Bear Creek Farm

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A innovative, fashion-forward farm that uses sustainable practices to cultivate giant, beautiful, fresh-cut dahlias and luscious, tall rare plants.

Cut Flowers • Dahlia Tubers • Workshops • CSA Flower Subscriptions • Seeds
linktr.ee/bearcreekfresh
Rooted in our fields, we share observation and research-informed insights to empower gardeners to trust nature - and their instincts - over rigid rules.

10/14/2026

Packed at the farm on October 7. Delivered to one of our wholesalers Van Vliet New York on October 8. Arranged by Michael George Flowers on October 13.

We don’t often talk about how well our dahlias last, but it’s something we care about deeply. Every stem is hand-selected and carefully tended, with its life beyond the farm in mind.

Seeing them in this beautiful arrangement six days after packing gives us a little sense of pride—and an excuse to say so.

10/13/2026

The temperature in your basement may be perfect. The climate inside your storage box may not be.

Trapped moisture can encourage rot. Two little moisture can cause shriveling. And condensation may be telling you something important.

We spend all summer watching the weather. Perhaps we should keep watching it after we put our Dahlia’s away.

Our newest blog explains what to look for – and why the weather inside the box matters. Click link in bio to find out more.

10/11/2026

We gave the smallest dahlias the darkest possible stage.

Against these near-black blooms, the pompons stop being the little ones and become the point. Every pink and lavender curl shows. They’re tidy, improbably round, and cheerful enough to keep all that drama from taking itself too seriously.

Lean in and they get better. What looks like a petal is a whole floret, rolled into a tiny tube and repeated, row after row, until it makes a perfect sphere. There’s no back side to a pompon. Turn one in your hand and it’s finished all the way around.

The dinnerplates we grow get the gasp. The pompons get the second look, and then the third.

10/08/2026

The usual advice is to cap each dahlia stalk after cutting back, so rain can’t run down into the crown. But digging at the farm has given us a reason to look more closely.

Some of our plants had been reduced to a few stems for at least ten days. They received overhead watering, and some stalks held water near the top. Yet the tubers we lifted as a test were sound, with no sign of rot. The water seemed to be held in place by the solid partition at the node as in regular cutting season.

Now a freeze has taken our blooms and left some lower foliage green. We want to cut the plants back and leave the tubers in the ground to cure before digging, but putting a rain hat on every stalk is a big job.

So we’re splitting a few stalks first. We’re not just looking for the nodes, where the leaves meet the stem. We want the one that makes the most intact water barrier, and that isn’t always the lowest. Then we’ll cut just above it and leave the foil in the drawer.

We haven’t tested this through days of heavy rain, so we’d still cover if that’s in the forecast.

Have you skipped covering? We’d love to hear what you’ve seen.

10/07/2026

In a garden in Verdun, France, in the mid-1800s, a single stem of pure white flowers rose out of a clump of pink anemones. Monsieur Jobert noticed it, kept it, and named it for his daughter, Honorine.

More than 160 years later, gardeners are still choosing to keep it.

We’re cutting it today: white petals, golden centers, slender stems that bend beautifully. In a season of bronze, burgundy, and orange, that clean white still stops you.

There’s something touching about growing a flower someone noticed so long ago, and understanding immediately why they did.

10/01/2026

Digging dahlia tubers doesn’t have to feel like punishment.

You don’t have to wait for the first frost.
You don’t always have to wash every tuber.
And you don’t have to turn one fall chore into an endurance event.

A little science changes everything.

At our Dahlia Tuber Workshop on Saturday, November 14, we’ll talk about when tubers are actually ready to dig, what matters before they come out of the ground, and how to store them without unnecessary fuss.

Click link in bio for more info.

09/30/2026

How to get dahlias to last so long in the vase?

It isn’t one trick. It is a combination of how they are harvested, conditioned, and hydrated.

First, heat. Immediately after cutting, the bottom few inches of the stems go into very hot water of 160 degrees. Dahlias can have trouble taking up water efficiently after they are cut; the heat treatment helps clear the pathway inside the stem so water can begin moving upward again quickly.

Second, a lot of water. Dahlias are remarkably thirsty flowers. We don’t give them a polite inch or two at the bottom of the bucket. Deep water creates a larger reservoir and helps maintain the continuous column of water moving up through the stem and into the flower. A dahlia that stays fully hydrated lasts longer.

And third, we cut at the right stage. Vase life begins in the field. A flower that has already spent several hot days fully open on the plant has used up part of its life before it ever reaches the vase. We harvest when the flower is developed enough to be beautiful, but still young enough to have days ahead of it. This means we are in the fields everyday to bring in the freshest of flowers.

Heat. Water. Timing.

09/29/2026

Farming is not a garden with a pricelist.

I’ve been hearing from flower farmers who are weary.
This has been a difficult growing year. Some people who started farms with tremendous hope are wondering if they can keep going. I’m sad to see any of them leave.

The USDA considers someone a beginning farmer for their first 10 years. There’s a reason for the definition. Farming takes time to learn and each season brings challenges that the last one did not.

A course can teach you how to plant a dahlia. It can’t tell you exactly how a dahlia will behave in your soil, through your weather, with the time and help you have. Meanwhile, a small farm asks a person to grow, sell, hire, repair, plan, keep records and make decisions before there’s enough experience to make any of it feel familiar.

In my previous career, I broke through the glass ceiling. I had grown up in that business. I knew its workings, understood nearly every role, and knew what it took to make it run. Flower farming has been harder than anything I did there.

I am a very good flower grower. Before I grew each new crop, I researched it extensively, much as I research researched new products in my previous career. Then I planted it, watched closely, made mistakes, and learned what flowers had to teach me. Deep research gave me a place to begin. Years of growing taught me which questions I hadn’t known to ask.

Even so, growing flowers well is only part of running a farm. At our size, machinery, systems, and efficiency need the judgment of people who have farmed for decades. I can lead the work of growing, contribute to our soil health, culture of the farm, and keep improving the quality of our flowers. That does not mean, I know every part of farming. Knowing the difference makes our farm stronger.

So, if this year has made you question yourself, I hope you won’t mistake a hard season for a final verdict. Learn what you can from the flowers. Even the best growers don’t do it alone. A farm grows the way a garden does: with help. Ask for help where the farm needs skills you haven’t yet had time to acquire, or scale back to something that feels like a comfortable fit.
(See comment for more)

09/23/2026

Two books. Fall, revealed.

We are so excited to share that Bear Creek Farm is publishing two upcoming books with Timber Press!

1️⃣ CHRYSANTHEMUMS (2027) — A complete guide to growing and arranging heirloom chrysanthemums, featuring a foreword by Martha Stewart.
2️⃣ THE FALL FLOWER GARDEN (2028) — An exploration of late-season blooms, heritage mums, dahlias, asters, and techniques to keep your garden vibrant through autumn.

Thank you for following along on this journey from soil to stem!

09/15/2026

September dahlias tend to keep our attention above ground
But the tubers beneath them are still developing. And a few small changes now can help prepare them for winter storage. Read our latest blog for full info. Link in bio. Pre-digging timeline at a glance
6–8 weeks before frost: Stop applying nitrogen fertilizer.
4–6 weeks before frost: Begin deadheading at the nearest healthy leaf node, preserving as much useful foliage as possible.
2–4 weeks before frost: Continue watering consistently; optionally check your soil’s potassium level.
At maturity or first frost: Cut the main stalks back, protect the hollow stems and allow the tubers to cure in the ground for 10–14 days before lifting.
Remember: frost is a marker, not what makes a tuber mature. Dahlias generally need 120–140 days in the ground.

Address

Stanfordville, NY
12581

Telephone

+18554662836

Website

http://bearcreekfarm.com/

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