Pocketful of posies The Posey Patch blossoms in Russellville
Story by ALISON JAMES Photos by MONTANA HESTER
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“G
oing to work” doesn’t have to mean driving to the office, sitting at a desk surrounded by paperwork, endlessly trying to complete someone else’s to do list. In fact, for Ashley Bolton, work means taking time to stop and smell the roses – literally. In the space of one year, Bolton’s father and grandmother died, and she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The cascade of bad news was almost too much, but instead of being overwhelmed by everything coming at her, Bolton decided to see the circumstances as a catalyst for change in her life. “It was one of one of those life-altering moments when you think, ‘Is this really what I’m living for?’” Bolton said. “Over time I slowly started planning.” The plan? To someday wave goodbye to working in federal government, a job she’s held for 13 years, and make The Posey Patch Flower Farm her full-time career. Ashley and husband William had just purchased their Russellville farm when her father passed away in 2018. Although the initial intentions for the farm were to give William the space he needed as a poultry farmer for Mar-Jac, Ashley began formulating a vision for her own little portion of the property – a portion where she could bloom right alongside the flowers she wanted to plant. “It was something I was passionate about, flowers and gardening,” she said. That passion was seeded and cultivated by her grandmother, Helen. “When I bought my first house in 2007, she helped me learn about roses and other flowers,” Bolton said. “It became an outlet for me, working in a high-stress job and the demands of daily life, like everyone has. I’d rather spend all day out there doing manual labor than to be inside at a desk, any day.” So, a day at a time, Bolton’s Posey Patch grew from a dream to reality. She began marketing her flowers in November 2019, creating a customer base as she watched her garden grow. A good starting point, she now nurtures more than 300 rose bushes on the farm – “It will probably be more next year” – to say nothing of the array of other blooms, from zinnias and cosmos to sunflowers, delphinium, astrantia and dahlias, which are “just so beautiful, and they get so big,” Bolton said. “You can have nearly every color imaginable.” Roses, however, are a main focus. Yellowtoned blooms predominate – “Yellow is happy. We like yellow” – but white and blush variants are also a focus, and popular variations of red and pink also have their place in The Posey Patch. For Bolton, the growing process is therapeutic. “It’s a constant learning process. I like the challenge,” said Bolton, who especially enjoys the tangible payoff of gardening. “You can see the product, beginning to end, and that’s rewarding
Franklin Living
