Keith Pierpont has been growing flowering shrubs, bushes and bulbs for cut flowers on his small four-acre Baiting Hollow plot since 1996.
He sells the flowers at eight farmers markets on the south and north forks and to 20 florists on Long Island and in New York City. So I was surprised when I drove by Thursday to see a flower stand fashioned out of an old rickshaw style bicycle in front of his farmhouse.
When asked why he created this, he said he has been thinking about doing so for 10 years.
Three years ago his girlfriend/partner Anastasia Casale, owner of Sag Harbor Florist, received an old rickshaw bike made by Neelam Cycle Industries in Ludhiana, India. She was given the bike designer by Donna Karan, who owns a shop for her Urban Zen line next door on Sag Harbor’s Bay Street. Anastasia kept it in Sag Harbor for a while and then brought it home.
Keith put it out last September and brought it out again this April with fresh cut French double flower hyacinthiflora lilac bouquets for sale. He said they started to bloom earlier this year because he gave them a shot of liquid fish emulsion fertilizer back in March.
In addition to the lilacs, he also has La Belle Epoque tulips, ranunculus (grown in upstate New York) and soon to blossom next are green snowballs or viburnum opulus.
Pierpont’s Blossom Farm’s flower stand is located at 2706 Sound Avenue, Baiting Hollow. Find them on the north side of the street at the corner of Baywood Drive.
See more pics below.
Your North Fork Sunday Scene features weekly snap shots of life on Long Island’s top fork
Previous North Fork Sunday Scenes:
Spring plowing at Sang Lee Farms
Roaming the pasture at McCall Vineyards and Ranch
A New Suffolk Ave. sunset drive
Icicles form at Iron Pier Beach
Birds of many feathers in Riverhead
Late fall harvest at Andrews Family Farm
‘Zenful’ flowers in Baiting Hollow
Hello from this North Fork mama and her babies
