Graystem Farm is a small, veteran owned flower farm located in beautiful Powhatan County Virginia, a stone’s throw from the Appomattox River. We’re a short drive from Flat Rock, the Village of Powhatan, Short Pump, Goochland, Amelia, Louisa, Blackstone, Chester, Montpelier, Midlothian, Richmond, Farmville, Crewe, or Charlottesville.

Schedule an appointment today and take home a beautiful, hand-picked bouquet of flowers straight from the field. We grow all of your cottage garden favorites, herbs and more, including lavender! Or visit our booth at the Huguenot-Robious Farmers Market on Thursday mornings.

Our farm is a work in progress, continually evolving and always improving. We look forward to sharing its beauty and bounty with you.

VISIT the FARM

The flower field is open for you-pick between Memorial Day and Independence Day by appointment, weather permitting. Schedule your visit today. Check out our Events page or sign up for our e-newsletter to be notified when we host workshops, open farm field days, and special offers.

the STORE

Your first stop on the farm is our little shop where you pick up your bouquet cup or bucket. The shop is also stocked with a variety of floral offerings, from lavender lotions to wood crafts. Farm closed for the season? No problem, visit our online shop!

Shop

the FLOWERS

We offer several ways to get your flower fix – visit the farm and pick your own, purchase ready-to-go bouquets, or fill your home with flowers with one of our VIP (Very Important Petals) bouquet subscriptions!

the LAVENDER

At Graystem Farm we grow several varieties of lavender. Some are best suited to culinary use while others make sublime essential oils. We small batch steam distill our own flowers to hand craft our lavender products.

ABOUT US

Trudy

My mother was a teacher with a passion for spring bulbs and flowering shrubs or trees – dogwood, azaleas and rhododendrons. During the school year I would spend the days with Grandma C. By the time I came along she was living in an apartment and had a huge collection of African violets. It still saddens me that we were unable to keep them alive after she passed, though we tried very hard. Aside from the violets her apartment was filled with the scent of lavender – and lemon from the dish of lemon drop candies she kept in the living room. Still two of my very favorite scents.

Once I was in school, I spent time after with an elderly neighbor, Asta. She would make the most fabulous toast with butter and ligonberry jelly that we would eat at the little iron table set in her kitchen garden.

Asta was an avid gardener who focused on garden architecture. Her garden was really of a series of outdoor rooms including two arbors festooned with climbing roses and clematis. It all felt like a secret garden to me. I credit Asta with my love of historic gardens and large landscapes; she would have loved Virginia’s Garden Week! To this day I can’t resist visiting (and taking notes in) historic gardens.

My early childhood neighborhood was full of older folks like Asta and families with teens. Great when my parents needed a babysitter, but not so great for finding playmates my age so I spent a lot of time reading. One of my favorite books is still The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 

Mom, Grandma, Asta, and Frances sparked an interest in creating gardens and secret magical places that never waned.

The flower field at Graystem Farm is my magical happy place!

John

My ancestry is 75% Italian so it shouldn’t be a surpise that I love food. I especially love tomatoes – eating them, cooking with them, canning them and growing them. Some of my favorite memories are of me and my grandfather Frank inspecting my tomato patch. As I proudly showed him my plants, he would produce a salt shaker he’d grabbed from the kitchen, pluck a tomato from the plant, sprinkle it with the salt and pop it in his mouth, finishing with a satisfied smile. At the end of our tour he would congratulate me on a job well done. We left behind a much smaller crop, but that didn’t matter, because that is what gardening is all about; sharing the harvest and bringing joy to others.

I was so happy when we bought our farm. I had just planted a veggie garden and my first patch of corn when the Deep Water Horizon disaster occurred and I was shipped off with my unit for a clean up operation. When we returned home, I was transferred to a deployable port security unit and sent to the desert. No veggie garden for awhile.

When you deploy on a mission you expect to miss your family and friends, especially during the quiet times or when you have to say goodbye on Skype. What I didn’t expect to miss was GREEN – the color, the moisture of a temperate climate, even the smell of green. Yes, green has a smell!

During my last deployment, I volunteered in the base greenhouse. I had a blast and learned a lot that I couldn’t wait to implement at home. I also figured out what I wanted to do after retirement.

TOGETHER

We discussed our options, made our plans, then planted lavender and flowers. In 2022 we opened Graystem Farm as a pick your own flower farm. And like a garden, the landscape is ever changing from season to season, year to year. We love sharing our happy place and seeing you at the farm – picking flowers, taking pictures, and enjoying the wonderful fragrance of lavender!

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