Our Story

Love & Flowers

After 11.5 years of dating my high school sweetheart, Sean finally proposed in December of 2009.  Like most girls I had been dreaming of this day for a long time.  I knew that I wanted lots of flowers and since we would be getting married in September at the farm dahlias were a must have! 

At the time I had this crazy DIY streak in me and wanted to design and make all the flower arrangements for the wedding.  So I set off online in search of a floral design workshop to brush up on my skills.  Surprisingly in 2010 I had a hard time finding workshops, but I was able to find one at The Floral Studio in Baltimore.

After taking the workshop with Shawn Nocher of The Floral Studio it reminded me how much time and care goes into each arrangement.  Fall is a very busy time at the nursery and I didn’t want to risk the flowers suffering from my inability to devote my full attention to designing.  So I made the best decision and hired Shawn to design our wedding flower arrangements.  We still grew several varieties of flowers for her to use, but it took the pressure of my already full to-do list.  After the big day had ended we continued to grow dahlias, but it felt more like a hobby, then a business path. 

In the Spring of 2016, I had to make a decision, were we going to continue with growing dahlias as a hobby, stop growing them all together or integrate them into our existing business model.  I took to the internet to scour what was out there as learning opportunities and found The Business of Local Flowers class taught by Jennie Love of Love 'n Fresh Flowers and Ellen Frost of Local Color Flowers.  This masters class made the decision very easy.  Since then we have continued to grow several different varieties of dahlias.  And over the years have added other flowers and foliage to our production as well.  Visit What’s in Season to check out what we are growing now!! 

About Clear Ridge Nursery

Clear Ridge Nursery, Inc. is an 87-acre wholesale nursery located in Carroll County, Maryland. The business was established by Joe and Sharon Barley in 1994. The nursery is known as one of the region’s leading suppliers of native and ornamental trees and shrubs. We grow over 70 species in 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 gallon container sizes. Clear Ridge Nursery is MBE/DBE Certified in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia, as well as several individual counties in Maryland.  

In 2008, Joe and Sharon’s daughter, Jessica Barley Todd, took the step toward the succession of the company. Cut Flowers by Clear Ridge is Jessica’s passion. This new venture compliments our existing business. The same high quality plant material and customer service that built our strong reputation in the nursery industry is being carried on into our flower business. We work with DIY brides, event designers and florists. Please contact us for more information about our cut flowers.