Drought forces popular Mississippi wildflower farm to close for now. ‘We have nothing.’

A popular wildflower destination on the Mississippi Coast will close at least through September this year after months of drought parched the region and made it nearly impossible to grow flowers.

“This is unprecedented,” said Terri Doyle, who owns Coastal Ridge Farm with her husband. “It’s off the charts.”

The drought decimated the farm’s flower fields in Hancock County. Doyle said normally by Sept. 1 she has waist-high stalks. Now, she said, they’re “knee-high at best.”

Coastal Ridge Farm, near Picayune, is popular with Coast residents. In normal years, visitors can take pictures or pick from fields of sunflowers, zinnias, poppies and daisies. The fields close during summer months and typically reopen in the fall.

This year, not even the downpours that soaked the Mississippi Coast on Tuesday were enough to save the September crop.

But Doyle has one glimpse of hope: the ground is finally damp. That means surviving seeds could sprout. And if she’s lucky, there’s a chance the farm will open in October.

It will be a challenge: much of the Mississippi Coast is under extreme drought conditions this summer, according to U.S. drought monitor. Conditions are so dangerous Hancock County has been under a burn ban since Aug. 14.

In early August, drought conditions led to woods fires in Bayou LaCroix, Bay St. Louis, Pearlington and Interstate 10 at mile marker eight. Fires briefly closed Interstate 10 on two separate days.

Doyle tried to save September’s flowers by irrigating the ground. But the heat raised soil temperatures up to 91 degrees — far too hot for seeds to grow.

“We gave it a shot,” Doyle said. Right now, “we have nothing.”