As Lynne Vinkovic drilled holes with a gas-powered auger into a bare plot of land in 1995, she un-potted each rose bush from her modest backyard garden and planted them into the field by hand, where her nearly year-and-a-half long labor of love fueled Rose Lane Farms to flourish.

Rose Lane Farms is uniquely the only rose-cutting farm in Los Angeles serving florists, wholesalers and the general public.

The farm is discreetly tucked away from the bustling street beyond its gates. Inside, a lush pocket of green with a blossoming rose bush-filled field thrives in the midst of an overtly urban landscape. 

When Vinkovic embarked on her journey to transfer her backyard rose garden to a field in North Hollywood, she never anticipated that 25 years later her rose farm would try to survive the impact of COVID-19 during Rose Lane Farms’ silver anniversary season.

Vinkovic’s gut reaction to the news of the pandemic last year made her think her season would go to waste. 

“I thought I would have to just give away my flowers to anyone who wanted to take it,” Vinkovic said.

This was a reality that could have devastated the farm. 

As the bushes started budding, Vinkovic’s sense of duty to the roses was greater than the uncertainty that clouded the future of Rose Lane Farms.

“The roses didn’t know about COVID,” Vinkovic said. “They didn’t say, ‘Well, we better not bloom because of COVID.’ No, they were going to grow and they did. I wasn’t just going to let them go. There was no way I was just going to say to them, ‘Oh well, good luck.’”

Vinkovic and her farmers tended to the needs of the roses and without fail, the buds bloomed as they did every season despite the looming pandemic.

“COVID was here, lockdowns were on and my roses were blooming all over the place,” Vinkovic said.

Amanda Galvez, a farmer at Rose Lane Farms, said confronting the pandemic was a learning experience.

“One of the biggest lessons that we’ve learned is nature doesn’t stop for anything or for anybody and we were ready to join nature and keep going,” Galvez said.

Governor Gavin Newson issued an executive order, which deemed cut flower retailers essential under the food and agriculture sector. Vinkovic was informed her business was essential through an email from the Plant California Alliance.

“I felt really comfortable after they sent us that email because I thought I could have the police come in here and close me down,” Vinkovic said.

In the initial months following stay-at-home orders, the roses were ready, but business slowed down as the farm experienced fewer customers than previous seasons. Some farmers wondered what that would mean for the flowers, but they found that there were no roses left over from the season thanks, in part, to the community coming together for support. 

Local businesses reached out to the farm to keep each other afloat during the uncertainty of potential closures. One of the collaborations born out of COVID-19 was Flamingo Estate incorporating an add-on rose bundle from Rose Lane Farms to their Community Supported Agriculture boxes.

“They were very popular,” Vinkovic said. “It kept all of us busy here. Almost every Thursday we were cranking out 30-some bunches.” 

During this time, they also worked with Haute Chefs to offer add-on rose bundles to their meal delivery kits, Joan’s on Third for Mother’s Day as well as fulfilling bouquet deliveries to Cookbook Market. Three bundles of roses were even traded for boxes of pizza from La Morra Pizzeria.

“Local businesses that were trying to stay open safely and still be able to keep people employed, we all just grabbed each other and ran,” Vinkovic said. 

As the season progressed, business started to pick back up as more and more Rose Lane Farms customers trickled into the field to cut roses, with wicker baskets and clippers in hand, while masked and at least six feet apart. 

“The community that we both serve and are a part of is a huge reason for all the joy that this place brings,” Galvez said. 

The farm offered returning customers an outdoor escape from sheltering indoors for long periods of time. The farm is open to the public on Saturdays.

“It was a place where people could come feel safe and felt like it was their big day of the week to get out,” Vinkovic said.

Cutting flowers also proved to be therapeutic to the farmers and customers amid the stress brought on by the pandemic.

“Once you’re here you kind of forget about personal things or anything going on, you’re very present here with all the beauty and the people around you,” Galvez said. “I think this is a great outlet emotionally to take your mind off things so I think that really helped people.”

The farm began hosting socially-distanced events for the first time during the pandemic to foster a shared sense of community with wreath making workshops and a community market that invited vendors to set up stands and sell their wares. They also created Rose Lane Farms tote bags and long sleeve T-shirts to help people feel connected to the farm.

“Flowers are a universal way of connection,” Galvez said. “Nature is so important to us, especially in this time.”

Although the farm is outdoors and farmers consistently sanitized material, required face masks and provided glove liners to visitors, the fear of COVID-19 lingered in Vinkovic’s mind. 

“The most challenging thing was asking myself, ‘Am I doing everything right here to keep people protected?’” Vinkovic said. “‘Am I going to be a superspreader because I let 16 families in on that day? Am I cleaning stuff right? What about my bathroom?’ All of these things were going through my head – safety.”

A Los Angeles County health inspector evaluated the farm toward the end of the season and gave Rose Lane Farms a stamp of approval to continue business, which alleviated Vinkovic’s safety concerns.

While Rose Lane Farms’ season went better than expected, Vinkovic remembers a moment of heartbreak experienced during the pandemic.

Ahead of Mother’s Day Weekend, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti allowed flower wholesale distributors to reopen, which were previously exempt from the state’s COVID-19 orders.This led customers to flock to locations like the Los Angeles Flower Market. Vinkovic said she encountered people distraught with the abrupt reopening, sending many desperately searching for bouquets at her farm.

“I had girls come here bawling their eyes out,” Vinkovic said. “They had been in their car, in line, for more than three hours to get something. And when they would get there, it would be crap. It was so bad. I felt so sorry for so many people. My heart was breaking.”

Sean Hadden, a Rose Lane Farms customer, has consistently come to the field to cut flowers most weekends since first discovering the farm three years ago. He estimates coming out nearly every Saturday last season during COVID-19 and anticipates staying consistent with his weekly flower cutting tradition this year. 

“I love flowers, and one of the scary things at the beginning of the pandemic was the flower market being closed to the public for a little while so it was extra nice to come here when it was harder to get flowers as an enthusiast,” Hadden said.

Rose Lane Farms offers more than 150 varieties of roses. Flower lovers like Hadden are attracted to the abundant selection.

“Anywhere else that you get roses, you usually get a bunch of a single variety,” Hadden said. “Today, I probably picked 30 or 40 different varieties so it’s nice to have so much variation.”

Many customers would also attest that Vinkovic is one of the reasons why they continue to support Rose Lane Farms.

 “A big part of the reason why I come here is Lynne,” Hadden said. “She’s a pretty amazing woman and it’s fun to catch up with her and get all the knowledge out of her.”

Customer Allison Valentine has shopped with Rose Lane Farms for nearly seven years. She currently lives in New York, but recently traveled back to L.A. and made time to visit the farm while she was in town. This was her first time returning to the farm since COVID-19 emerged.

“It’s really reassuring to come back and the flowers are still growing here and Lynne is still here,” Valentine said. “I love supporting Lynne, she has such a great spirit and I think that comes through in the roses.”

This year marks the rose farm’s 26th season. COVID-19 remains, and Rose Lane Farms’ field is still coming up roses.