Good Getaways

This summer, just down the road near Blountsville, you can visit ... Bloom-N-Pie Days

Good Getaways

Story and photos by David Moore

This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the Bloom-N-Pie Days, an annual plant sale put on by DeLois Dunn and her son and daughter-in-law, Clay and Heather Dunn.

If you are an avid daylily gardener, you have probably met DeLois, who, at her home south of Blountsville on Skyball Road, keeps an official American Hemerocallis Society Display Garden, an outgrowth of loving daylilies since 1984.

Thousands of varieties exist, and the society introduces new hybrids of daylilies annually.

“You always see another daylily you need,” DeLois laughs. And they can be expensive; she and her sister, Kathy, have paid up to $200 for one.

Harold Dunn sort of gets credit for Bloom-N-Pie Days. He said DeLois, a prolific grower of most anything that blooms, needed to start selling daylilies to support her habit of collecting new ones.

Somehow fried pies, made primarily from their own orchards, seemed to compliment the idea, and in 2002 DeLois held her first Bloom-N-Pie Days flower sale at their farm. It took root and continues to draw hundreds of folks for a summer outing. Initially it was held the

Clay Dunn jokingly says he’ll restore the 1880s house at Vintage Gardens when he wins the lottery. Fried pies, above, are good enough that visitors stand in line for them.

second weekend of June, but the Sunday event was dropped in favor of adding the third Saturday.

Last year, however, on top of the continuing pandemic, DeLois broke her left wrist, handicapping her preparations for the event.

“There’s a lot of weed-eating, grooming and watering to do,” she says. “I couldn’t get ready in time.”

Clay, who lives next door, came to the rescue. A few years earlier he and Heather had bought the old Good family farm east of Blountsville. He wants to restore the 1880s house there as soon as he wins the lottery, but first he built a big barn, designing it more as a venue than for farm work. It would work well, he told DeLois, for Bloom-N-Pie Days.

“It was a lot of fun,” says DeLois, who enjoys meeting the visitors and especially seeing daylily buddies she’s gotten to know over the years.

The flower sale includes lots of lilies she’s propagated from her own stock. Last year, they sold out early; this year she’s been potting extras. She’ll also have an even bigger selection of hydrangea.

“We had a humongous early crowd,” she says of 2021. “We open at 9 but some people were there by 8. Some just come to get pies and leave. We had a pie line by 9, too.”

Last year went smoothly, especially considering the late change of venue. This year, DeLois is looking forward to an even better event. After all, there will be new daylilies she’ll “need” to add to the 1,000plus varieties she already grows.

“Some people have furs and diamonds,” she laughs. “But I shop at Walmart and wear run-runs so I can afford new daylilies. I got to support my habit.”

And have fun in the process.

Good Life Magazine

If you go to Bloom-N-Pie Days ...

The event is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m., June 11 and 18, at Vintage Gardens, 42685 Ala. 79, Blountsville. Off the beaten path, it’s still easy to find. At the traffic light in Blountsville follow Blount County 26 about 2.5 miles east to Ala. 79. Turn south and you’ll soon see the farm on the right at mile marker 41. Parking and admission are free.

Last year, Clay Dunn was not quite finished with his barn at Vintage Garden, above. He’s since installed air-conditioning and built a second-floor deck onto the front. From lower left, DeLois loves socializing at BloomN-Pie Days; Heather Dunn serves homemade ice cream while Clay watches from a bench; hydrangeas, daylilies, perennials, hanging baskets and some heirloom (The Fairy) roses will be for sale; Delois’ sister, Kathy Whitley, fries pies.