Growing Roots in Cordova: How My Backyard Garden Is Bringing Back “Farms, Flowers and Fellowship”

I moved to Cordova,Tennessee recently. If you’ve never heard of it, that’s okay—most people outside the Memphis area haven’t. What they also don’t know is that this quiet suburb was once a legitimate farming village famous for shipping fresh-cut flowers into the city. Back in the day, Cordova’s motto was literally “Farms, Flowers and Fellowship.” I didn’t know any of that when I signed the lease, but the second I learned it, something clicked: this place still has dirt under its fingernails, even if it’s hiding beneath new subdivisions.

So I did what any reasonable flower-and-fellowship nerd would do—I am planning to turn my backyard into a tiny throwback farm and start sharing my harvest.

This summers (2025) Zinnia colors that grew in my NC garden

A Quick History Lesson (That Actually Matters Today)

• Founded in 1835 with fewer than a dozen farms

• Built its reputation on fresh-cut flowers shipped daily to Memphis florists

• Adopted the motto “Farms, Flowers and Fellowship” because growing things and sharing them was literally the town identity

• Even now, Shelby County still ranks high in soybeans, corn, and cotton, and the Cordova International Farmer’s Market keeps the agricultural pulse alive every weekend.

The flowers are mostly gone from commercial fields, but the spirit? That’s still here if you look for it.

My Plan: Porch & Petal Boxes

Every Friday morning I will fill cute little boxes (I call them Porch & Petal Boxes) with whatever the garden is throwing at me that week:

• Bundles of fresh basil, Thai basil, Genovese—whatever smells like summer

• Cherry tomatoes that actually taste like something

• Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and anything else I can cut at dawn while the petals still have dew

• A few loaves of sourdough or herb focaccia because carbs make friends faster than small talk

• Sometimes a small handmade jam

I put them on a little table at the end of my driveway for my direct community or deliver direct to my neighbors.

And I am confident Cordova will show up.

What Actually Happens When You Bring Back “Fellowship” One Box at a Time

1. People remember the motto whether they know it or not.

2. Kids learn where food comes from, From previous experience I’ve had children literally gasp when I let them pick a sun-gold tomato off the vine and eat it warm.

3. I hope my porch becomes the NEW front porch where People linger. They tell me what their granddad grew, or ask if I have extra okra seed, or drop off a jar of fig preserves “for the baker.” The boxes are just the excuse—the real crop is conversation.

   
   

Why This Can Work in Cordova Specifically

Because I hope the town never actually forgot it was founded on farms and flowers. The bones are still here. All I am doing is planting a tiny flag that says, “Hey, remember when this was normal? We can do it again—on a porch scale.”

My garden isn’t feeding the neighborhood (yet), but it’s definitely going to be feeding the part of Cordova that still believes fellowship grows best when you hand someone a fistful of just-picked basil and say, “Here, dinner’s on me tonight.”

If you’re new in town—or even if you’re not—try it. Put something alive on your porch and watch how fast people remember how to be neighbors.

Farms, flowers, and fellowship never really left Cordova. They were just waiting for someone to turn the soil again.

See you at the driveway or in the community. Bring a basket… or just a story. Either one works. 🌻

Until the next one!

Serena, The Wild Bloom Garden and Farm Cafe’