A woman with curly brown hair and light skin smiling while standing in front of green foliage. She is wearing a black dress with white polka dots. In the foreground, there are bright yellow-orange marigold flowers.
Close-up of a spider web with a black background and orange lines forming the web pattern.

ABOUT

Owner/Operator: Claire Charny

Clear Black Flowers is a small, specialty cut flower farm and stewardship project located in Durham, North Carolina. We grow a variety of niche cut flowers for subscriptions, daily arrangements and wholesale on just under ½ acre.

Illustration of a butterfly with orange and beige patterned wings against a black background.
A young girl with dark hair tied back, watering plants with a blue watering can in a garden filled with green foliage and orange flowers.
A young girl with curly red hair wearing a white dress with embroidered flowers, standing outdoors during dusk or evening, surrounded by greenery and trees, with a smile on her face.

Claire Age 5

Claire has had an almost two-decade career working in small-scale, pesticide-free agriculture and floriculture.

Since 2009, she has worked on farms in many different locations: France, Chicago, Sri Lanka, NC in many different settings (urban, rural, tropical); growing different crops (vegetables, broiler chickens, flowers); for different markets (farmers market, CSAs, florists); for different people (non-profits, family farms, non-governmental organizations).

Her diverse array of experience has allowed her to bring a love of problem-solving, ecological management, & the ongoing fight for social justice to Clear Black Flowers.

Three women standing in a garden holding large bunches of pink flowers with green foliage in the foreground, a clear blue sky with a few clouds, trees, and a white house in the background.
A young girl sitting on the grass planting seedlings in a garden bed in a rural area.
An anatomical illustration of a giraffe highlighting the muscles and skeletal structure.

“Clear Black” originated as a loose translation of Claire’s birth name, but has taken on a larger meaning. 

Most importantly, it is representative of the kind of steward she strives to be: one whose goal is to respectfully cultivate black, healthy soil and preserve access to clear, clean water. 

It succinctly captures her aspiration to be both transparent in her farm practices and profitable (“in the black”) in her business practices. 

Finally, it is a symbol of perseverance: a vision that resistance, beauty, and optimism will survive and endure in a world clouded by injustice.

Illustration of a branch with three orange flowers and a leaf against a black background.
A woman with curly hair, wearing a cream-colored jumpsuit with her name 'Claire' embroidered on the chest, holding an orange marigold flower pot, standing behind a display of various colorful flowers in black pots.
A woman with curly hair, wearing a cream-colored jumpsuit with her name 'Claire' embroidered on the chest, holding an orange marigold flower pot, standing behind a display of various colorful flowers in black pots.

THE CREW

A brown dog sitting on a garden path inside a greenhouse, surrounded by pink flowers on both sides of the path, with trees visible through the open door at the end of the greenhouse.

Grade A country boy who still doesn’t know the difference between the bed and the path

Riley

A tabby cat with white chest and paws is sitting outdoors in a garden, looking alert. The garden has various green plants, some with colorful flowers, and a butterfly is hovering near a red-orange flower. In the background, there are trees and a building with a sloped roof.

Primary responsibilities: chirping at dragonflies; dancing with butterflies; rolling in dirt; sniffing out voles

Lou