Dahlias in Bloom
Dining Al Fresco Style in the Dahlia Fields at PepperHarrow Flower Farm
Dahlia Field Al Fresco Dinner
Friday, September 26th
5:00PM-Sunset/rain or shine
There’s nothing more magical than an evening at PepperHarrow Flower Farm, surrounded by an incredible bounty of dahlia blooms and the idilllic rolling hills of Madison County, while you enjoy a delicious dinner.
This fall, we’re offering an incredible dining experience, al fresco dining in the dahlia field at the farm, and we’d love for you to be a part of it. Join us Friday, September 26th for dinner and drinks catered by the talented team at Tangerine Food Company.
Chefs Christopher Bottorff-Nichols and Kelsey McCreight Williamson are the talents behind the delicious cuisine for this incredible dinner. Prepare yourselves for a fabulous seasonal meal that showcases the season’s best.
Here’s a peek at the expertly crafted menu you can expect from Tangerine Food Company:
1st Course - Antipasto
Bread - Pita/Pickles/Pork Rillette
2nd Course - Vegetable
BBQ Sweet Potatoes with Roasted Fennel, Onions, Tzatziki, Pecans and Fennel Fronds
3rd Course - Intermezzo
Lacto-Fermented Apple
4th Course- Entree
Braised Lamb Shoulder with Rice/Chickpea Pilaf and Pickled Onions
5th Course - Dessert
Parsnip spice cake with celery white chocolate ganache
What’s the Al Fresco Dinner Like?
This dinner is served picnic style which allows you to pick up your dinner and choose a table set with white linens among the flower fields. Dine next to our favorite dahlias, the lavender fields, or other beautiful views while you enjoy your meal. Mingle with other guests, roam the flower fields after dinner, and be sure to savor and take in this stunning evening set apart for you.
Dahlias for Days
When you arrive at PepperHarrow for the Dahlia Al Fresco Dinner, the first thing you’ll notice are the signs guiding you to parking. From there, a short walk brings you to our greeting station, where our team will welcome you and get you checked in for the evening.
Once you’re checked in, you can decide how you’d like to begin. Some guests like to head straight to the white barn to pick up their drinks and meals, while others prefer to first claim a favorite table among the flowers before making their way to the barn. Either way works—this evening is yours to enjoy at your own pace.
The charming white barn is where you’ll gather your carefully prepared beverages and delicious meal, after which you can find a cozy spot at the table of your choice. Take your time to relax, breathe deeply in the warm, late summer air, and fully absorb the stunning view of the dahlia fields glowing softly in the golden sunlight.
The remainder of the evening invites you to slow down, savor each bite of your meal, and allow the natural beauty of the farm to create a peaceful and memorable atmosphere.
Photo Opportunities
Throughout the flower farm, there are beautiful photo backdrops and plenty of opportunities to capture those dreamy sunset moments. Be sure not to miss your chance to take some unforgettable photos.
We hope this peaceful evening provides you with a meaningful opportunity to slow down, truly be present, and fully connect with the serene beauty of nature around you. It is often easy to become caught up in the busyness of everyday life, but it remains so important to stay grounded and rooted in what genuinely matters most.
Tickets are still available, but they won’t stick around forever. You can find them here, or check out any of our other fall classes and events. We can’t wait to connect and welcome you to the farm!
XX Jenn and Adam
How to Build a Stunning Bouquet
Whether you’re crafting a bouquet for a loved one, experimenting with your creativity, or just want to add a pop of color and beauty to your space, making a floral arrangement is a rewarding and relatively simple process. At PepperHarrow Farm, we make everything from farmers market bouquets and mason jar bouquets to stunning bridal bouquets. No matter what kind of arrangement you’re making, here’s our simple recipe for how to build something magical.
Step 1 - Gather Your Tools and Materials
Every great project starts with a little prep. Here’s a short list of everything you’ll need to make your bouquet:
A vase, glass jar, or just plain kraft paper. We like to make our bouquets a little differently depending on the kind, so choose what suits your style and vision best.
Fresh flowers (at least 3-4 different kinds)
Greenery (some variety is helpful)
Ribbon for decoration
Step 2: Start with Greenery
Start by adding around 3 pieces of greenery to your jar or vase. These pieces will give your bouquet structure, as well as shape and volume, and you can use them to build around. When choosing greenery pieces for a bouquet, a few great options include mint, basil, eucalyptus, or mountain mint, as we show here.
Step 3 - Choose a Color Palette
If you’re stuck on where to start, or if you have a ton of flower variety, you can simplify your choices by deciding on a color palette. While certainly not necessary, a color palette does help bring a cohesive look to any bouquet. Decide on a palette that suits the occasion or your personal taste but try to stick to 2-4 colors.
Step 4: Add Focal Flowers
These flowers will be the star of your bouquet and give you a point of reference to build the rest of your bouquet around. Choose 3-5 eye catching and typically larger, circular flowers like roses, peonies, sunflowers, zinnias, or dahlias.
Step 5: Add Filler Flowers
There’s no magic number of flowers to use here, just start filling out the rest of your bouquet with pieces that support and compliment your focal blooms. These should vary in size and texture but harmonize in color and mood. We love to use conical shapes like celosia and snapdragon as one textural piece, but other great options include statice, stock, carnations, ageratum, salvia, or smaller zinnias and gomphrena, as we show here.
Step 6: Add a Couple Sparkles
No bouquet is complete without a couple of sparkles (or what Adam likes to call dinkles lol). These are light, airy bits that add a final bit of texture. You only need a couple to catch the eye, but they really bring everything together. Try using flowers like giant swamp milkweed, ammi, baby’s breath, queen anne’s lace, or our favorite, cosmos!
Final Thoughts, Tips + Tricks for Bouquet Making
Cut your stems at an angle to allow for better water absorption.
Make sure to check your water 24 hours after making your bouquet. Flowers drink deeply the first several hours after being cut.
If you’re making a bouquet without a jar or vase, wrap the stems tightly with a rubber band, tape, or finish with a bow depending on your design.
If placing your arrangement in a vase, trim stem heights to suit the container, roughly 1.5 times the height of the vase or jar you’re using, and remove any leaves below the waterline to prevent rot and to extend the vase life of your flowers.
Creating a stunning bouquet is all about layering and getting creative from one step to the next. If you want more pointers, check out our online classes like How To Make A Wrapped Jar Arrangement or Centerpiece Design and let us know what kinds of bouquets you create! Happy bouquet making!
XX Jenn and Adam
10 Ways to Use Lavender This Season
Lavender is a powerful and versatile flower that doesn’t just look and smell amazing but can be used in a variety of different ways. Our lavender is in full bloom right now, so we’d love to share some of our favorite ways to make the most of this beautiful plant. Whether you use it for wellness or culinary purposes, or just around your home, here are 10 ways you can use lavender this summer.
1. Lavender Lemonade or Iced Tea
Lavender lemonade might just be one of our favorite summer creations, because it’s so refreshing and lovely after a long day. Lavender is perfect for pairing with summer drinks, and if you need some inspiration, check out our recipe here.
Iced teas are a close second when it comes to summer drinks. We recommend adding lavender simple syrup to your favorite blend, or try one of our homemade tea blends Lavender Fields or London Fog.
2. Baking
Not only does lavender go great in drinks, but it also makes for delicious summer treats. Culinary lavender pairs beautifully with citrus, berries, and vanilla so try it in any of your favorite recipes or in something new! Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Lavender Lemon Shortbread Cookies
Blueberry Lavender Muffins
Lavender Lemon Pound Cake
Lavender Peach Crisp
Honey Lavender Cupcakes
3. Lavender Sachets
Sachets are small fabric pouches filled with dried lavender buds, and they have so many uses! Here are some of our favorite ways to use them:
As a car air freshener
In a nightstand or clothing drawer for a fresh smell
Under a pillow to promote good sleep
4. Lavender Honey
While honey is delicious on its own, infused lavender honey is perfect for a special treat in teas, on toast, or in dessert. If you want to try your hand at making your own, here’s a quick and simple recipe:
Add 1-2 tablespoons of dried culinary lavender to one cup of local honey.
Seal in a jar and let infuse for 1-2 weeks.
Strain and use as desired.
5. Lavender Body Oil
Lavender Bath & Body Oil is a lovely way to unwind, relax, and implement into your daily self-care routine. Either add a few drops to your bathwater for a calming soak or apply it directly to your skin after showering or after spending time in the sun. It will leave your skin feeling hydrated and with lavender’s calming properties, it will help relieve stress and promote relaxation.
6. Lavender Insect Repellent
We all know how bad the bugs can be this time of year, so lavender insect repellent is a must-have. Made with lavender essential oil, lavender works as a natural repellent that’s non-toxic and safe for both you and the environment. Plus, it smells amazing!
7. Lavender in Floral Arrangements
Lavender is a stunning flower in summer floral arrangements. Use fresh lavender stems as stand-alone pieces in bouquets or mix them with wildflowers or other cut flowers. If you want to learn more about making your own floral centerpieces, check out our personal pointers!
Alternatively, tie lavender bundles with twine and hang them upside down to dry for long-lasting beauty.
8. Lavender Ice Cubes
To pair nicely with fun summer drinks, try adding culinary lavender to large ice cubes. Place one or two small buds of culinary grade lavender in each section of an ice cube tray. Fill with water and freeze, and use in lemon water, cocktails, or iced teas and lemonades.
9. Lavender Bath Salts
A bath soak can be another great way to relax and unwind after a summer day or makes for a perfect gift. It’s easy to make at home and can be made with a variety of essential oils, like our Lavender & Eucalyptus.
10. Lavender-Infused Vinegar Cleaner
Whether you’re cleaning up after a summer garden party or deep cleaning before back-to-school season, lavender cleaner is a great way to tidy up and will leave your space smelling amazing. Try making your own with this recipe:
Fill a jar with white vinegar and add a handful of dried lavender.
Let infuse for 1-2 weeks.
Strain and pour into a spray bottle (dilute 1:1 with water for a surface cleaner).
If you want to learn more about growing, harvesting, and managing your own lavender, consider taking our Online Lavender Growers Masterclass. We walk you through the process from start to finish and provide you with our best tips and tricks for growing lavender in the Midwest. We hope you try some of these products and recipes and can’t wait to see what you use lavender to create this summer. Happy growing!
XX Jenn and Adam
A Week in July at PepperHarrow Farm
It’s been a busy couple of months at PepperHarrow! From hosting unique farm experiences, workshops, festivals, running to the Farmers Market every weekend, to just keeping up with everyday farm tasks, we have a lot going on and thought it would be fun to share with y’all what a typical week on the farm looks like.
Monday
While we usually take Monday’s “off”, the week starts with harvesting flowers to be picked up by a regional distributor. This is usually around 500 stems of various flowers we have a few extras of, after our weekends spent hosting events.
The rest of our Monday is spent focused on running our business, which includes: making business calls, answering emails, and preparing and planning for the week ahead. The week goes so much smoother if we take the time before it starts to sit down, connect, and be intentional with our plans.
Tuesday
On Tuesday mornings, we harvest and deliver flowers to local florists around the Des Moines Metro Area. It usually means very early mornings, but we love getting to share our blooms with our local community and connect with friends of PepperHarrow. The rest of the day involves a lot of weeding, planting, and general farm clean up. These are the things we don’t love, but are so necessary to run a successful flower farm.
As of recently, Tuesday mornings also mean sitting down with our Event Coordinator, Keilah, to discuss the week and maybe even the month ahead. We discuss newsletters, plan upcoming blog posts, brainstorm flower farm tips and tricks for sharing, and talk about plans and communications for any upcoming events. It’s been an exciting new position to have at the farm to help with large events.
Wednesday
Wednesdays are a lot like Tuesdays with a lot of weeding, planting, and general upkeep of the farm. It might not be the most fun, but these days are the backbone of what we do and are absolutely essential.
If the weather is bad, or if it’s super hot outside, which is very common in July, we usually have our team come inside our shop and make lavender products like candles, perfumes, soaps and sprays, and culinary goods. We also take time to get caught up on organization, which is usually lacking over here, but our employees rock at getting us back on track. Can anyone relate here? Lol!
Thursday
Thursday mornings start with harvesting flowers for the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market, and for bouquets for specialty stores around Des Moines. We spend the afternoon crafting stunning bundles and bouquets.
When we have weekend events on the farm, Thursdays are also a great prep day for our Event Coordinator. We send email reminders to guests and class attendees, and gather materials to set aside, so everything is in one place and easy to find on the day-of. With the potential for lots of visitors, we also make sure our products are ready and labeled, and that our farm shop is fully stocked with our homemade lavender products and other goodies.
Friday
Fridays (surprisingly, we know), start with harvesting more flowers! We then spend the afternoon gathering farm shop goodies for the weekend and prepping our Farmers Market bouquets. Our takeaway bouquets are a favorite with our customers and we usually sell out each weekend.
Saturday
From 7AM until Noon, you can find us at the Downtown Des Moines Farmers Market selling the products and bouquets we’ve worked hard all week to prepare. We love to catch up with and see our friends and local partners and would love for y’all to visit us some Saturday soon!
When we’re not busy with the Farmers Market, we host monthly CSA flower pickups at the farm, where we have premade bouquets ready for pick up, or a group of folks come to pick their own monthly bouquet. Other weekends we host a number of classes and events like soap making, perfume making, essential oil distillation, or dinners among the flowers.
We hope you’ve enjoyed taking a little look behind what our daily and weekly activities look like at the flower farm. As you can see, it takes a lot of time, hard work, and patience to run the farm, but we love what we do, and we love getting to share it with y’all. We hope to see you soon!
XX Jenn and Adam
Planning Ahead
We know it’s only early summer, but believe it or not, now is the time to start thinking about your fall garden! Some of the most striking, textural flowers for late-season bouquets need to be started in early summer so they’re ready to shine when the weather begins to cool.
Fall Flowers We’re Planting Now
Believe it or not, now is the time to start thinking about your fall garden! Some of the most striking, textural flowers for late-season bouquets need to be started in early summer so they’re ready to shine when the weather begins to cool.
The secret to stunning fall blooms all comes down to succession planting. Succession planting means planting more than once a year to ensure that we have blooms year round, in different colors, textures, and varieties. If you want to learn more about our favorite fall colors and tips for planting in warm weather, check out our past blog on late summer planting.
Here’s a look at what we’re planting in late June and early July this year, that will be sure to put on a stunning fall show!
Strawflower
These blooms are a fall favorite for a reason. Their unique texture adds a fun pop to arrangements, and they come in beautiful autumn shades like bronze, rush, gold, and blush. They’re one of the best flowers for drying and perfect for wreaths and winter decor. Strawflowers love the heat, so starting them now means strong, healthy plants just in time for cooler days.
We love Strawflowers (Helichrysum bracteatum) for their unique charm and versatility. One standout is our Golden Glow variety, beloved for its striking presence in fresh bouquets, whimsical flower crowns, and long-lasting appearance in dried arrangements, with heights ranging from 12″ to 36″.
These blooms are effortless to grow: start indoors 4–6 weeks before the last frost or sow directly outdoors in late spring. The seeds are tiny and require light to germinate, so keep them just barely covered with vermiculite at about 70 °F, misting gently. Expect sprouting in 7–10 days, and once seedlings sport four leaves, harden off and transplant them into full sun.
Celosia
Celosia is a staple in any fall bouquet because it’s full of texture. Whether it’s the ruffled crested version or the soft, feathery plumes, these blooms add bold shapes and rich colors to fall arrangements. Like Strawflower, Celosia also comes in beautiful colors such as gold, magenta, orange, hot pink, rose, and burgundy.
Amaranth
With its volume and bold colors, Amaranth is a favorite for fall wreaths, centerpiece arrangements, and it looks stunning mixed with grasses and dahlias. This plant grows tall and fast, so make sure you give it room to stretch out and support taller varieties to prevent flopping in the rain and wind.
Cinnamon Basil
Cinnamon Basil has both sweet and spicy scented foliage and tall stems with purple blooms. It’s not only beautiful but also adds a sensory element to bouquets or straight bundles. It’s sure to elevate your flower arrangements and because it has both floral and culinary uses, it will leave your kitchen smelling amazing.
Zinnias
No flower patch is complete without Zinnias. We’ve highlighted them over and over, especially in our recent post about June’s blooms, but planting now means a fresh flush of color just as everything else starts to fade. Better yet, they come in just about every color you can imagine!
Colors we’re planting now are: red, orange, and yellow. All perfect colors for fall bouquets!
Ornamental Grasses
Ornamental Grasses are the perfect addition to a fall flower garden because not only do they add vertical lines and subtle movement to your landscape, but many varieties have plumes that come in shades of bronze, cream, and blush that pair perfectly with autumn blooms. Their versatility in bouquets and wreaths, textural interest in dried arrangements, and long-lasting presence make them a must-grow.
For ornamental grasses, planting now (July), means their roots have time to take hold in warm soil before the winter, and many of them will hold their form through the winter, continuing to provide a habitat for wildlife.
Gomphrena
Gomphrena is a vibrant and drought-tolerant annual with blooms that come in a beautiful palette of magenta, pink, white, and orange. These flowers hold color so well when dried, which makes them a favorite for both fresh and dried bouquets and arrangements.
While traditionally direct-seeded or transplanted in late spring, Gomphrena can be succession-planted through early fall in zones with a long growing season. If you’re in a warmer zone or using high tunnels, now’s the time to tuck in a final flush for fall harvesting or drying.
If you want to see our fall blooms in action, check out our fall classes and events and make it a point to come see them for yourself!
Why Planting Now Matters
It may seem too late in the season to plant, but it’s the perfect time! Waiting until the end of summer is often too late as many of the most stunning blooms need at least 80–100 days to reach full maturity. That’s why late June and early July are prime planting time for our zone (5b).
Here’s why it pays to plan ahead:
Timing the Bloom: Most fall flowers take months to develop strong stems and autumnal colored blooms. Starting now ensures they peak just as your summer flowers begin to fade.
Beat the Frost: Starting early gives your plants enough time to grow, bloom, and be harvested before the first frost hits.
Extended Harvest Season: A well-planned planting schedule means your garden keeps producing long after others have packed it in for the year.
While it’s not possible to plan ahead for everything, it makes a huge difference when we can. When it comes to planting, we know that the seeds we sow now will shape the beauty we (and y’all) get to enjoy later.
Happy planting!
XX Jenn and Adam