The Story Behind Sleepy Bees Flower Farm

My name is Karen and I've been a hobby dahlia grower for the last 4 going on 5 years. My story isn't the happiest on how I became absolutely obsessed with flowers in general leading me down the dahlia rabbit hole; but I've come to find my story isn't so different from many others. Flowers are loved for their ability to bring joy and beauty to the world around us in all situations, both good and bad. 

My gardening journey officially began in 2014, when I was 23 years old. I was working at a beautiful conservation center in central NJ while I was in college finishing a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a plot of land in the community garden there where my mom and I grew mostly vegetables at the time. My mom had always loved flowers and grew every year in hanging baskets and pots around the house. She convinced me to start growing flowers as well. I quickly caught the flower bug and before long I found myself growing snapdragons where the carrots used to go. We would spend most summer evenings out at the garden plot together. 

My mom passed suddenly in the winter of 2017 when I was just 27. Shortly after her passing my dad started showing worrying symptoms of some kind of disease impairing his ability to move and speak. Ultimately, he too would pass only 6 years later after a debilitating battle with a very rare neurological disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). Throughout this time, I found myself in my early 30's, trying to live a normal life while in charge of an entire medical team to keep my dad alive and comfortable all while still accepting my mom had just passed suddenly. It was a very overwhelming and extremely stressful few years of my life. 

I found myself becoming increasingly more consumed by gardening in general as my stress outlet but with a new obsession with dahlias specifically. I grew them for the first time in 2022 to help decorate my wedding venue and from there I was HOOKED. One of my favorite dahlias will always be Tyrell because that was my best preforming dahlia that summer which made the biggest appearance at my wedding. In September 2022 I married my husband, Matt. In 2024 we finished 6 years of DIY home renovations to our 1000 sqft house at the Jersey Shore and moved to Hunterdon County to our dream home on 4 acres of previously farmed land. 

I am still in the process of expanding the garden to more of an actual farm. With the birth of our son Trevor in June 2025, I was limited to the amount of physical work I could perform. I was still able to somehow plant over 150 dahlias of almost 50 varieties while 7-8 months pregnant! Being the first year I'm selling tubers I will admit I have very limited quantity on some of them. 

What started off as an escape from difficult times in my life has now bloomed into a hopeful small business named Sleepy Bees Flower Farm.  Your support means the world to me as I do my best to navigate what it means to be a small business and to share the joy these dahlias have injected back into me during my life. My mom would be just as obsessed with dahlias if she was still around.  I grow them as a way to remember her and thank her for being the one to instill the love of gardening in me.  If there's ever been a flower that can change the world, its the Dahlia.