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The 10-acre Placer County business off Horseshoe Bar and Auburn-Folsom Road in Loomis may officially be called The Flower Farm, but it’s much more than that — historic inn, gourmet cafe, wine tasting room, gift shop, wedding and events center, nursery and citrus orchard.

The landscaped, tree-lined property, enveloped by picturesque walking paths, ample outdoor seating and a koi pond, was first purchased in 2004 by John and Annie Bowler when it consisted of only a flower farm, an old barn, a farmhouse and a small residence. Along with their two children, Francis and Sarah, the Bowlers continue to oversee the business today, which has expanded considerably in 20 years.

“It just evolved; it’s a legit family business,” John Bowler says as he showed the property. The Loomis Flower Farm, first established in 1905 by the J.H. Nixon family, now includes four separately owned businesses, and John says that when the property was purchased, it had just a few buildings and was basically used for grazing for livestock on a temporary basis.

“We didn’t have any grand plan,” John, a retired art teacher at Del Oro High School, says. (Annie taught at a school in Cool.) “My wife and I were both retired from teaching, but we were occupied in other endeavors. And it honestly started out simply as an investment in real estate in the area that we wanted to see what we could develop it into, keeping it agricultural and not turn it into housing.”

The evolution of today’s business was done incrementally. The cafe was first built in 2007. The Bowlers ran it until a little over a year ago, and it is currently owned by Madeline Faeth, who also owns Farmhaus restaurant in Granite Bay. In 2005, the old barn was renovated and became an events center, with the first wedding held in 2007. The orchard was not planted until 2008 and originally consisted of small trees with no citrus production. It now produces over 30,000 pounds of citrus a year, with malbec grapes and a vegetable garden also on the property, he says.

In 2012, Kevin and Ann Stevenson started a tasting room for their winery, Casque Wines, at the Flower Farm, which produces around 20 varietals of wine under the Le Casque label. There’s also a two-story house on the site that was built in the late 1800s, which the previous owners had converted into three upstairs rooms. The Bowlers built three small nearby cottages for a total of seven rooms, rounding out the unique property.

“If you notice, we don’t have any big TV screens or any distractions for people who really like to come here and just enjoy their time with friends,” John says. 

He says the farm has rebounded from the rough COVID years, employing more than a dozen people between the tasting room, the gift shop and cafe, with another seven working for the flower farm and nursery.

“We continue to evolve and grow,” Bowler says. “I’m not a great planner, that’s for sure. But life has progressed very nicely for me and my family. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Jeremiah Nakasone, manager of Flower Farm Cafe, which is open for breakfast and lunch, says the businesses there coordinate to assist each other. John calls it “a great partnership.”

“All the businesses stay in communication; we all work really well together,” Nakasone says. The popular cafe, which serves locally grown organic ingredients that are freshly made and prepared in-house, features seating for 40 people inside and another 120 at outside tables in the garden. 

“We share discounts with each other and are very familiar with one another while enjoying participating with each other’s groups,” Nakasone says.

The synergy of The Flower Farm was evident as longtime neighbors Brian and Tanya Issertell prepared for a 120-guest wedding party for their daughter, Macey. The wedding, one of the approximately 50 held at the site every year, would fill up the Flower Farm Inn cottages and use the outdoor wedding lawn and events barn.

“We’re members at Casque (tasting room), and we regularly come to the cafe,” says Brian, who says they live just around the corner and have known about the wedding site for years, as he helped prepare for his daughter’s wedding just hours away. “They do an amazing job here running everything.” 

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