Kati Blalock tends anemones to zinnias at her East Tennessee flower farm.
Photo Above: Kati Blalock says of her second career, “As long as what you’re doing is what you’re passionate about, then it’s worth it.”
Photos Courtesy of Kati Blalock.
Kati Blalock was just 4 years old when she first watched her immigrant mom stretch the family’s dollars by tending vegetables on a small plot at their church-sponsored home in Knoxville, Tennessee.
“I vividly recall as a little girl going out with her early in the morning, to help her cultivate and plant and harvest,” Blalock says. “And it was just fascinating to me. Throughout her life, my mother was very interested in plants and horticulture and she taught me a lot of things.”
Ten years ago, Blalock (her first name is pronounced kaht-ti, short for Katalin) turned that childhood enchantment into Sevier Blumen, a growing flower farm in Sevierville whose name also derives from her folks’ native Hungary. She and business partner Robin Yeary supply florists, wedding couples and other wholesale and retail customers with approximately 100 varieties of seed pods, foliage and, of course, full-blown blossoms.
A self-described late bloomer when it comes to entrepreneurship, her voice reveals not a hint of a European accent although Hungarian is her first language, German her second. She didn’t speak English until first grade. Fleeing Hungary after World War II as Soviet Communists made their way toward the Eastern Bloc countries, Blalock’s parents met in a refugee camp in Germany and arrived in Knoxville in 1951. Blalock was born two months later.
In 1969, a professor for whom her mom worked on the agricultural campus at the University of Tennessee, discouraged Blalock from pursuing her real passion. When the incoming freshman told him she’d like to go into horticulture, he retorted, “That’s a male-oriented profession. You should do something else.”
Heeding his advice, she earned degrees in political science and urban and regional planning and for three decades worked in solid and hazardous waste management for the Tennessee Valley Authority and the private sector. But the gardening itch never went away.
By the time she turned 50, she knew it was time to do something about her lifelong dream. So she went back to school to study plant sciences at UT.
“I remember some of the students asking me, because I was the grandma and I guess a novelty for them, ‘Are you starting a business?’ And I would say, ‘No, I’m just a little too old for that.’”
Needing someone to help with landscaping and vegetable gardening at her home on 90 acres in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Sevierville in 2012, Blalock hired Yeary, who’d recently graduated with the same credentials. Quickly recognizing his talents, one day she asked him about his long-term goals, half-knowing what his answer would be. “I really would like to be a grower,” he replied.
Without hesitation, Blalock pointed to her nearly-vacant property. “Let’s do it.”
The name of the farm, like her own, came from Hungary. “Blumen” is the German plural for “flowers.”
After converting a small house on the property into a barn and attaching a greenhouse, Blalock and Yeary planted a half-acre of sunflowers, snapdragons, zinnias, celosia and other mainstay varieties. Today, they tend five acres; Sevier Blumen has outgrown its original spot, so Yeary recently purchased 17 more on which to expand. (Most of Blalock’s land is unsuitable for farming.)
At first, the partners concentrated on selling their flowers at area farmers markets. Gradually, florists, wedding designers and other wholesale and retail customers began calling.
This time of year, early-season irises, bachelor buttons and daffodils are giving way to achillea, lavender and purple coneflowers. Row after row of peonies bloom in the spring and about 80 varieties of dahlias color the landscape in late summer. Poppies, beloved in Hungary, and sunflowers, whose oil-producing seeds provide an important cash crop there, pay homage to her parents’ homeland. East Tennessee’s moderate climate, along with greenhouses and high tunnels (plastic structures with rollup sides for protecting against extreme temperatures) allow for a long growing season.
“Some years we’ll come across something that looks interesting and we’ll try that,” Blalock says. “So every year it changes.”
It’s not uncommon for Sevier Blumen to plant special varieties for florists on request. Once, an Indian couple asked for a cultural favorite to mark their nuptials.
“We cannot compete with South America for roses, but we had enough notice to grow thousands of marigolds for this particular wedding,” says Blalock.
Getting her hands dirty and “puttering around outside gives me a great deal of satisfaction,” she says. “When I see the results of what we’re doing when those seeds germinate and pop their little green heads out of the soil, that to me is just so satisfying. To me it’s just a miracle, like, ‘Wow, how does this seed know that it’s going to be a zinnia?’”
But her favorite part is the task some gardeners dread. “I like to do the weeding and the cleanup and the maintenance. I guess it just goes along with my sense of order and things being in place where they should be, unencumbered by weeds. I just like things to look nice. Plus, if there are too many weeds that infiltrate the beds, then you’re not going to have a healthy, strong plant.”
This step also plays an important role in the farm’s sustainability efforts, which include integrative pest management techniques and minimal use of pesticides and fungicides.
“We certainly don’t want chemicals on our hands, so why do we want to have chemicals on our flowers for our customers that pick them up and smell them?” Blalock asks.
Her long-awaited second career has paid off in more ways than one. “It’s never too late to reinvent yourself and embark on an adventure that you thought maybe you were too old for. Just go for it. It doesn’t matter if you make money at it or if it becomes a profession. As long as you’re doing what you’re passionate about, then it’s just so worth it.”
Sevier Blumen flowers are available at Market Square Farmers’ Market in Knoxville.
Kati Blalock’s Three Favorite Flowers to Grow
Dahlia. “The reason I love dahlias so much is because the blooms are perfectly formed. It’s just an amazing thing of beauty. There are literally thousands of varieties of dahlias; each one is different. And when we grow one variety, I say, ‘Oh wow, this one is my favorite.’ And then another one comes along and I’ll say, ‘Oh no, this one is my favorite.’ It’s just the perfect flower.”
Peony. “The peony comes along after a long, cold, dreary winter. It’s mainly an early to mid-spring flower and it doesn’t have as many varieties as the dahlias, but the colors and the varieties are so pretty. The blooms are large and fluffy and it reminds you of a cotton ball. And they smell so nice.”
Sunflower. In the late summer, early fall, I love the sunflowers because they’re just happy flowers. They turn their faces toward the sun and soak it in. We’re starting to see more different varieties of sunflowers that go from pale yellow to rust to bi-color to deep reds and burgundies, and they’re just all so beautiful.”
The story above first appeared in our March / April 2023 issue.
