be planted in the fall to bloom the following spring; they were called hardy annuals. It sounded like a great way to start my flower-farming career right then and there, so I bought the recommended seeds and began.
‘Chantilly’ snapdragons, the earliest snap to bloom in our gardens, often by the first of April.
In my gardening ignorance, I never questioned if it would work or not. I never asked myself if my new little plants would survive our winter. Would there actually be flowers come spring? It seemed so simple to me then – the books I was reading said it would work, so I did it. My gift for focusing on the positive rather than the “what-ifs” took me right through that first winter untroubled by doubt. How could I know that this first blind leap of faith would change the course of my life? My fearless plunge into fall planting had a lot to do with the success I now experience as a commercial cut-flower farmer.
I planted my first commercial garden that fall – hardy annuals that included snapdragons, sweet peas, sweet William, dill, Rudbeckia, and larkspur. When the following March rolled around, I began to start more seeds of the tender season annuals recommended, like zinnias, cockscombs, and lemon basil, to be transplanted out once the soil warmed.
As spring crept in, the fall-planted flowers began to bloom. Steve was so excited for me and asked every day, “Are you taking your flowers down to the florist today?” “Not yet,” I said. I was full of reasons. But really, I just had cold feet. Now that my garden flowers were blooming, I began to wonder, would anyone really want them? As the days passed and more and more flowers began to bloom and I didn’t make any move to market them, Steve gave me the nudge I needed.
His pep talk was simple. “Take the flowers down there and offer them. If they don’t buy them, we just won’t ever shop there again.” Now I could do that. Something about knowing I wouldn’t have to face them again if they turned me down – I married a smart man!
Steve’s strategy worked. I felt confident enough to fill the buckets with fragrant sweet pea blooms and mounds of hydrangea blossoms and I headed out. My plan, as suggested in Lynn Byczynski’s book, was to offer free flower samples to the customers to show that they are conditioned and of good quality. Well, that plan got blown out of the water soon after my arrival!
One of my first commercial gardens of hardy annuals.
At this point, I didn’t have a truck, so the flowers were in the back seat of my car. I drove to the shop, hoping that the head designer and buyer would be on hand. I walked in with my buckets; he was there, on the phone with his back to me. That was perfect, really. It gave me a moment to collect myself and put my buckets up on the counter. I waited.
Staple flowers in my spring and early summer gardens: (from left top) yarrow, Ammi, black-eyed Susans, feverfew, and bupleurum.
While still speaking to the phone customer, he slowly turned to me, and his eyeballs got about the size of tea saucers. His next words were to his phone customer: “Hold just a moment, please,” and then to me, “I’ll buy them all!”
Then he jumped right back on the phone with the customer. But wait just a minute, I was thinking, I’m here to drop off samples, not to sell them! Thank goodness he stayed on the phone for a couple of more minutes while I figured out plan B. Once off the phone, he was thrilled with the flowers and the prospect that more were coming. He went on to take me under his wing to help in any way. He showed me how to package, gave me tips, and helped me when I had problems.
My first season went so fast. I realized that I absolutely loved growing masses of flowers. That winter as I planned my garden, it expanded. I needed to also expand my customer base or pretty soon I would have way more cut flowers than customers. It wasn’t hard to find more customers. The commercial trade had an appreciation and a demand for locally grown quality flowers. With each passing season, my garden and love of growing flowers increased.
Soon after the beginning of my farm life, my sister, Suzanne Mason Frye, joined me. First it was to help out at the farmer’s markets I attended; as my business grew so did her job. She has nurtured the business in those areas she loves – photography and making bouquets. My gardening story wouldn’t be complete without saying I would have never come so far or ever reached so high if she hadn’t been standing beside me all the way.
Suzanne Mason Frye and Lisa Mason Ziegler
Sixteen years later, our urban farm, now close to three acres in size, has one and a quarter acres in working cutting garden. We continue to sell to the local floral commercial trade, through our on-farm pick-up Garden Share program and Subscription Bouquet drop-offs. In 2012, we also began selling to supermarkets. All of our flowers are grown outdoors in the garden – no greenhouses for us. We follow organic and sustainable practices. Our harvest season is May through October, producing over 10,000 stems of flowers each week.
Maintaining what may be the last working farm in what was once a farming community is an honor that Steve and I treasure. Our commitment to causing no harm and leaving the land better then we found it is our daily goal. Growing cut flowers is the fruit of our labor, but most of all, we just want to be good stewards of all that has been given.
I hope that sharing our experience with growing and loving these amazing flowers will make your own floral journey a wonderful and joyful one.
A hand-colored photo of the Ziegler family homestead in 1941.
The shed pictured on the cover of this book is one of the original buildings on our farm. “The Inn” got its name because it and the other building were used as cottages and temporary homes to many visitors through the years. Farm laborers, travelers and families moving to this community all enjoyed the hospitality of these buildings. Outfitted with potbelly stoves and a string of light bulbs, The Inn had all that was needed to provide for its residents.
When I moved onto the property in 1996, one of the first jobs I tackled was to clean out The Inn. It looked to me to be the perfect potting shed. Oh, the treasures I found! After relocating all the wonderful family pieces discovered inside, I went to work on the floor. It was covered in old linoleum. What I found when I began pulling it up was incredible. The entire floor was covered in front pages of the newspaper during WWII. The Battle of Midway, and countless other historical news stories, covered the floor. I sat on the floor for hours reading. Unfortunately, they were in such bad shape they couldn’t even be lifted off the floor without disintegrating. This lovely building has stood the test of time and today works as a wonderful gardening shed for my flower farm.
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