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Sea & Soil and Frost & Found

Cape Cod Garden  /  GARDEN ANNUAL 2022 / ,

Writer: Julie Craven Wagner

Sea & Soil and Frost & Found

130GAR22_COVERnoUPC-6.jpg

Cape Cod Garden  /  GARDEN ANNUAL 2022 / ,

Writer: Julie Craven Wagner


Two talented women see flowers and plants in a way most have never imagined.  

Jessica Taylor Olson found her path, a true garden path, simply by serendipity. The energetic and enthusiastic floral designer recalls as a young child, after her family moved to Beverly, Massachusetts, she looked for solace from being the new kid in an unfamiliar community. “When we moved it felt very abrupt and kind of shook up my world,” Jessica explains. “I asked my parents if I could have a secret garden behind our house, and so we made one. I did really like the idea of creating gardens and shaping the space, and making rooms with natural materials. I would scratch in the dirt and try to plant corns seeds or whatever I could find. But then my mother gave me seedlings from her herb garden, things like lemon balm and lovage, and taught me to grow parsley and cilantro; that was when I had my first success.”

Jessica tending flowers in her garden.
Today, Jessica and her husband Blake live in Wellfleet, and like so many young couples on the Cape, their livelihood is a collection of employment opportunities in an effort to allow them to live in the place they love most. Blake, an oyster farmer, summered in Wellfleet for most of his life and moved there permanently when he turned 18. Since Jessica had grown up on the North Shore, her summers were spent there, or at the lakes in New Hampshire. A college friend asked if she wanted to get a job waitressing in Wellfleet after graduation. That summer turned in to three summers and ultimately a fork in her...

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Julie Craven Wagner

Julie Craven Wagner began her experience with Cape Cod Life in 2010 when she joined the sales team after 10 years of working with local businesses on the Cape and Islands with WMVY. In addition to sales, she is the Associate Publisher/Editor of Cape Cod LIFE, Cape Cod HOME, and Cape Cod ART. Growing up on the Outer Cape has given her a unique perspective of life on Cape Cod, from tip to bridge, and that is reflected in her appreciation and presentation of stories found within the pages of our publications. Julie lives in North Falmouth with her husband, Eric, and their yellow lab, Enzo. When she finds free time, she enjoys her Cape Cod life sailing on Buzzards Bay, spending time on the beach in Wellfleet, or exploring Martha’s Vineyard.