Floral Fox Farm

Floral Fox Farm I am a local flower farmer specializing in heritage/heirloom mums and garden mums, fresh cut flowers, lavender, and luffa sponges.

So it has been a while since I last posted. How fortuitous that it is the first day of spring and I feel well. Last year...
03/20/2026

So it has been a while since I last posted. How fortuitous that it is the first day of spring and I feel well.

Last year, I was bedridden for extended periods of time. From right before Thanksgiving until about 3 weeks ago, I had Epstein-Barr Virus which resulted in swollen lymph nodes, unrelenting exhaustion, chronic pain, and cloudy thinking. I would have about 4-5 days of feeling better and then I would be down for the count again for a few weeks.

In short, it was no fun.

Through the years, I have had bouts of Epstein-Barr Virus (reactivated mono), but had not had recurrent bouts in 25+ years. The lab value indicating current infection should be less than 17.9 - mine was 600!

I have worked with a good medical team and believe I have rounded the corner.

Today, as I went down to the luffa field, I looked at the dead vines- a reminder of last year and all the ugliness of the last few months.

I will be pulling down these old vines and preparing the soil for the new plants and I will welcome the new growth.

Today, I began digging out from deferred maintenance. Things I had planned on doing in November and December simply didn't get done. Projects I planned on starting in January and February remain undone.

And that's ok.

I guess as I look at my projects and things that need to get done, I am reminded of what is really important: the people and relationships that I have.

I treasure the connections I have made with this community and friendships that have resulted as well.

I have no idea why I had this experience starting last summer and ramping up November-February. But, I am thankful for the perspective and the promise that everything is new again each Spring.

I am just now getting my bearings and figuring out which plans I can still implement and which ones need to be shelved. I am starting luffa seedlings that I will have for sale at the beginning of May. Luffa are VERY sensitive to frost and it is inadvisable to plant them in our zone before Mother's Day as a general guideline.

I still want to have a luffa class for anyone interested, and am aiming for the beginning of May. The date and time are to be determined.

Welcome Spring! I should be posting more regularly and I hope that you all have success beginning your growing plans.

11/28/2025

I was supposed to participate in the Christmas in the Country Fair at First Vineyard, tomorrow, November 29th, but will be unable to due to illness. There will be several vendors there and I hope you all check them out.

Ok, all you fellow luffa growers, this is the time to harvest your luffa if you have not already done so. The temperatur...
11/07/2025

Ok, all you fellow luffa growers, this is the time to harvest your luffa if you have not already done so. The temperatures are going to drop down into the 20°'s Sunday night and Monday night, so today was the 11th hour for me. You have this weekend to harvest yours.

I have already begun drying some by repurposing tomato trellises with fish hooks and shower curtain rings. Thus far, it has done amazingly well! No rot and I am thrilled with how well they dried.

I harvested 1 row yesterday and the 2nd of my nearly 100' rows today. We laid them out on the racks in my high tunnel and I will assess them tomorrow and see which ones need to be processed quickly and which ones can wait.

If you are harvesting your luffa, cut them from the vine and remove both ends.

I used to cut them and tried to dry them whole. I lost several this way due to rot which was really discouraging after all that work.

If the luffa is mature, go ahead and peel it. You will know it is mature because it won't have a bunch of the 'meat' (a.k.a. chunky gunk) in the luffa and you will see lots of seeds. You will rinse and catch the seeds that come out.

If you cut open both ends of the luffa, and it is solid white looking, you can scoop out as much as possible and let it dry with a box fan blowing on them to keep air circulating.

You may not be able to peel them if they are super immature until they dry. So, by allowing them to dry on ventilated shelving with a fan blowing on them, this will aid in the drying process.

I will post more this week as I begin processing and if you haven't harvested yours- DO IT THIS WEEKEND!

Our 1st adventure began over 30 years ago when we went to the Bahamas while Bill was on his 2-week active duty drill whe...
11/05/2025

Our 1st adventure began over 30 years ago when we went to the Bahamas while Bill was on his 2-week active duty drill when we were in our late 20's. We were long overdue for a trip and saw and did so much in the St. Augustine area soaking in the beauty and history. I returned in the wee hours Monday morning after numerous delays due to mechanical failure of the plane and the foggy weather.

It appears I returned in the nick of time because I am harvesting the luffas this week and must harvest all 600+ of them in the next 48 hours before the temperatures drop into the 20° mark on Sunday. 🥶

I will post when I have luffa available, but it IS a process! Peeling them, removing the seeds and gunk, takes time, but my hands sure are soft after being immersed in luffa water for hours.

So, that is why last week was pretty silent. I just wanted to be present last week with my friend and celebrate her 60 years of life on this planet and our 33 years of friendship. We are already planning my 60th in the not to distant future. 😁

❄️ Bring in or cover your mum tonight as it is forecast to go down to 32° F tonight and you don't want your mum to make ...
10/23/2025

❄️ Bring in or cover your mum tonight as it is forecast to go down to 32° F tonight and you don't want your mum to make this face. ➡️ 🥶 ❄️

🤔 "So, what do you do after mum season? I bet you take a break don't you?"Not quite! Since it's still pitch black until ...
10/23/2025

🤔 "So, what do you do after mum season? I bet you take a break don't you?"

Not quite! Since it's still pitch black until around 7:30 am, I have been sleeving the Gros Bleu lavender that I grew and dried this summer since early this morning. I get as much done inside since there's no sunlight until there's enough light to move outside.

Yesterday, I harvested the last of the broccoli from our garden for the season which we will have for dinner tonight. I also have the last of the green beans and now collard greens are ready to harvest. I have 5 cabbages that are almost ready and a couple of rogue potatoes grew that I must have missed earlier.

Last, I have 2 trees to plant today and then on to more flowers to preserve for future projects.

🌼🏵 MUM FREEZE WARNING: Last, I have to drain the waterlines before our 1st 32° freeze TONIGHT! If you have a mum in a pot that you can cover or bring in, do it tonight. You can set it back out or uncover during the day. 🏵🌼

🤔 "So, what do you do after mum season? I bet you take a break don't you?"Not quite! I have been frantically harvesting ...
10/21/2025

🤔 "So, what do you do after mum season? I bet you take a break don't you?"

Not quite! I have been frantically harvesting mum flowers to dry for future projects before they are too mature. In addition, I have been harvesting luffa as they mature and we will have to repair the row that was damaged on Sunday. Today, I just potted 25 Pinky Winky hydrangeas for next year's Spring plant sale. I still work long days in the Fall trying to beat the winter weather and I love every minute of it.

Awww, Meta thinks my farm is charming. 😍
10/21/2025

Awww, Meta thinks my farm is charming. 😍

So, it turns out it wasn't a design flaw in our trellis system down Luffa Lane after all. Apparently, we had an F1 torna...
10/21/2025

So, it turns out it wasn't a design flaw in our trellis system down Luffa Lane after all. Apparently, we had an F1 tornado touch down yesterday in the area and we got whipped with some of that gusty wind. They said it touched down a little after 12:05-12:06 PM and we had sudden strong wind gusts with a dumping of rain a little before 12:10 PM. It was so unusual because of its sudden intensity whereas it had just been steady rain most of the morning.

So, I guess it was a well-designed system afterall. We never engineered this to withstand tornadic winds and I can't believe it wasn't worse.

Here was today's post sharing that one of the steel wires we had used snapped right around the time the tornado touched down, only we didn't know it was a tornado. Now, we know!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CE2dyGTzf/

Pro tip #47: When growing luffa, use a steel CABLE and not just steel WIRE across the top of your trellis system becaus...
10/20/2025

Pro tip #47: When growing luffa, use a steel CABLE and not just steel WIRE across the top of your trellis system because estimated 40 m.p.h. wind gusts + heavily-laden 95' rows of luffa = collapse.

Turns out, luffa trellis systems do not like the wind swinging 1000+ lbs. of vines and luffas back and forth like kids on a playground swing set.

I have been earnestly harvesting luffa and will announce when I have more processed. This collapse will set me back a couple of days, but I anticipate having several more in the next 2 weeks, so by the 1st of November-ish.

🎄I mistakenly gave the wrong date for "Christmas in the Country" at First Vineyard- THE CORRECT DATE is NOVEMBER 29TH, 2025 FROM 10 AM -3 PM. 🎄

If this is your first visit to my page, welcome! I am a local flower farmer specializing in fresh-cut flowers, lavender, luffa/loofah sponges, and heritage and garden mums. I just completed my 7th year growing fall garden mums and am now entering my 5th luffa season.

Follow along and watch the farm through the season by clicking 'Like' and 'Follow.'

I do not have employees - it's just my husband and me. He helps me with infrastructure construction and all the heavy lifting and I do the rest. I grow everything here on my farm in Jessamine County either from seeds, propagation, or plugs.

🎄I will be at the First Vineyard, (5800 Sugar Creek Pike, Nicholasville) 🎄"Christmas in the Country"🎄on Saturday, NOVEMBER 29th, 2025 from 10 am - 3 p.m. I will have made more Lavender Neck wraps, eye pillows, and luffa scrubbers available. I'd love to see you there!🎄

Do you know what's fun? Having a friend you've known since you were 9-years-old, that used to keep bees, that will drive...
10/18/2025

Do you know what's fun? Having a friend you've known since you were 9-years-old, that used to keep bees, that will drive down from freakin' Georgetown area to take a peak at your bees with ya. 😁

I wanted to double-check they had enough honey and looked good before winter and since it was 82° today, this was probably one of the last days to do that this season.

They have PLENTY of honey for winter and were so chill and relaxed. We found several bees with pollen-pants on which made me happy. I do not use insecticides, herbicides, or fertilizers on my luffas or lavender and all the other flowers live without intereference from me. There's lots of life out here!

I currently have lavender that is going through a 2nd flush, a few mums that are still providing both nectar and pollen, and the male luffa flowers provide the bees with a source of pollen for them to store for winter.

The girls look happy so they should have a good winter.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today! Bill and I took a quick day trip down to meet Julia from Loof'n Round Gardens...
10/17/2025

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today! Bill and I took a quick day trip down to meet Julia from Loof'n Round Gardens in Cleveland, TN. She and I have talked for several years, but finally got to meet in person today. It was great to take a tour of her loofah operation and to see that we had a lot in common with our approach to how we grow and share our love of luffa with people.

In case you've wondered, there is no agreed upon spelling for luffa/loofah. She went with more of a phonetic pronunciation spelling and I went with the botanical spelling since the variety I grow is luffa aegyptiaca. There really is no agreed upon standard for the spelling, so people generally go with what they prefer.

I got to sample some of her luffa leaf tea and it was light and refreshing. She has a really nice operation and I'm glad we were able to visit.

Address

Nicholasville, KY

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 6pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 6pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 6pm
Thursday 9:30am - 6pm
Friday 9:30am - 6pm
Saturday 9:30am - 6pm

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