Flower Power

Harrison Haven Flower Farm – BayouLife Magazine. Photos by Emerald McIntyre

Rebecca Rabb Harrison has tapped into the sublime power of flowers, and she is eager to share it with the Monroe and West Monroe community through a sky blue French flower cart.

article by VANELIS RIVERA photography by EMERALD MCINTYRE

French artist Henri Matisse reportedly wrote, “There are always flowers for those that want to see them.” This speaks to both the ubiquity of flowers and the pervasive idea that beauty can be found everywhere, as it up to the individual to perceive the beauty around them. When it comes to flowers, especially those that thrive in the warmth of the Louisiana sun, aesthetic appeal is seldom contended—flowers are beautiful! Their beauty transcends the aesthetic. Beauty in these flowers have a way of exalting the mind and spirit.

This secret sublime power of flowers is what Rebecca Rabb Harrison has tapped into, and she is eager to share it with the Monroe and West Monroe community through a sky blue French flower cart. Parked outside of Traditions on Trenton Antiques in West Monroe, the cart is hard to miss, standing out beneath an apple-red patio umbrella and the whitewash of the shop’s exterior. From afar, the pre-arranged bouquets of mostly zinnias look like an impressionist painting—blurs of orange-red, bright yellow, light pink and deep green. The eye is irrepressibly drawn to the colors, but the closer you get, the fashion of the flowers appeals to your better senses, even if just to admire the delicate complexity of the blooms.

“I’ve been growing zinnias for years,” says Harrison, recalling that her grandmother, a child of the Depression, would grow the affordable flower. Inspired by the picturesque and bountiful yards of her grandmothers and mother, Harrison began her own garden once her family, husband Stan Harrison and three boys, Hunter, Bruin and Kenner, moved to a house with three acres of yard. A yard, she attests, that her kids can ride dirt bikes in and still be able to keep out of her flower beds. Except for that one time, she reminisces. About two years ago, she sharpened her green-thumb by taking an hour and a half Master Gardening class with a couple of friends for three months, and now, she has about fifteen flower beds. Shrubbery like azaleas and trees grow in the large flower beds, while the garden beds house the major players: a handsome array of brightly colored zinnias and marigolds. Standing at four feet wide and twenty feet long, the garden beds are the perfect size for Harrison to stand on an edge and still reach the middle for cutting what she considers “happy and bright” blooms.

Originally, Harrison is from Ferriday, Louisiana, “born and raised,” but currently she lives in West Monroe, working at CenturyLink, a full-time job that she’s worked and loved for fifteen years. With her boys all grown up now, respectively the ages of 24, 12, and 11, she’s able to immerse herself into an activity that’s called to her. In the beginning, she would make bouquets for herself, placing them around the house enlivening window stills, bedside tables, bathrooms, kitchen and even her office desk. It wasn’t until last December when someone took notice of the unique arrangements and commented, “You should really try to sell those,” that she even considered creating bouquets for purchase. Still, she bought extra seeds and started selling her singular bouquets, cart-less at that point.

Selling by Traditions was a practical decision, as she worked there one or two weekends a month purely for her love of antiques. Already bringing bouquets to “brighten up” the shop, the owners didn’t hesitate to let Harrison sell her arrangements. Once she gained regulars, the idea of selling from a French flower cart developed, and her father’s friend constructed one from a picture Harrison sent him. “I didn’t know what it was going to look like,” she says, but the cart is steadily becoming an unforgettable presence and a potential trademark of Antique Alley.

Every Friday, Harrison gets up at 6 a.m., “rain or shine,” to cut her flowers and set forth the task of selecting her blooms. “I’m not a professional flower arranger. I just grab stuff and put it together,” Harrison says playfully. Although she approaches her creations with humility, her bouquets are rustic and fanciful, starting with the attention-demanding zinnias. Everything Harrison grows is from seeds, not store-bought plants, and her zinnias have been growing since April. They thrive in the Louisiana heat and don’t require tons of water. Of the daisy family and notable for their solitary long-stemmed flowers, this annual, sometimes referred to as one of the hardest working summer flowers, comes in a variety of dazzling colors. Distinct in Harrison’s garden is the Queen Lime, robust tightly-packed crimson or fuchsia petals with lime green central petals around a dark red eye. The Art Deco blooms in shades of pink, lavender, red and royal purple. Peppermint Stick, a cream petal splotched with shades of scarlet, makes its way into the bunch as well. The other large and intense button-like blooms are Harrison’s bright orange and yellow marigolds. Accentuating the main flowers are smaller blooms like the Gomphrena, a clover look-alike with pink and white gumball-sized flowers, and abelias, dainty shrubs in the honeysuckle family that bloom aromatic flowers, a favorite of butterflies. Harrison also loves to add herbs to her bouquets, since zinnias are odorless. “I love growing herbs in my house just for the smell,” says Harrison, admitting that she rarely cooks with them. Basil, rosemary, lemongrass, oregano, dill, mint and even chamomile have accessorized her arrangements. Even some shrubs have made the cut, like olive branches and asparagus stems.

While unconventional perhaps, her unique arrangements have become quite the Trenton Street buzz. A few regulars have special ordered bouquets, and her record sales time, thus far, has been an impressive forty-five minutes. Though intricate arrangements can be found at flower shops and grocery stores, we can’t always spend fifty dollars on a bouquet. She admits that greenhouse flowers look more perfect because of the controlled environment, but she values the weathered marks of her flowers, saying, “It’s hard to get a perfect flower. I’m not perfect, and you’re not perfect. Everyone has their bumps and bruises. From a leaf with a spot on them. They are pretty to me.” It seems that when it comes to mother nature’s bounty, au naturale is best, especially flowers that have been loved on by bees and butterflies. No Harrison Haven Farm bouquet is like another. Creatively fashioned, each bouquet has its own personality and elements of wildness that can only be exuded by free-growing plants.

Unfortunately, Harrison will not grow anything for the fall, but she has big plans for spring and summer of next year, already with a list of winter chores in hand to get the garden beds ready. She’s hoping to sell for the next six weeks, but nothing she does is planned. “I like having a plan. That’s how I’ve always been. I like having some say so. This, I have zero say so. It’s just patience and watching and just seeing what happens out there,” she says, acknowledging that the true master gardener is mother nature. This year’s gardening experience has been a trial year, because some of her flowers didn’t grow, but she is ready for next season, excited to add a few more flower beds. “Much to my husband’s dislike,” she humors. As long as he is not required to cut flowers, Harrison assures that her husband is incredibly supportive and willing to sell flowers, if she ever is unable to make it.

It’s not too early to proclaim that “winter is coming!” So before the chill of fall sweeps in, make your way to Trenton Street on any given Saturday. Harrison sets up at 10 a.m. until her bouquets get sold, which happens consistently faster and faster. “Flowers make people happy. I’m selling bouquets for ten dollars. It’s not much money when you think of it. It’s something you can pay forward,” says Harrison, encouraging customers to buy a flower for someone else. Overall, happiness is priceless, but you can buy someone a little happy, just look for the white sign with black letters that reads: “Fresh Cut Flowers.”

You can find Harrison’s blue cart on Saturday’s starting at 10 a.m. at 313 S Trenton Street, West Monroe, LA. Follow Harrison Haven Flower Farm on Facebook and/or Instagram (@harrison_haven_flower_farm) for updates on blooms and bouquets. If you are interested in special orders, call 318-680-5733.