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A Chocolate Lover's Eden

This little nursery is proving that brown is beautiful

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Jacqueline Koch Calla ‘Hot Chocolate’ is just one of the deliciously fudge-toned plants offered by Chocolate Flower Farm on Whidbey Island. The new little nursery proved such an instant hit that its owners have already opened a shop, The Garden Shed, in downtown Langley offering chocolate-inspired products and plants year-round.

ALREADY, MARTHA Stewart Living and the San Diego Tribune have made their way to a little nursery just off Saratoga Road on Whidbey Island. What draws media from across the country to a newly hatched rural nursery? In part it's the marketing savvy of owner Marie Lincoln, who was clever enough to name her enterprise "Chocolate Flower Farm." It's hard not to salivate just reading the sign, and that's before you find the packets of chocolates, scented candles and teas that smell like frango mints.

Perhaps all the animals have been stealing snacks from the bags of fragrant cocoa-bean mulch because you've never seen such an assortment of contented pets. "Most of our animals are geriatric," laughs Lincoln, though you'd never know it by the warm greeting guests receive from horses that lean over the fence to kiss your cheek, chickens that cluck to be held, and a pack of silly runner ducks busybodying around and slurping up slugs.

Lincoln and her partner, Bill Schlicht, moved to the island from Redmond last March, six U-Hauls of plants and furniture in tow, in search of a closer-knit community, plus space to fulfill their dream of owning a nursery. Their vision was helped along a bit last year when inventor Schlicht patented a dog ramp with its own carrying case that was featured as "the best new pet product" on TV's "Today Show."

See for yourself


Visit the Chocolate Flower Farm at 5040 Saratoga Road, Langley, Whidbey Island. Call 360-221-2464 or check out www.chocolateflowerfarm.com. Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., April through October.

"Our gardening style is bushwhack and triage," says Lincoln of the work needed to tame their new home's overgrown eight acres, where grape vines climbed the trees and old car parts filled the many outbuildings. Undaunted, the couple cleaned the place up, elevated the plants on old sawhorses and doors to protect them from hungry rabbits, and opened to the public. Schlicht has become a fixture at the Bayview Farmer's Market, where every Saturday he sells an assortment of plants in tones from russet through brunette.

Why build a business around brown plants? Lincoln, a former marketing consultant for dot-coms, knew she wanted to run a small specialty nursery. It all clicked when she saw Karen Platt's all-black garden at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show a couple of years ago. Impressed by the drama and sophistication of these dusky beauties compared with the roses and pastels she'd been growing, Lincoln set out to research and collect every dark-flowered-and-leafed plant she could find.

"Black is kind of yesterday — it's so Gothic," says Lincoln. "Chocolate is more of a range of colors, and people like the idea," she adds as Schlicht heads into Langley for his first mocha of the day. "Chocolate elicits a primal response, and when you put chocolate and flowers together. . . ." The effect is slyly heightened by the pair's corporate outfit of milk-chocolate-colored T-shirts.

Short of a mocha, you can almost get your chocolate fix by sniffing the silky, burgundy, dessert-scented chocolate cosmos (C. atrosanguineus), which are the nursery's poster plant. Although hardy only to Zone 8, they'll usually overwinter if planted in a fast-draining soil, Lincoln says. Which plants fall into the darkest semi-sweet category? Lincoln lovingly points out the tropical elephant's ear Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic,' the lacy perennial Cimicifuga racemosa 'Hillside Black Beauty,' and the minute Viola 'Molly Sanderson.' There's nothing Gothic about its cute little face, even though it's about as near to ebony as a flower can be.

Surrounded by chocolate from palest milk-brown to richest bitter, Lincoln pauses before naming the plants she's most excited about. "I'm collecting all the darkest clematis, and there's the daylily 'Sweet Hot Chocolate' from Quebec with flipped petals like a 1950s hairdo," she enthuses. When you hear she's starting a children's chocolate-garden collection with mahogany nasturtiums, 'Chocolate Cherry' sunflowers and Viola 'Frosted Chocolate,' you'll be pleased to know Lincoln does mail order so you and your kids can get your chocolate fix by post. Or stop in and pet a chicken while choosing the darkest flowers ever.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and contributing editor for Horticulture magazine. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.