About Us

The Inspiration

We didn’t come into this as experts.

For years we admired gardens from the sidelines — urban dwellers with a love of plants and not much space to grow. But after spending several years in the UK, our perspective on gardening changed completely.

There, gardens felt like personal expression. Even the smallest spaces carried beauty, mood, and a bit of magic.

When we returned to Ontario, the contrast was hard to ignore. Gardening here often felt restrained. A handful of go-to plants. A two-week rush around Victoria Day. A season shaped more by store calendars than by the rhythm of the plants themselves.

The difference wasn’t the climate.

It was the culture.

And we knew it didn’t have to be that way.

The Farm Years

In 2020, our family moved to a farm and started planting - Kawartha Family Farm.

What began as curiosity quickly became an experiment. Over the next five years we planted and observed more than 15,000 perennials, testing hundreds of varieties to see what actually holds up in a lasting garden.

Some plants surprised us.

Some failed completely.

And some quietly proved themselves year after year.

The farm became our laboratory — a place to test plants, growing methods, and ideas about what a garden could be.

During that time we developed the soil-block growing system we still use today. Many of our plants begin in soil blocks rather than plastic pots. It’s a healthier way for plants to grow, but harder to sell — so we designed our own packaging to make it possible.

The Next Chapter: Honest Perennial Co.

Eventually that learning led to something bigger. And a book.

Honest Perennial Co. is the continuation of the work that began on the farm.

While that chapter of our lives has closed, the ideas behind it continue — helping gardeners understand plants more clearly and build gardens that last.

Today we grow and offer a carefully selected palette of perennials based on what we’ve observed in real gardens.

We’re not a traditional nursery. Think of us more like your local baker - a fresh limited supply of plants, that we’ve individually nurtured.

We’re gardeners who grow what we’ve tested — and what we believe in.

Gardening as Creative Work

We believe gardening is creative work.

Plants are the medium.

Your garden is the art.

— Stephen and Shelley Hood & Family