About | Picaflor Gardens

Our Background

Picaflor means hummingbird in Chilean Spanish. Our Farm sells honey, flowers, herbs, eggs, fiber (mohair and wool), and high quality, organic medicinal products including teas and herbal blends, skin and hair care, and more. Our products are made in small batches, with our own beeswax and lovingly grown flowers, herbs, and medicinal plants.

Picaflor Gardens provides individualized gardening services based on artistry, creativity, regenerative practices and innovation. We form lasting relationships with our clients and aim to create 'rambling', wild gardens that attract and benefit birds, butterflies, and bees and are good for your soul.

Who We Are

Picaflor Farm and Gardens' owner, Karen Purcell, was born and raised in Chile, South America. She grew up watching birds with their dad in the Andes mountains, and gardening with their mom in the Central Valley. She especially loved hummingbirds because Chile has a huge variety! The Giant Hummingbird (Patagona gigas) was a favorite!

Here in Ithaca we only have one species of hummingbird, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird -but it is still exciting to see and easy to attract! Karen studied at Cornell University as an undergraduate and got her Master's at New York University. She worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for nearly twenty-five years. She then began her life-long dream of owning a farm and gardening service that works with nature instead of against nature, encourages wild and stunningly beautiful gardens, and gives back to the earth. Her partner and love of her life is David (a musician) who works alongside her at the farm.

Beverly Wallenstein is part owner of Picaflor Farm. Deeply inspired by the land she grew up with, she brings an artist’s eye to the farm, helping nurture it as a space for growth, connection, and beauty. She is the farm's creative lead and product designer.

Bevi is also owner of The Mushroom Circle. You'll see Bevi's gorgeous art (clay jewelry, fairy houses, and other whimsical art) at local stores and festivals.

Claire (they/she) is Picaflor Farm's Farm and Gardening Lead Manager. Claire has been a professional grower and maker for over 10 years. They started their relationship with plants being fed teaberry and woodsorrel by her dad as a child, instilling an early fascination with the natural world and how it so easily seems to provide both beauty and sustenance.

That relationship further expanded into feeding others through sustainable agriculture, working on vegetable farms and through their undergraduate research. Claire has only gathered more ways to create beauty from dirt. Whether it be shaping clay or tending gardens, she continuously aims to develop a deeper understanding of the reciprocal nature of working with plants and the earth.