Beetles, Bones & Bouquets

08/20/2026

🌸 Dahlia season is FINALLY starting! 🌸

After months of planting, tending, and patiently waiting, our dahlias are officially starting to show their first blooms! 🙌

Over the next couple of weeks, more and more varieties will be opening up, bringing all kinds of colors, shapes, and sizes to the farm.

💐 Starting next weekend, you’ll begin seeing our fresh-grown dahlias making their way into our bouquets!

This is one of our favorite parts of the growing season, and we can’t wait to start sharing them with you. 🌸🌿

08/18/2026

Asters are starting to bloom, monarchs are visiting us daily, and the milkweeds are finishing their flowering!

Time to start some more native seeds!

08/16/2026

Sometimes the best moments in the nursery are the ones you never planned. 🌿🦋

I was walking through the rose garden, thinking about some of the native plants growing beneath our tulip poplars when I stumbled across a Monarch butterfly stopping for a meal.

And the plant it chose? A volunteer French hollyhock that we didn’t even plant. Miranda hasn’t planted one here in the over 5 years she has been on her property. Somewhere along the way, after digging, planting, pulling weeds, and disturbing the soil, an old seed must have finally found its opportunity.

Five+ years waiting underground… then up it comes, blooms, and feeds a Monarch. 🌸🦋

Gardens are a good reminder that not everything needs to be perfectly planned. Sometimes nature has been working on its own plan the whole time.

Grow native plants. Leave a little room for volunteers. And sometimes… let the garden surprise you. 🌿💚

08/12/2026

🌿💜 Native Passionflower is putting on a show! 💜🌿

We started this video with FOUR bumblebees all crowded onto a single passionflower… and while we were talking, a fifth flew over and landed! 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Native Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), also called Maypop, is one of those native plants that almost doesn’t look real. Its incredibly intricate purple flowers are fragrant, beautiful, and absolute bumblebee magnets.

And the flowers are only part of the fun! Once pollinated, they can develop into edible passionfruit with a sweet-tart, tropical flavor; all from a plant native to our part of the country.

It’s also a host plant for several butterflies, including the Gulf Fritillary, and its vigorous vines can quickly turn a fence, trellis, or garden edge into a pollinator buffet.

🌱 We grow and sell Native Passionflower plants, and we have them available now!

Come for the flowers. Stay for the fruit. Apparently the bumblebees invited the whole family. 🐝💜

08/08/2026

🌻 The flower fields are waking up!

Our second wave of sunflowers is officially blooming, adding another splash of golden color to the farm. At the same time, our zinnias are putting on an incredible show and keeping the pollinators busy from sunrise to sunset.

And we’re only getting started.

Our dahlias are getting taller every day, and hundreds of plants are preparing to bloom. Before long, they’ll be filling the fields with vibrant colors and becoming a major part of our bouquet lineup.

One of the best parts of growing flowers is watching the seasons unfold. As one crop reaches its peak, another begins, ensuring there’s always something new to enjoy.

If you’ve been waiting for more bouquet options, the wait won’t be much longer. We have a lot of beautiful flowers on the way, and we’re excited to share them with you.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support locally grown flowers. We can’t wait to show you what’s coming next! 🌻🌼🌺

Come see us today at the New Albany Farmers Market to get some blooms and plants!

08/07/2026

If you want a chance to win some free native plants, like and share the original post for 1 entry.

If you shared the post and come to the event you get 2 entries!

See you there after New Albany Farmers Market!

🌿 Native Plant Giveaway! 🌿
Share Share see rer

How to enter:

🌱 Tag 2 friends in the comments on this post.

🌱 Share this event to your Facebook/Instagram page and/or your story. Then comment “shared”.

🌱 Send a screenshot of your share to the Hess Landscape Nursery Facebook/Instagram page to complete your entry.

🏆 Prizes

🥇 1st Place: Choose 3 native plants

🥈 2nd Place: Choose 2 native plants

🥉 3rd Place: Choose 1 native plant

Must be present on Saturday to win.

Each winner will receive a list of available giveaway plants after they are selected, allowing them to choose their prize.

Together, we can bring more native plants into our neighborhoods, support pollinators and wildlife, and make our communities more beautiful and resilient. We hope to see you Saturday, August 8 at 2:00 PM at Hess Landscape Nursery! 🌿🦋

08/07/2026

🌼 Native plants don’t all bloom at once… and that’s one of the things that makes them so incredible.

Even in the heat of summer, there’s always something putting on a show for pollinators. Here’s a look at a few of the species blooming around the nursery:

🌸 Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) a classic power house for pollinators.

☀️ Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) profuse blooms from a small plant from last year.

🧡 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is in two of our gardens visited by monarchs.

🤍 White Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) enjoying a beautiful second flush of blooms after setting seed from its spectacular spring display.

🌿 Clustered Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), one of the most visited native plants by bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.

💜 Hairy Wood Mint (Blephilia hirsuta), a woodland favorite that continues to provide nectar well into summer.

🌺 Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana), one of our best sellers this year! Its long-lasting spikes of snapdragon-like flowers are a favorite of both pollinators and gardeners, and the individual flowers can be gently moved around the stem, giving the plant its memorable common name.

💜 Ironweed (Vernonia sp.), adding bold purple blooms that are always buzzing with late-season pollinators.

One of the greatest strengths of native gardens is that they’re always changing. As one species finishes blooming, another takes its place, providing months of color, nectar, and habitat instead of just a few weeks.

Every bloom you plant helps support the wildlife that has evolved alongside these species for thousands of years. That’s why we’re so passionate about growing natives—and why we’re always excited to share them with our community.

Which one would you add to your garden?

Come see us tomorrow at New Albany Farmers Market from 8-12!

08/06/2026

🌿 We’re incredibly grateful to the Corydon Democrat and Madison Courier for taking the time to share our story.

Beetles, Bones & Bouquets started with a simple idea: to grow beautiful flowers, healthy food, and native plants while helping people reconnect with the natural world. What began as a passion project has grown into something we never could have imagined, thanks to the support of our family, friends, customers, and community.

Our mission goes beyond growing plants. We want to inspire others to plant native species, support pollinators, grow their own food, and appreciate the remarkable biodiversity that surrounds us every day.

Thank you to everyone who has visited us at a farmers market, purchased plants or bouquets, shared our posts, or encouraged us along the way. Every bit of support has helped us continue growing.

We hope you’ll take a few minutes to read our story and learn more about who we are and what we’re working to build. We truly appreciate everyone who has been part of this journey, and we’re excited for what’s still to come.

Here’s to growing flowers, food, habitat, and community together. 🌻🦋🌿

Tucked off State Road 13 are several gardens, all belonging to a couple, Miranda Schwartz and Joe Lekowski, the owners of Beetles, Bones & Bouquets.

08/06/2026

🐛👑 A tiny reminder that sometimes the biggest success stories start with the smallest visitors.

Today we found not one, not two, but THREE Monarch caterpillars happily munching away on our Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)! 🌿🧡

Our gardens are home to several native milkweed species, including:
🌱 Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
🌸 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
🧡 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
💜 Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens)
🌾 Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

Currently available for purchase:
🌾 Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

Coming soon:
🌿 Tall Green Milkweed (Asclepias hirtella)
🍇 Poke Milkweed (Asclepias exaltata)
🌾 Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii)
🌱 Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
🌸 Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
🧡 Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Our long-term goal is to grow every milkweed species native to southern Indiana and Kentucky, making it easier for gardeners, schools, landowners, and conservationists to create habitat for Monarchs and other beneficial insects.

Milkweed isn’t just another wildflower. It’s the only plant Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on, and it’s the only food Monarch caterpillars can eat. Every patch planted has the potential to become a nursery for the next generation of Monarchs.

Seeing three caterpillars thriving on our Common Milkweed is exactly why we grow native plants. Every stem has a purpose.

🧡 Plant native. Grow habitat. Watch nature thrive.

08/05/2026

🦗 Another nursery supervisor reported for duty.

While watering at work yesterday, this little praying mantis decided my hose was the best way to hitch a ride. A few minutes later it climbed onto my hat, where it seemed perfectly content to survey the nursery from the highest point around.

I tried relocating it to a patch of blooming zinnias, thinking it might enjoy all the pollinator traffic. Instead, it thanked me by taking off into the sky to continue its own adventure.

Praying mantises are incredible ambush predators, feeding on flies, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, and many other insects. While they’re generalists and don’t distinguish between pests and beneficial insects, they’re fascinating members of a healthy garden ecosystem.

Sometimes the best part of working with plants isn’t the plants themselves; it’s all the wildlife that chooses to call them home. 🌿🦗