Farms Fresh Flowers

Pumpkins and colorful blooms abound on this South Dakota flower farm, which has quickly become a beloved hub in its community with its special events and U-Pick gardens

- AUTUMN KRAUSE

Christy Heckathorn lives in "one of the prettiest places in Union County, South Dakota," a title bestowed by those familiar with her patch of paradise. Seeing these photos on these pages is all the proof you'll need to agree. The farmer-florist owns Fleurish Flower Farm with her husband, Chad, a cornand soybean-seed dealer and row-crop grower, and she spends her days on a half-acre fairytale farm bursting with blooms.

"Twice a week we host public U-Pick events, which run from mid-July to October, and also sell specialty pumpkins that we raise," Christy says. The farm has become a central heart of the community, coming alive not only with flowers but with the pulse of the guests who pick the blossoms while enjoying a local coffee truck, live music and sweet-treat vendors. Everyone gets to leave with their souls, spirits-and arms-filled by nature.

NEW GROUND

When the Heckathorns purchased the farm in 2015 it was because Chad needed a larger facility to store his seed-treatment business. "At that time, the idea of having a flower farm hadn't even entered my head," Christy says. But soon the first seeds of the idea took root and sought the sun of possibility, resulting in the flourishing little Garden of Eden that it is today, bursting with zinnias, dahlias, bachelor buttons, black-eyed Susans, cosmos, snapdragons, strawflowers, amaranth and more.