Black Dog Flowers Story
Our family purchased this small farm in 2002, four of us currently live here. In 2017, I was accepted to the Textiles Program at NC State with a full four-year scholarship. On my 40th day of enrollment, I experienced a stroke caused by a disease that attacks the vessels in the brain. One of the residuals was the loss of the ability to draw but the gain was a new (and previously unexplored) love of flowers. I asked my neighbor about leasing three adjacent acres to grow cut flowers and he willingly agreed. So here we are three years later!
I am absorbed with farming flowers and all that is involved: soil, irrigation, management, marketing, sales. Together we do all the planning, planting, harvesting, and sales. My father helps us till, amend, and irrigate and when my sweet grandmother was still living, she pulled weeds and arranged flowers. My brother has hand forged and constructed several of our tools for us.
“The viability of the flower business helps support the viability of our entire farm. Our home was built in 1910. We love this historic homestead and work hard to maintain the property and keep it close to the original aesthetic.
It has been so sweet over the years to live here and meet people who say, ‘I learned to drive a tractor in your front yard 40 years ago’ or ‘you had the first phone in the county and we would come over to use it’. We all want to maintain the integrity of the farm and keep it a beautiful locale in Henderson County. We want to build and give in our community.”
-Margaret and Lisa Dillon