini flower shop. We kept a cooler in there with bouquets ready to sell. I received this cabin through Make-A-Wish foundation back in 1995 when I had childhood cancer.  Praise God I’m still alive and able to tell the story of God’s miraculous healing!

Jerald built this photo booth out of antique doors.

This was my first arrangement using foam. There’s a definite learning curve and I’ve still got lots to learn.

We had an abundance of flowers and always happy to find a way to bless others. About once a week for most of the summer, we filled pint jars and took them in to our local Assisted Living Home for their tables. The residents loved them. It was a fun little project, besides making a good job for the children.

It’s not a good thing when Saturday evenings look like this. Too often I went out to cut a few flowers for the weekend and just couldn’t stop…. ending up spending waayyy too much time.

Early September I supplied these flowers for part of a bridal shower bouquet bar. We hope to do more of this sort of thing next summer.

For private parties, our price included refreshments and relaxing in our grainbin,  besides cutting bouquets. One of these parties happened on a very hot afternoon, so I offered to host inside the cabin where it was cooler. 

This was my last large bouquet I put together. I’m sad to see the season’s end, aside from the bonus of a less busy schedule. I never used to mourn over such things and felt irritated at those who practically adore summer. While I don’t love the extreme heat, I’m feeling nostalgic over summer’s departure. It seems the older I get the less enthusiasm I have for brutal winters. Less sunshine and lowish moods are a genuine battle for me. 

Our little business has been a good experience this summer. We dream of adding in more flowers and features next summer Lord willing. We’ve learned to love the interaction with community people. It’s our desire to show Jesus through creating a peaceful setting to draw people together and remind them of God. Folks continually commmented how beautiful and peaceful it was. The sunset views, the fields, the gardens, the calves in the pasture…. This is foreign to city people. It’s a perfect way to provide folks a place to enjoy an evening with friends out in God’s beautiful world!

If your ever traveling through southeast Nebraska in the summer, please stop in to visit Gather + Blossom. We’re located near Aubun and would love to meet you! We were happy to have a few folks here this summer from as far east as New Jersey and as far west as Montana!

Minutes before the flowers got bushhogged, I was meandering the gardens, cutting this last bouquet, while singing, My Latest Sun Is Sinking Fast. Truly morbid moments. I raced to the house for my phone to snap a picture before the sun set and basically missed it. “Goodbye sweet gardens, goodbye!”

I highly recommend growing a small flower garden as a gift for yourself. It’s a delightful therapy for both young and old alike!