The Big Little Flower Farm

09/09/2026

Come with me as I restock the shelves at the new Cellar Door in Duffy Ohio! Marcy Cross Riley Karen Stout

09/08/2026

🌿🐝 PLANT SPOTLIGHT: LEMON BALM 🐝🌿
The Big Little Flower Farm

Meet one of my favorite herbs in the garden — Lemon Balm! 🍋🌱

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is a beautiful member of the mint family with soft green leaves and the most wonderful fresh, lemony scent. Rub a leaf gently between your fingers and you’ll immediately understand how this sweet little herb got its name!

But here’s something I especially love about Lemon Balm…

🐝 THE BEES LOVE IT TOO!

In fact, the genus name Melissa comes from the Greek word for “honey bee.” When Lemon Balm is allowed to flower, its tiny blossoms become a welcome food source for bees and other pollinators.

🌿 WHY WE LOVE GROWING LEMON BALM

🐝 Pollinator friendly
🍋 Beautiful fresh lemon fragrance
🌱 Easy to grow
🌿 A wonderful traditional herb
🫖 Its leaves are commonly used in herbal teas
✂️ Responds well to harvesting and grows back readily
🌸 Fits beautifully into a cottage, herb, or pollinator garden

Lemon Balm has a long history of traditional herbal use and has been treasured for generations as a calming, aromatic herb. Even brushing against it while working in the garden releases that wonderful lemony fragrance.

And here at The Big Little Flower Farm, we don’t just admire our herbs…

We love finding ways to bring the garden into our Bees & Blooms Apothecary. 🌿🫙🐝

Lemon Balm is one of those plants that perfectly represents what we’re all about — growing beautiful things, feeding the pollinators, learning the old ways, and turning what we grow into something useful.

Our Lemon Balm even inspired one of our apothecary creations:

🍋🌿 OH SWEET MELISSA — Lemon Balm Salve 🌿🍋

So if you’re looking for an herb to add to your garden next spring, put Lemon Balm on your list.

Just give her a little room…

Because like most members of the mint family, once she’s happy, she may decide the whole garden belongs to her. 😂🌿

But when the bees are buzzing, the leaves smell like sunshine and lemons, and the garden is alive with pollinators…

We don’t mind sharing a little space. 🐝💛

🌿 Grow something beautiful. Grow something useful. And always grow something for the bees. 🐝

The Big Little Flower Farm
🌸🐝 Bees • Blooms • Botanicals

09/08/2026

Dahlias are my favorites!

09/03/2026

🌸🐝 SIGN UP TO GET ALL THE THINGS! 🐝🌸

Friends, if you love The Big Little Flower Farm, make sure you’re on our email list! 💌

This is where you’ll get the scoop on:

🌿 NEW PRODUCT DROPS
🐝 Bees & Blooms Botanical Skincare
🌸 Seasonal Collections
✨ New scents & limited releases
🛍️ Markets, events & where to find us
💛 Farm news, special announcements & all the good stuff!

And you KNOW I’m always dreaming up something new around here. 😂🌿🐝

💌 SIGN UP TO GET ALL THE THINGS!

It’s super easy:

👉 Head over to our Shopify store
👉 SCROLL ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE
👉 Enter your email in the email sign-up box
👉 And BOOM — you’re in! 🎉

🌸 SHOP + SIGN UP HERE:
https://the-big-little-flower-farm-2.myshopify.com/?_ab=0&_fd=0&_sc=1

Don’t let Facebook decide whether you get to see our newest goodies. 😂 Sign up and let us send the good stuff straight to you!

🐝🌿 The Big Little Flower Farm
Bees & Blooms Botanical Skincare

Small batches • Botanical goodness • Made with a whole lotta love 🌸🐝

Botanical Skincare Products and Botanical Art

08/31/2026

🌿🛍️ MARKET MONDAY 🛍️🌿

SHOP SMALL • SUPPORT LOCAL • LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE

It’s MARKET MONDAY, and this week we’re shining the spotlight on THREE LOCAL BUSINESSES that help make our area a little sweeter, a little more fun, and a whole lot more interesting! ❤️

🎭✨ THE PARLOR THEATER

Right in downtown New Martinsville, The Parlor Theater at the Doolin Center is a wonderful little piece of our local arts and entertainment community.

The Parlor hosts live performances, concerts, magic shows, special events and community arts programming, bringing performers and audiences together right here at home.

Supporting places like The Parlor means supporting ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY.

🎭 Follow The Parlor Theater:
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bf7AWEibg/?mibextid=wwXIfr

🍭🍫 CLANCY’S CANDY

Now THIS is the kind of business that can make a Monday better. 😂🍬

Clancy’s Candy is all about the SWEET STUFF!

If you’re looking for something delicious for yourself, a special treat for someone you love, or just need to satisfy that sweet tooth, check them out and see what goodies they have available.

Because sometimes supporting small business looks like buying candy.

AND WE ARE COMPLETELY OKAY WITH THAT. 😂🍫

🍬 Follow Clancy’s Candy:
https://www.facebook.com/share/19WYVYdv85/?mibextid=wwXIfr

❄️🍬 VAN CAMP FARM BLIZZARD BITES

Last—but definitely not least—we have Van Camp Farm Blizzard Bites!

These folks are bringing us another fun way to satisfy that snack attack with their Blizzard Bites and specialty treats.

Check out their page to see what they’re currently making, what flavors and goodies are available, and where you can get your hands on them.

❄️ Follow Van Camp Farm Blizzard Bites:
https://www.facebook.com/share/193MPFX47j/?mibextid=wwXIfr

🌻 WHY MARKET MONDAY?

Because when you spend your money with a LOCAL BUSINESS, you’re doing more than buying a ticket, a piece of candy or a favorite treat.

You’re supporting a FAMILY.

You’re supporting a DREAM.

You’re supporting someone who decided to take an idea and say…

“I’M GOING TO GIVE THIS A TRY.”

And THAT deserves our support. ❤️

So this week, take a minute to:

❤️ LIKE THEIR PAGES
💬 COMMENT ON THEIR POSTS
↗️ SHARE THEIR BUSINESSES
🛍️ SHOP LOCAL WHEN YOU CAN
📣 TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THEM

Sometimes the biggest thing you can do for a small business doesn’t cost you a penny.

A SHARE CAN INTRODUCE THEM TO THEIR NEXT CUSTOMER.

🌿🛍️ MARKET MONDAY

Local People • Local Dreams • Local Business

Let’s keep introducing our community to the wonderful people and businesses right here in our own backyard. ❤️

08/27/2026

Saving Verbena Seeds

08/25/2026

🌸✨ PLANT SPOTLIGHT | COSMOS ✨🌸
The Big Little Flower Farm

If there were ever a flower that looked like it was DANCING THROUGH THE GARDEN, it would have to be the COSMOS! 🌸

Tall, slender stems. Feathery green foliage. Delicate blooms floating above the garden in shades of pink, white, blush, burgundy, orange and yellow.

They look fragile.

They look fancy.

But underneath all that delicate beauty is one surprisingly TOUGH, EASYGOING FLOWER.

And cosmos have some pretty fascinating secrets hiding behind those petals!

🌎 THEIR STORY BEGAN IN MEXICO

Garden cosmos, Cosmos bipinnatus, are native to Mexico and parts of southwestern North America.

They’re sometimes called Mexican aster, tall cosmos or cut-leaf cosmos, and today they’ve made themselves at home in gardens around the world.

But their name might be one of the most beautiful things about them.

🌌 COSMOS MEANS ORDER & HARMONY

The word cosmos comes from the Greek word kosmos, associated with order, harmony and an orderly universe.

And just look at one!

Those petals arranged around that perfect golden center almost look like somebody sat down and carefully measured where every single one should go.

So basically…

Someone looked at this little flower and thought:

“THAT LOOKS LIKE THE UNIVERSE HAS ITS ACT TOGETHER.” 😂🌌

Meanwhile, the rest of my garden is over there doing whatever it wants.

🌼 ONE COSMOS “FLOWER” IS ACTUALLY A WHOLE COMMUNITY OF FLOWERS

Here’s one of my favorite botanical facts!

Cosmos belong to the Asteraceae family, along with sunflowers, dahlias, zinnias and daisies.

And that beautiful cosmos bloom isn’t technically one individual flower.

It’s a FLOWER HEAD made up of MANY tiny flowers called florets.

Those colorful outer “petals” are ray florets.

And that golden center?

It’s packed with tiny disc florets.

So when you cut ONE cosmos for a bouquet…

Botanically speaking, you just cut a whole bunch of flowers pretending to be one flower.

SHOW-OFFS. 😂🌸

🌿 THOSE FEATHERY LEAVES ARE PART OF THEIR NAME

Have you ever noticed how beautiful cosmos foliage is?

It almost looks like dill, fennel or little green feathers.

The species name bipinnatus refers to those finely divided leaves.

And when you plant a big patch of cosmos, that delicate foliage creates one of my favorite effects in the garden:

A CLOUD OF FLOWERS FLOATING OVER GREEN LACE. 🌸🌿

🐝🦋 THE POLLINATORS HAVE NOTICED THEM TOO

Cosmos aren’t just beautiful for us.

Their open flower centers make them easily accessible to bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.

Plant a big patch and you’ll quickly discover you’re not the only one enjoying it.

There will be visitors. 😂🐝

And if you leave some spent blooms instead of cutting everything, those flowers can mature into seeds that add even more value to the garden.

🌿 THEY ACTUALLY PREFER NOT TO BE SPOILED

This might be one of the BEST things about cosmos.

They can tolerate heat, drought and relatively poor soil once established.

And here’s where gardeners can accidentally cause trouble:

TOO MUCH LOVE CAN MEAN FEWER FLOWERS.

Very rich soil or too much nitrogen can encourage cosmos to produce lots of gorgeous green foliage instead of putting their energy into blooms.

So if you’ve ever fertilized your cosmos like crazy and ended up growing a beautiful six-foot-tall green monster with three flowers…

Well…

Now we know. 😂

Cosmos are basically saying:

“KEEP YOUR FANCY FERTILIZER. I’VE GOT THIS.”

🌱 THEY’RE WONDERFULLY EASY TO GROW

Cosmos are one of those flowers I love recommending to beginning gardeners.

Give them:

☀️ FULL SUN

🌱 WELL-DRAINED SOIL

💧 REGULAR WATER WHILE THEY’RE GETTING ESTABLISHED

And then…

STOP BABYING THEM. 😂

Seeds can be direct-sown outdoors after danger of frost has passed.

Cover them lightly rather than burying them deeply.

Once established, they’re remarkably easygoing plants.

Taller varieties may appreciate some support, especially if they’re growing somewhere windy.

✂️ THE MORE YOU CUT, THE MORE THEY BLOOM

Now THIS is where cosmos really earn their place in the cut flower garden.

Regular harvesting and deadheading encourage the plants to continue flowering.

So the relationship basically goes:

✂️ Cut flowers.

🌸 Plant makes flowers.

✂️ Cut MORE flowers.

🌸 Plant makes MORE flowers.

This is the kind of relationship I am looking for in my life. 😂

🌱 OR…LET THEM GO TO SEED

If you stop deadheading and allow some flowers to mature, cosmos can readily reseed themselves in favorable conditions.

Which means next year you may walk outside and discover cosmos growing somewhere you absolutely did not plant cosmos.

Gardeners call these volunteers.

I call them…

FREE FLOWERS. 😂🌸

🌱 Plant cosmos.

🌸 Let them seed.

🌱 Find baby cosmos next year.

😏 Take full credit for your brilliant garden planning.

🌈 AND THEY AREN’T JUST PINK!

When most people picture cosmos, they think of those beautiful pink and white flowers.

But the cosmos family has MUCH more going on.

Cosmos bipinnatus varieties can bloom in shades of:

🤍 White

🌸 Blush & Pink

💗 Rose

💜 Lavender

🍷 Burgundy & Maroon

And breeders have created some wonderfully strange forms too.

There are ruffled cosmos, striped cosmos, doubles, semi-doubles, and even varieties such as ‘Seashells’, whose petals roll into little tubes.

But then another species enters the garden…

🔥 SULPHUR COSMOS

Cosmos sulphureus brings an entirely different color palette.

Think:

💛 Yellow

🧡 Gold

🔥 Orange

❤️ Fiery red-orange

Same airy cosmos personality…

just wearing much louder clothes. 😂

🍫🌸 AND THEN THERE’S CHOCOLATE COSMOS

Yes.

You read that correctly.

CHOCOLATE. COSMOS.

Cosmos atrosanguineus produces gorgeous deep burgundy-maroon flowers.

But the really fascinating part?

The flowers are famous for having a chocolate-like fragrance. 🍫

Because apparently being beautiful wasn’t enough.

Nature decided this one should smell like dessert too.

😂🍫🌸

🌸 COSMOS ARE PERFECT FOR A WILD, LOOSE GARDEN

There’s something about cosmos that instantly changes the feeling of a garden.

They don’t stand there stiffly.

They MOVE.

A breeze comes through and the entire patch starts swaying.

Bees climb around the golden centers.

Butterflies move from flower to flower.

The stems weave through neighboring plants.

And suddenly the garden feels a little less designed…

and a little more ALIVE.

That’s probably what I love most about them.

They’re beautiful without being fussy.

Delicate without actually being fragile.

Elegant without demanding perfect conditions.

And they’re just as happy growing in a carefully planned flower bed as they are popping up somewhere they absolutely…

WERE NOT PLANTED. 😂

Maybe that’s why their name fits them so perfectly.

🌌 COSMOS.

Order.

Harmony.

A tiny universe growing right there in the garden.

With just enough chaos thrown in to remind us…

NATURE IS STILL IN CHARGE. 😂🌿

🌸 GROW THE FLOWERS.
🐝 FEED THE POLLINATORS.
✂️ CUT THE BOUQUETS.
🌱 LET A FEW GO TO SEED.
💚 AND ALWAYS LEAVE A LITTLE ROOM FOR THE GARDEN TO SURPRISE YOU.

🌻🐝🌿

The Big Little Flower Farm
Bees, Buds & Blooms Garden Club

08/24/2026

🐞🌿✨ INSECT SPOTLIGHT | LARGE MILKWEED BUG NYMPH ✨🌿🐞
The Big Little Flower Farm

If you grow MILKWEED, you may walk outside one day and discover a whole little convention of bright orange and black bugs hanging out on your seed pods.

Before you panic and start reaching for the bug spray…

MEET THE LARGE MILKWEED BUG! 🧡🖤

Oncopeltus fasciatus

And if you’re looking at a bunch of bright orange youngsters without fully developed wings, you’re probably looking at the NYMPHS.

These little guys are another fascinating example of just how much life one patch of milkweed can support.

🧡 THE BABIES DON’T LOOK QUITE LIKE THE ADULTS

Large milkweed bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis, which means there’s no caterpillar or pupal stage.

They go:

🥚 Egg → 🧡 Nymph → 🖤 Adult

The newly hatched nymphs are tiny and brilliantly colored. As they grow, they pass through FIVE nymphal stages called instars, shedding their exoskeleton between each one. Their black wing pads become increasingly noticeable as they approach adulthood. (Entomology and Nematology Department⁠)

And here’s something REALLY cool…

🤍 YOU MIGHT FIND A GHOSTLY WHITE ONE!

Every once in a while, you may notice a milkweed bug that looks dramatically paler than all its friends.

It probably isn’t some rare albino milkweed bug.

You may have caught it right after a molt!

Freshly molted nymphs can be very pale before their new exoskeleton hardens and their familiar coloration develops. (BugGuide⁠)

🌱 THEY’RE AFTER THE SEEDS

Unlike monarch caterpillars that munch away on milkweed leaves, large milkweed bugs are primarily SEED FEEDERS.

They have piercing-sucking mouthparts that allow them to feed on developing and mature milkweed seeds.

That’s why you’ll often find groups gathered around milkweed pods, especially once those pods begin maturing and opening. (University of Minnesota Extension⁠)

👶👶👶 WHY ARE THERE SO MANY TOGETHER?!

This is one of the first things people notice.

You don’t always find ONE milkweed bug.

Sometimes you find a whole MILKWEED BUG DAYCARE. 😂

Groups of orange-and-black nymphs can cluster together on milkweed pods, stems and seeds. Large aggregations of nymphs on milkweed have been documented repeatedly. (BugGuide⁠)

🧡🖤 THAT COLOR ISN’T TRYING TO HIDE ANYTHING

Quite the opposite!

Orange, red and black are classic warning colors in the insect world.

Milkweed contains potent defensive chemicals, and several insects that specialize on milkweed have evolved ways of dealing with them.

Think about the color theme happening around your milkweed patch:

🧡 Monarch butterflies
🖤 Monarch caterpillars
🧡 Milkweed bugs
🖤 Milkweed beetles

That’s not an accident.

Instead of saying…

“Please don’t notice me.”

Nature is basically saying…

“YOU CAN SEE ME JUST FINE. EATING ME IS YOUR DECISION.” 😂

🌿 ARE THEY HURTING MY MILKWEED?

Usually, not enough to worry about.

The University of Minnesota Extension notes that large milkweed bugs do not cause significant harm to milkweed plants. (University of Minnesota Extension⁠)

They may reduce some seed production when they’re feeding heavily on pods, but if your goal is creating a diverse wildlife and pollinator garden rather than harvesting every milkweed seed…

I’d leave them alone.

They’re part of the milkweed ecosystem too. 🌿

🐛 AND NO — THEY AREN’T MONARCH BABIES!

This one is important!

I can absolutely understand the confusion when someone sees a pile of orange-and-black insects crawling all over their milkweed.

But monarchs and milkweed bugs are completely different insects.

A monarch goes:

Egg → Caterpillar → Chrysalis → Butterfly

A large milkweed bug goes:

Egg → Nymph → Adult Bug

No caterpillar.

No chrysalis.

No butterfly.

Just progressively bigger and more fabulous orange bugs. 😂

🔍 HOW CAN YOU RECOGNIZE A LARGE MILKWEED BUG NYMPH?

Look for:

🧡 Bright orange to reddish-orange abdomen
🖤 Black legs
🖤 Dark markings that become more noticeable with age
🖤 Developing black wing pads on older nymphs
🌿 Groups congregating around milkweed pods and seeds

They can reach roughly ½ inch long while still in the nymph stage. (University of Minnesota Extension⁠)

🌱 MILKWEED IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A MONARCH PLANT

This is one of my favorite things about growing it.

We plant milkweed thinking:

“I’m helping the monarchs.” 🦋

And then we start LOOKING.

Suddenly there’s an entire little world happening on those plants.

Beetles.

Bugs.

Bees.

Caterpillars.

Predators.

Pollinators.

Eggs.

Nymphs.

And creatures most of us have probably walked past a thousand times without ever knowing their names.

The Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) may not get the celebrity status of the monarch…

but it belongs in the story too. 🧡🖤🌿

So if you see a pile of these bright orange babies partying on your milkweed pods…

DON’T PANIC.

Grab your magnifying glass.

You’ve got another fascinating little resident in the garden. 🔎🐞

🌻 The Big Little Flower Farm

Grow the plants. Watch what shows up. Learn their names. And suddenly your garden becomes an entire world. 🌿🐝🦋🐞

08/24/2026

🌻🛍️✨ MARKET MONDAY! ✨🛍️🌻
The Big Little Flower Farm

I think we need to make MONDAYS a little more exciting! 💛

So welcome to MARKET MONDAY — a new weekly tradition where we celebrate small businesses, local growers, makers, gardeners, creators, and friends doing really cool things!

Because there is room for ALL of us to grow. 🌱
And when small businesses support small businesses, our whole community blooms. 🌸

And speaking of blooming… 👀

🌻 THE BIG LITTLE FLOWER FARM

There are some VERY exciting things happening over the next year at The Big Little Flower Farm, and I am trying really hard not to spill the beans just yet! 😂

New ideas.
New adventures.
New things growing.
And maybe a few surprises you aren’t expecting. 👀🌿🐝

ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE COMING SOON!

You’re definitely going to want to STAY TUNED! 🌻

But while we’re waiting… let’s show some love to some of my favorite people and places!

📸🎄 KAREN STOUT FINE ART STUDIO

Hop on over and see what is happening with the upcoming Fall & Christmas Specials! 🎄📸

There are some FUN sessions coming, and Christmas portrait season is going to be here before we know it!

🌿🐝 BEES, BUDS & BLOOMS GARDEN CLUB

If you’re plant obsessed like the rest of us, Bees, Buds & Blooms is always POPPING OFF with gardening tips, tricks, plant information, classes, and all kinds of planty goodness.

Come learn something new — or come hang out with people who understand why you absolutely needed one more plant. 😂🪴

🌸👩‍🌾 NANA’S BLOOMERS — SUSAN POLING

Go visit my Soil Sister Susan Poling over at Nana’s Bloomers!

Susan is another wonderful source of garden knowledge, growing information, flowers, and all things gardening. 🌱🌸

We Soil Sisters have to stick together! 😂💚

🛍️✨ THE CELLAR DOOR — NEW MARTINSVILLE

My friend Marcy Riley at The Cellar Door has such a fun variety of vintage treasures, new finds, unique gifts, home décor, and those little things you didn’t know you needed until you saw them.

Need a gift?

Go to The Cellar Door.

Need a little something for yourself?

Also go to The Cellar Door. 😂🛍️

🪴🌿 GRAVE CREEK BOTANICALS — MOUNDSVILLE, WV

Plant people, this one is for YOU!

Grave Creek Botanicals carries some fantastic houseplants and hosts fun events like Plant Bingo! 🪴🎉

AND you can find Bees & Blooms Tallow Products from The Big Little Flower Farm there, too! 🐝🌿

🌱🌸 HANNIBAL GARDEN CENTER

Another great stop when you’re ready to FILL THAT GARDEN!

Whether you’re looking for garden plants, seasonal favorites, or beautiful houseplants, Hannibal Garden Center is definitely one to keep on your plant-shopping list.

🪴🌱 THE PLANT HABITAT — MARYLAND

Another fantastic resource for my fellow plant addicts!

The Plant Habitat is a great place for plant resources, houseplant supplies, and soil to keep those indoor jungles happy and thriving. 🌿

And this is just the beginning…

Every MONDAY, I’m going to use MARKET MONDAY to share more small businesses, growers, makers, artists, shops, garden centers, farms, and local people doing amazing things.

Maybe you’ll discover your new favorite shop.

Maybe you’ll find a new plant place.

Maybe you’ll meet a local maker.

And maybe you’ll spend a few dollars with a small business instead of clicking that giant ADD TO CART button somewhere else. 😉💛

Because when you support a small business, you’re supporting someone’s dream, someone’s family, someone’s farm, someone’s art, and someone’s crazy idea that they decided to turn into something REAL.

🌻 SHOP SMALL.
🐝 SUPPORT LOCAL.
🌱 SHARE THEIR POSTS.
🌸 TAG YOUR FRIENDS.
💛 TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THE BUSINESSES YOU LOVE.

LET’S ALL HELP EACH OTHER GROW.

Welcome to MARKET MONDAY! 🌻🛍️🐝

Have a small business you think we need to feature on an upcoming Market Monday? Tag them below! 👇

The Big Little Flower Farm
Growing flowers, community & a few big ideas. 🌻🐝🌿