“Birdie, let her get out of her vehicle,” Brenda Hayden, owner of Aunt B’s Blossoms in Franklin County, says to her dog, with the assurance the dog isn’t a threat.

Birdie is a mutt, with a large amount of Great Pyrenees from the looks of her. She’s spotted like a Holstein dairy cow and has a very gentle disposition – not making a peep at the intruding vehicle and instead providing a greeting with a wagging tail. Not the best guard dog, but the best companion to Hayden. 

Besides Birdie and two cats (one with more sass than the other) to greet guests at the rural Franklin County address are rows of flowers and a large hoop house. It’s just the right amount of sensory load with its hues of purples, whites, pinks and greens, plus a bouquet of scents that guide you to Hayden’s flower farm.

“I started this six years ago,” Hayden says. “I haven’t made money on it yet, but for me it’s not really about the money. It’s about giving back to the community and offering local flowers to local people.”

FLOWERS FROM FLORIDA

Generations of Hayden’s family are from Franklin County. Although she moved away from Kansas to pursue an education degree and to live the military family life for a while, she eventually found herself in Ottawa, purchasing a historic home in town.

“I was a kindergarten teacher in Florida for a while,” she says. “When I moved to Kansas, I thought I was going to teach because that’s what I was doing in Florida, but I switched my route. Initially, I started flipping antiques and selling them, but then I saw some cut flower gardens. Instagram started to learn my preferred algorithm, so I kept seeing these beautiful flower accounts. I lived in this historic home that had all these gorgeous flowers in the backyard. I started learning about flowers that were already there and got the flower itch.”

The backyard of her historic home was a calling to Hayden, but her experience from Florida made the decision even clearer.

“I was unpacking boxes when I moved and found some seeds a little girl I taught in Florida had given me,” she says. “It was the funniest thing. We had read a book called “Zinnia’s Flower Garden,” and she gave me this packet of zinnias. I scattered those seeds in my backyard and that’s where it all started.”

GROWTH IN SPACE

The historic home in Ottawa started her love of growing flowers, but she quickly learned she could do more. The side porch has a small display cooler where Hayden sells bouquets on a trust system basis, called the Flower Porch. If there’s something in the cooler you want, you grab it and pay in cash or through Venmo. But the flowers are grown at a different location.

“My backyard was my inspiration to start a cut flower farm, and initially, I thought I’d run it out of the backyard,” Hayden says. “But my parents, who are immensely supportive of my dreams, invited me to use a portion of their property to grow flowers. My dad’s love language is acts of service, so him moving dirt for my garden was like a big hug.”

Hayden’s mom, Pat, probably didn’t foresee the unintended consequences of a flower farm on her property – “the leftovers.” Vases of cut flowers not sold at the Flower Porch or at the local farmers markets sit atop her kitchen counter – not the worst kind of leftovers.

Aunt B’s Blossoms consists of rows of sunflowers, snapdragons, statice, lisianthus, lilies, campanula and a 30-by-72-foot hoop house. Being among the rows of flowers is a spectrum of vibrant colors, though Hayden mentions how it’s mostly green stems and leaves that are visible.

“A good flower farmer doesn’t have many buds still in the ground because a good flower farmer cuts them before they bloom fully for the most beautiful bouquet,” she says.

STEMMED FROM GRIEF

Hayden’s brother, a row-crop farmer in Franklin County, had a son named Cole. Cole was only seven years old when he died of cancer. He called Hayden “Aunt B” – short for Aunt Brenda, inspiring the name of Hayden’s company, Aunt B’s Blossoms.

“It was hard losing him,” Hayden says. “We always think of him.”

Hayden’s brother plants a field of sunflowers in a field close to the flower farm that blooms each fall. September is childhood cancer awareness month, and they invite the public to visit the sunflowers to take photos. Up to 20 spots can be reserved in the evenings for visitors to take in the iconic Kansas flower.

“We ask for donations when people visit,” Hayden says. “The money we get goes to the Franklin County Cancer Foundation. The first year, we raised more than $1,000, and we’ve raised about that or more each year we’ve offered the sunflower field. It’s our way of honoring Cole.”

While Birdie will welcome you to the farm with a sweet face and wagging tail, it’s Hayden’s beloved nephew, Cole, who you feel through Hayden’s flowers.

In addition to the Flower Porch, Aunt B’s Blossoms offers classes, sells bouquets at the Ottawa farmers markets and offers an all-season flower subscription. To learn more about Aunt B’s Blossoms, visit www.auntbblossoms.com. 

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