Hi! I’m Jennie Love, owner of Love ‘n Fresh Flowers. I’d love to share a little of my story with you if you have a minute.

I had my first flower patch at age four in my mother’s huge kitchen garden on our 5th generation family farm in central Pennsylvania. I put a diminutive white picket fence around it and forbade my three older brothers entrance for fear their big feet would smash my delicate straw flowers and nasturtiums. My soul has ever since been connected to the shifting of the seasons and the nurturing of unfurling petals and leaves.

Ironically, I needed to run away to the big city to realize just how much farming meant to me; how I couldn’t resist the pull of the land. But by the time I could no longer deny my need to nurture nature, I had already put down serious roots in Philadelphia that I wasn’t keen to dig up. And so, Love ‘n Fresh Flowers was born as one of the first urban flower farms located within a big city’s limits. Urban flower farming has proven to be just about the best thing I could have ever dreamed up for myself. I find it even more gratifying to be the stewardess of five acres of dwindling urban green space than it would be to own a vast expanse in a more rural locale. It means the world to me to be able to create and sustain a healthy ecosystem within this concrete jungle.

Flower farming has also allowed me to marry many of my past professional experiences and talents. Prior to starting Love ‘n Fresh, I was a marketing and business development manager for a handful of corporations with prestigious center city Philadelphia addresses. I also received rigorous horticulture training while completing a two year intensive program at Longwood Gardens. It was at Longwood Gardens that I also received my floral design training.

The flowers that my crew and I now grow at the Love ‘n Fresh farm inspire every single element of this little flower business. It’s an amazing gift to be able to walk the fields, cut what is at the peak of perfection, and take it into the design studio to create a piece of living art. Somehow that never gets old for me, even after thousands of bouquets.

I get asked at least once a week what my favorite flower is. The answer changes nearly as often. I fall head over heels for each new bloom that comes into season in the fields. Hellebores, ranunculus, parrot tulips, sweet peas and bleeding hearts in early spring give way to larkspark, nigella, foxgloves and peonies in late spring which in turn give way to astrantia, pin cushion flowers, bee balm and eryngium in early summer which then give way to lisianthus, antique hydrangeas, zinnias in late summer until it all finally ends with the dahlias, amaranth, antique mums, and seed heads of autumn. Every single bit of it is beyond stunning.

My design philosophy is quirky and unconventional. I make no apologies for that. I’ve never been one to follow the rules. I have studied with some of the best floral artists in the world, including Ariella Chezar and Shane Connolly, both inspirational and humbling souls I adore. I believe fine craftsmanship is priceless and far too rare anymore. I seek to surround myself with a bevy of passionate artists, business owners, craftsmen/women, and even inventors so Love ‘n Fresh can be the very best it can be. Good people attract good people.