I had never been brave enough to actually start my own plant business. I couldn’t think of an idea that really clicked with me, until the winter of 2021. I had always entertained thoughts of having an herb farm, or maybe a farm with veggies and animals, or something. We did have animals (and still do), some chickens and pigs and cows (and other animals over the years), and we have had a big vegetable garden in the past. I had sold a few vegetable starts from my driveway a couple of times, and that was fun. But it didn’t excite me. But FLOWERS do!

I was reading a book about flower farming in the winter of 2021, and it dawned on me that I could make bouquets with what I already had growing on our property, and what I could grow from seed that would grow here in Vermont. No shipping across the country, or across the ocean! I already had red osier dogwood, pussy willow, crabapples, lilacs, hydrangeas, daffodils, sweet fern, and lots of perennials. So, the brainstorming started.

Everything in our bouquets is grown on our property. I grow seedlings in the house under lights. I have a cold-frame and an unheated greenhouse that I use to help some flowers come a little earlier, so I don’t need to use more fossil fuel energy to do it. Each week the bouquets are different, and I think that is the beauty of seasonal arrangements. Providing seasonal flowers in my own community has become an incredibly satisfying adventure for me!

I stock the flower cart the whole growing season (end of April through September or October) with bouquets that include whatever is blooming in any particular week. I also try to add beautiful fragrance if I can, like basil, mint, fennel, or scented flowers.

That first season in 2021 was an experiment year, and I only used the old vegetable plot, the greenhouse and the perennials in the gardens around the house. The second year, 2022, we expanded the gardens by adding twelve 50’ beds in the field near the vegetable garden. This third year, we have added four more 50’ beds, and four raised beds that I am using first for 4,000 tulips, and then annual flowers after I harvest the tulips.

I couldn’t do any of this without my husband Zach. He has been the brawn here doing most of the heavy lifting and digging! I hope you enjoy the flowers as much as I do!

Martha