Bailey Hale began gardening when he was six years old and never looked back. Today, he provides curated collections of specialty cut flower plugs to growers across the United States as President of Farmer Bailey. When not seeking out new cutting edge flower varieties, Bailey produces and preserves top quality sweet pea seed under the Ardelia Farm label. 

Prior to co-founding Ardelia Farm with husband Thomas McCurdy, Bailey partnered in a critically acclaimed floral event design firm in Philadelphia, where he was also a professional opera singer for ten years. He interned at Longwood Gardens after earning his degree in horticulture from the University of Kentucky. Though plants are his profession, Bailey still enjoys amassing all forms of life as a hobbyist. Frustratingly difficult aquarium species, carnivorous plants, and orchids all keep him company as a self-described "hoarder of life."