FOR THE LOVE OF FLOWERS

For the Love of Flowers STORY BY BRITTANY SMITH & PHOTOS BY JAKE ARTHUR

Last year, bored with the everyday conundrums of quarantine life, Jessica Keyes needed to find something to do with her time. She tried her hand at many things, such as learning to tie a tie. She learned to whistle really loudly. Keyes even read a boat ton of books to try and pass the time. But, ultimately, at the end of the day, the one thing Keyes decided that she really enjoyed was digging in the dirt.

“I love to see things grow,” Keyes said. “It makes it all worthwhile.”

And so, she started a garden. At first, she only had three raised beds of cut flowers. Then she planted squash and tomatoes and zucchini. She just couldn’t get enough. Soon, she was planning her spring garden.

“Spring was my first season growing cut flowers,” Keyes said. “I did it with the intention of growing enough to share, but I overgrew. I had enough to share and then some.”

She began to create arrangements with her flowers, and through love and support, the desire to share with the community grew stronger.

“One day, I saw an ad for the farmers market in Dadeville, and I just did it,” she said. “I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it. I just did it.”

Since finding her green thumb and opening Liberty Lane Blossoms, Keyes has expanded her garden tremendously. She grows zinnias, two kinds of sunflowers and a multitude of other flowers, such as dahlias and Chinese wool plants.

Her favorite flowers to grow are zinnias because they remind her of childhood and working in the garden with her mom, but dahlias are creeping up quickly because of their beauty.

“I just can’t believe that something so beautiful could come from such an ugly tuber,” Keyes said of a dahlia.

Flowers, digging in the dirt and giving life to beautiful or tasty things really is her happy place.

For more information about Keyes or the flowers that she grows, follow her on Instagram @prayathomemama.

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Growing Beauty

Previous Pages: Keyes finds her santuary while digging in the garden; Clockwise from Facing Page Above Left: Zinnias are Keyes favorite cut flower to grow; Keyes plants the sunflowers close together to keep the heads smaller for flower arrangements; Zinnias are annuals; Keyes arranges flowers at the Dadeville Farmers Market; Sow Zinnias in well-drained soil; With lots of sunlight, seedlings will pop up in just a few days; Keyes original garden is a mixture of cut flowers and summer vegetables; Every Liberty Lane flower arrangement looks different and offers and assortment of blooms.