Life sometimes sweeps us away. We think we are in control, making all these well thought out decisions when really we are caught up in our daily routines. Making incidental decisions based on short term goals and necessities. One day we wake up and realize we were never really in control at all, until one day we just are. 

It is at that moment that we start making difficult decisions based on our actual dreams for the future. Some seem so unattainable and others simple small steps in the plan for the bigger picture. I made some pretty serious changes over the last 18 years. Ending old relationships and eventually forming new ones. Raising two amazingly talented children into strong, independent thinking adults. Working full time as a 911 Dispatcher and going back to college and obtaining my associates in Ornamental Horticulture. In the middle of all that I met and married my husband Richard. He is an amazing supportive person and accepts my creative way of thinking as a part of the whole package.

For me there is a mixed dream of flowers and photography. It encompasses all that I hold dear. After a long week of answering calls for help from people having the absolute worst day of their lives, I can come home to a field of beauty. There is a kindness to a fresh cut bouquet of flowers, never perfectly symmetrical or precise. Flowers are unique and have flaws, they give back so much more than what we put into them. The sense of satisfaction I feel when handing flowers to someone is a warm and complete feeling. 

I started with a vegetable garden and companion planting between the veggies with flowers. Who would have known that vegetables and flowers were such friends. They grew so well, I could hardly keep up with the cuts. Both vegetable and flower plants thrived. It has gotten bigger every year since then. My daughter "Kendra Cagle" and I designed the flowers for her wedding. Then my wedding came along and we enlisted the help of a friend "Emily" to help so that I could focus on the many million other things that go along with a reception held at home next to the gardens. I fell in love, creating centerpieces and bouquets for just about everywhere we could imagine. 

So, I am eternally hooked on sharing my love for flowers in any way possible.

In April of 2017 I attended a three day Flower Farming Intensive at Floret in Washington state with Erin Benzakein. It was life altering. The bonds created with the other attendees and instructors are forever. It's like an extended family of support and friendship.  A wealth of knowledge that might otherwise take years to learn.

A special thanks to my mom, Carol and my grandmother Connie for sharing their love of flowers. I would not be the person I am today without you!

Tracy La Valley-Hall

April 14, 2018