"The idea to start a flower farm was born out of grief"

Flower farming wasn’t in Tori Carver’s mind when her mother passed away in the summer of 2019, and she began to question her purpose in life. “I knew I needed to find something to occupy my heart, my brain, and my body,” explains Carver, who is based in the city of Clayton in Georgia and had just turned 50 when the tragedy struck.

Having always found comfort in gardening, cooking, arts and crafts, and sewing—”I was the nerdy, fair-skinned, freckled-faced girl who took sewing classes instead of playing sports,” says Carver—she remembers having “an idea for a craft involving dried flowers.” That inkling resulted in Carver coming across cut flowers and, in turn, pursuing a calling to found Firmly Rooted Flower Farm.

Taking time out from the blooms, we spoke to Carver about the joys of flower farming with tulips in the spring and the problems that come with growing in high humidity. We also got to meet the farm’s resident felines, Olive and Penny Sue.

“For me, the idea was born out of grief and a lifelong desire to own my own business,” says Carver when she looks back on the decision to start Firmly Rooted Flower Farm after the passing of her mother. “I have always been drawn to flowers whether it be as a hobby gardener in my early teens, a painting of flowers in a vase or field or even floral paper or fabric—so flower farming seemed like the perfect fit!”