Bee Merry Farm Skagit Valley

Bee Merry Farm Skagit Valley Bee Merry Farm is located in the heart of Skagit Valley and offers seasonal flowers, honey, and dahlia tubers.

I like to make things look pretty as much for other people as for myself. Putting effort into how something looks - whet...
09/02/2026

I like to make things look pretty as much for other people as for myself. Putting effort into how something looks - whether a tablescape or a cozy reading nook - is one of the ways I express my care for others. This is true in the classroom as well, so when I moved into a new room this summer (fifth move in seven years, but who’s counting? 😉) I poured a lot of intention into creating an inviting space for both the adults and students who will use it. Calm colors, tables graced with plants, wall-papered shelves - everything thoughtfully procured and placed.

Today I was asked: “Are you ready for the kids to ruin your pretty room?” Huh, I thought. “No,” I said, “Because they’re not going to.”

I used to velcro jars of fresh flowers to students’ tables every week. One student often left with pollen on her nose, but nothing was ever ruined, not by a long shot. How quick we are to underestimate children. They can learn with plants on their tables. They can learn with fancy pens in their reach. They can learn with soft lights and throw pillows. “Pretty” is for kids, too.

I didn’t have time in the flowers after school today, so these pictures from a few days ago will have to do. The world has enough ugliness - here’s to softening spaces with pretty things.

I have a hard time pulling flowers that have self-seeded, so I often end up with bits of this-and-that interspersed in r...
09/01/2026

I have a hard time pulling flowers that have self-seeded, so I often end up with bits of this-and-that interspersed in random places. Sometimes I will transplant volunteer flowers to holes where I’ve removed dahlias, but most of the time I just let them be. I figure if they have the will to grow, who am I to get in their way?

I have 14 Burfoot Eva dahlias growing harmoniously with self-seeded marigolds right now. It’s the kind of perfection that only Mother Nature can execute and I can’t get enough of it.

Burfoot Eva hybridized by Burfoot Flowers


Two second-year dahlia seedlings. I’m keeping one, and going to compost the other at the end of the season. Can you gues...
08/31/2026

Two second-year dahlia seedlings. I’m keeping one, and going to compost the other at the end of the season. Can you guess which is which?

I’m tossing the majority of the second-years, actually. Most just don’t spark joy for me or fill any sort of void in the dahlia world. A chunk of third-years are having their last hoorah this season too. Being selective isn’t easy!

As I get older and more curmudgeonly (or maybe I’m just confident in what I like and don’t like 😉), there are some words...
08/29/2026

As I get older and more curmudgeonly (or maybe I’m just confident in what I like and don’t like 😉), there are some words and phrases used in the flower growing world that drive me bonkers. One is “obsessed” and the other is “stopped me in my tracks.” They’re right up there with the entirely overused “That’s a good question” response when someone is asked a question. That one is nails on a chalkboard for me. (See? Curmudgeon.)

As much as I avoid those words and phrases as much as possible, they describe my daily reaction to this dahlia rather accurately. I am obsessed with it, and I do stop to admire it daily. I would hang it on the fridge if I could (“Look, Mom! I grew this!”).

This dahlia, currently named 2026-36, is a waterlily dahlia grown from seed (the seed parent is Hollyhill Daydream). 2026-36 has many years of trialing ahead of her before being released, but I hope others will be obsessed with her one day too. Maybe they’ll even stop in their tracks to admire her.





A little photo dump of some of the newest dahlias blooming (all are first year seedlings, so these are the only ones gro...
08/25/2026

A little photo dump of some of the newest dahlias blooming (all are first year seedlings, so these are the only ones growing in the whole world & that will never cease to amaze me!). I’ve never lucked out with so many potential keepers. Fingers and toes are crossed that these are making decent tubers so they can move onto Year Two!





I’m trying to get my sea legs with taking dahlia cultivar photos for the website. The awkwardness of trying to hold a bu...
08/20/2026

I’m trying to get my sea legs with taking dahlia cultivar photos for the website. The awkwardness of trying to hold a bunch of flowers in one hand while aiming for just the right lighting, just the right angle, and with just the right “look” is surprisingly challenging. My favorite is when I have the stems positioned just so (because there’s always one that wants to roll and face backwards) and then they start slipping from my grasp. Sometimes it’s a comedy of errors and I just hope that none of the neighbors are watching.

My stamina for the process is lacking, so after just a few shots (Chimacum Wendy and Sandia Ruthie), I threw in the towel and wandered the seedling patch. Everything else pictured are first year seedlings. They have a long time before their website debuts, so I just photograph them like a proud parent at their kid’s first band concert: taking way too many photos that are probably only interesting to me. 😂

Sometimes I wish life would slow down.  My counselor is helping me re-think assigning value to emotions (i.e., there is ...
08/18/2026

Sometimes I wish life would slow down.
 
My counselor is helping me re-think assigning value to emotions (i.e., there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ or ‘good’ emotion because humans experience a range of feelings that all serve a purpose). I’m learning not to come down on myself for having ‘bad’ emotions (anger, sadness, frustration) and to instead think of them as ‘unpleasant.’  Similarly, I’m trying to think of happier emotions as ‘pleasant’ rather than ‘good.’  Is it just semantics? Maybe. But I kind of like it.
 
I wonder though, what do you call it when sadness and happiness intertwine to create that place of bittersweet? Is it pleasant? Unpleasant? (Am I overthinking it?)
 
Today I dropped my oldest off for his second year at university. This drop off was a stark contrast to last year’s, which was filled with a seemingly endless stream of tears and an ache that took weeks to ease. This drop off brought with it less of an unknown since it’s Year Two, and the giddiness that was palpable as his housemates started rolling in assured me he’s going to be okay.
 
The hardest part of being a mom is letting go. It starts as a slow roll, literally untethering them from the umbilical cord, followed by sleepless nights, years of diapers, and trying to keep them from eating or climbing something that could land them in the ER. The finish line feels so far away, it’s unimaginable. The worries evolve as they do, each day rolling into the next like a snowball that eventually gains all the momentum needed to cross that finish line.
 
They’ll be back, but it’s never the same. It’s not meant to be.
 
As much as I long for another night of “just one more” bedtime story, that’s not how it works.  Instead, I’m typing this while sitting in his messy bedroom, posters of Thomas the Train long ago replaced with running bibs and concert posters. I’m happy for the fullness of his life, but sad at the same time.

It’s bittersweet. Pleasantly unpleasant. And I’d do it all over again.

May have packed the seedlings a wee bit too close! It’s time to add another line of twine to the coral and try to cinch ...
08/16/2026

May have packed the seedlings a wee bit too close! It’s time to add another line of twine to the coral and try to cinch them in a bit.

The trouble with growing dahlias from seed is knowing where to put them all. I may need a whole new space just for next year’s fourth year seedlings. If I keep 10 cultivars to move into a fourth year and end up with 50 tubers of each cultivar, that’s *a lot* of real estate! So . . .

I can either discontinue some of the named varieties I grow to make space for the seedlings, or we add another bed. What to do, what to do?

It was another day of dirt, sweat, and so much weeding. The sea is mostly green, but a wave of color is on its way. Now ...
08/15/2026

It was another day of dirt, sweat, and so much weeding. The sea is mostly green, but a wave of color is on its way. Now is the part where we have faith that the dahlias know what to do, with or without our fussing. It’s the part of waiting that is both exciting and agonizingly slow.

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Mount Vernon, WA
98273

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