III · The Empress

Sample site. Orchard & Vessel is a fictional business, designed by Alcor Industries to show the Empress archetype. Nothing here can be booked, bought or sent.

Get this site: $250
Orchard & Vessel Start a box
Menu

Flower farm & floral studio Wisterly Valley

The orchard, by the armful.

Flowers grown between old apple and quince trees, cut before seven and arranged the same morning in vessels thrown in our barn. Friday boxes, wedding flowers, and a gate that opens on the first Saturday of the month.

Choose a box Wedding flowers

Still life with peonies and foxgloves, in a plum-glazed jug on a stone ledge
What’s in bloom in…

Plate I January

Still life with hellebores and stored apples

The Hellebore Box. Hellebores, witch hazel, paperwhites from the greenhouse and a sprig of rosehips.

Boxes from $38 Start in January

Plate II February

Still life with forced quince and pussy willow

The Forcing Box. Flowering quince forced in the barn, early tulips, hellebores and pussy willow.

Boxes from $38 Start in February

Plate III March

Still life with narcissus and plum blossom

The Narcissus Box. Narcissus, anemones, plum blossom and the last of the hellebores.

Boxes from $38 Start in March

Plate IV April

Still life with tulips and apple blossom

The Blossom Box. Tulips, ranunculus, apple blossom and a few fritillaries from under the trees.

Boxes from $38 Start in April

Plate V May

Still life with lilac and the first peonies

The Lilac Box. Lilac, the first peonies, alliums and sweet william.

Boxes from $38 Start in May

Plate VI June

Still life with peonies and foxgloves

The Glut Box. Peonies, sweet peas, foxgloves, old roses and elderflower. Our busiest, best month.

Boxes from $38 Start in June

Plate VII July

Still life with sweet peas and cherries

The Sweet Pea Box. Sweet peas, cosmos, scabious and snapdragons, with cherries from the top of the orchard.

Boxes from $38 Start in July

Plate VIII August

Still life with zinnias and plums

The Plum Box. Zinnias, the first dahlias, sunflowers and branches heavy with plums.

Boxes from $38 Start in August

Plate IX September

Still life with dahlias and crabapples

The Harvest Box. Café-au-lait dahlias, asters, crabapple branches and rosehips.

Boxes from $38 Start in September

Plate X October

Still life with chrysanthemums and quince

The Quince Box. The last dahlias, bronze chrysanthemums, turning leaves and quince on the branch.

Boxes from $38 Start in October

Plate XI November

Still life with bronze chrysanthemums and rosehips

The Seedhead Box. Chrysanthemums, dried hydrangea, seedheads and long stems of rosehips.

Boxes from $38 Start in November

Plate XII December

Still life with amaryllis and winter greens

The Winter Box. Amaryllis and paperwhites from the greenhouse, winter greens and rosehips.

Boxes from $38 Start in December

The farm

Wisterly Farm is eleven acres of old apple and quince trees, and between the rows, flowers. We grow what the season hands us, cut it in the cool before seven and arrange it the same morning. Nothing flown in, nothing kept cold for a week, no floral foam. When the peonies are over, they are over, and the sweet peas are already climbing the fence.

  1. Cut before seven. Stems drink best while the dew is still on them, so the day’s picking is done by breakfast.
  2. Paper and string. Every bunch leaves the barn in brown paper tied with cotton string. Nothing to peel off, nothing to throw away.
  3. Bring the jar back. Return last week’s vessel at the gate and we’ll fill the next one for a dollar less.

Bouquet subscriptions

Flowers every Friday. We choose them; that’s the point.

Pick a size and how often, and we send whatever is best in the rows that week. Pause or skip with a text before Wednesday noon.

1 Size of box
2 How often
3 Getting it home

Your standing order

Box
The Armful$58
How often
Biweekly
Delivery
Hand-delivered in the valley$6
First box
October 2026

Each Friday $64

About $139 a month

Nothing is charged until your first box is cut. Pause, skip or stop by text.

  1. Wednesday We walk the rows and decide what is ready. Your box is whatever is best that week.
  2. Thursday Cut before seven, then left in cold well water in the barn all day to drink.
  3. Friday Wrapped in paper and string and out of the gate by nine.
  4. Sunday Trim the stems, change the water. Most boxes last the week.

The year at Wisterly

What grows when

Planning a wedding around peonies, or just wondering when the dahlias come? Here is when we cut each crop. The gold column follows the month you picked at the top of the page.

Flowers

  • HelleboreDecember to April
  • Flowering quinceFebruary to March
  • NarcissusMarch to April
  • TulipApril to May
  • RanunculusApril to June
  • LilacMay
  • PeonyMay to June
  • FoxgloveJune to July
  • Sweet peaJune to August
  • CosmosJuly to October
  • ZinniaAugust to September
  • DahliaAugust to October
  • AsterSeptember to October
  • ChrysanthemumOctober to November
  • Amaryllis & paperwhiteDecember to February

From the trees

  • Apple & cherry blossomApril to May
  • CherriesJune to July
  • PlumsAugust
  • Apples & crabapplesSeptember to November
  • QuinceOctober to November
  • RosehipsSeptember to January

Weddings & gatherings

Grown for the day, cut that morning.

We take one wedding a weekend, May to October, so every one gets the dawn cut. Tell us the date and we will tell you honestly what the rows will be doing.

Ask about your date

Three ways to do it

Buckets of the season
$340
Ten buckets of loose stems for you and your friends to arrange. Pick them up at the barn on Friday afternoon.
The Table
from $1,400
Bridal bouquet, six boutonnieres and mason-jar flowers down eight long tables, delivered and set.
The Whole Orchard
from $3,600
Everything in The Table, plus an arch or a hanging cloud of branches, set up that morning and cleared away after.

How it goes

  1. Walk the rows. A Saturday morning at the farm, the season before, so you see what will be growing.
  2. A sketch and a fixed price. Drawn by hand and priced in full. No surprises in the last week.
  3. The dawn cut. Everything is cut the morning of, or the evening before for early ceremonies.
  4. Nothing wasted. Guests take the jars home. What is left goes back to the compost pile.

From the kiln

Vessels, thrown in the barn.

Stoneware made for flowers: heavy at the foot, narrow where stems need holding, glazed inside so nothing weeps. We fire the wood kiln twice a year, and this is what came out of the spring firing.

Every vessel is one of a kind, so glazes vary. Pick one up at the farm stand, or add one to a Still Life box and it arrives full.

Hand-drawn map of Wisterly Farm. Quincebrook Lane runs along the south edge past the farm gate and farm stand. The barn and kiln sit beside the gate, the flower rows run between the orchard trees, the greenhouse is to the east, and Quince Brook with its stone bridge crosses the northwest corner. Parking is in the field by the lane.

Open days

Come and walk the rows.

The gate opens on the first Saturday of the month from April to December, 10 am–4 pm. Bring boots; the orchard grass is long and the dahlia paths are muddy.

  1. Dahlia Saturday

    The dahlia field at its height. Cut your own jar for $14.

  2. Apple pressing morning

    Bring clean bottles and we’ll fill them from the old press. $8 a bottle.

  3. Wreath workshop

    Moss, hips and seedheads in the warm barn, soup at noon. $65, twelve spots.

  4. Candlelight evening

    Paperwhites, mulled cider and the last vessels from the fall firing. Free.

  5. Blossom Sunday

    The whole orchard in flower. Free, but come early.

Where
Wisterly Farm, Quincebrook Lane, Wisterly Valley
Getting here
From Mill Cross take Chapel Road. We’re the third gate past the stone bridge.
Farm stand
Friday to Sunday, 9 am–5 pm. Honor system.
Dogs
Welcome on a leash. The orchard has sheep in winter.

Good to know

Anything else, call the barn at 555-0103, weekdays 8 am–4 pm.

How long will the flowers last?

Most of a week, often longer. Everything is cut the day before it reaches you and conditioned overnight in the barn. Trim the stems at an angle and change the water every two days.

Can I pause or skip a box?

Yes. Text or email before Wednesday noon and we’ll skip that Friday. There is no minimum term, and stopping is one message.

What is in a winter box?

Less color, more texture: hellebores, forced branches, dried hydrangea, rosehips and evergreens, with amaryllis and paperwhites from the greenhouse from December to February.

Do you use floral foam?

Never. Arrangements sit in water, in a nest of chicken wire or on a pin frog, and everything we use can go on the compost pile.

Will a vessel hold water?

Every vessel is glazed inside and stands full of water for a day before it leaves the barn. The glazes are food-safe, though they are happiest holding stems.

Where do you deliver?

We hand-deliver across Wisterly Valley on Friday mornings, and ship boxes in a wooden crate anywhere overnight shipping reaches.

Weddings, dinners, farewells

Tell us about your day.

We answer every note by hand, usually within two business days, and we’ll say plainly if the rows can’t give you what you’re hoping for.

Or call the barn: 555-0103
Or write: hello@orchardandvessel.example

Sample form: nothing is sent.