Host A Garden-to-Vase Floral Workshop With Seasonal Flowers

 Have you ever dreamt of hosting a garden-to-vase floral workshop in your own backyard? It's something I've had on my goals list for a while now and it finally happened last Tuesday right here at Dandelion House!  I'm so excited to share the day with you and give you some tips on how you can host your own.

 I was fortunate to have some help with promoting my event from Betsy Williams, author, garden writer, teacher and speaker. We met at the New England Farm and Floral Meet and Greet in March.  Betsy was so inspired by all the energy around the slow flowers moment that she reached out to me afterwords to see if I'd be interested in hosting a garden tour and floral workshop for a group trip made up of gardeners, floral designers and other creative gals from a retirement community. I jumped at the chance to make it happen and Betsy took care of sign-ups and collecting monies from the retirement community coordinator.

Me, Micayla and Ben at Bramhall's Country Store in Plymouth, MA. 

 My zinnias weren't quite ready for harvesting on the day of the workshop so I purchased some from a local flower farmer at Bramhall's Country Store in Plymouth. Ben and Micayla are in their first year flower farming and very excited to grow things they can turn into food to sell at their farm stand. Their zinnias stole the show at my workshop giving us just the pop of summer color we needed. 

Before the workshop I gave a short walking tour of the gardens and cut flower raised beds and answered questions. Then we took a short break for some cool lemonade before getting busy at the table.

My first class. They were first class ladies!

We limited the number of participants to 10 and that was a good number. With Betsy's help we were both able to assist the ladies during the design process.  I honestly can't say that I instructed them all that much. I prepared a flower bar of flowers for them to choose from and they just dove in and had fun. I labeled the buckets and jars with the flowers name on it with post it notes for reference.

My new flower cart came in handy for holding extra jars, buckets, flowers and greenery.

  These ladies came with energy, smiles and were ready to create! 

They really inspired me. Some day, I'll be this age too. I can only hope I'll be as gracious, wise and FUN as they are. We only had a short hour and a half together. I wished we could have had more time to sit down and visit. I would have loved to hear their life stories.

Here are a couple more bouquets from the workshop. 

Betsy had the idea to have each person study their arrangement on a table set apart from the other bouquets to look for structure, balance, texture and color. This exercise helped the participants see if and where they wanted to make any changes.

I think they did a beautiful job, don't you? 

 Garden to Vase Floral Workshop Supplies  

• fresh local flowers ( from your own farm or garden or sourced locally if possible)
• buckets (  plastic or galvanized )
• vases ( I used wide mouth mason jars )
• scissors ( medium sized )
• name tags
• business cards
• tables/benches
• burlap runner 
• camera  

  I provided only locally grown seasonal flowers from the garden. Zinnias, black-eyed susan's, apple blossom snapdragons, lisianthus, sedum, hydrangea foliage, forsythia foliage.

I was able to find a large selection of colorful plastic buckets at the dollar store. I also picked up name tags, small scissors, plates, napkins and drinking cups. It's canning season and mason jars can be found at your local grocery store, feed store, or craft store.  I chose mason jars because the ladies arrived on a bus and I needed something simple for them to carry home flowers in, but any type of vase would be fun at a floral workshop. You could use vintage pitchers, vases, tea pots, pewter, milk glass, etc.

 I also purchased 9 feet of burlap for 4 dollars to cover the plywood tables we put over sawhorses.  I say " we " because my husband and our son helped me with the set up and our son also took some of the great photos in this blog post! With a short event like this you don't need to go crazy with food. Offer something refreshing to drink like, citrus water, or lemonade and put out some cheese and crackers, grapes, and cookies.

The idea behind a garden to vase floral workshop is to have fun while educating your guests about the benefits of growing flowers and supporting local flower farms when ever possible. Once they step foot into your beautiful garden they'll never look at a grocery store bouquet the same way ever again!
 

July in a Jar

 How is July almost over already? July is my favorite month for flowering perennials and this month everyone is putting on a show. 

 This jar is filled with endless summer hydrangea, fire and ice hydrangea, day-lily's, cone flower and scented geranium.

The cut flower beds are lush and green and the dahlias, lisis and snap dragons are setting buds but it feels like it's taking forever for them to open up. I wonder if the 66 degree temperatures the last couple of days have anything to do with it? I mean, it is summer, right?

 

I planted a gazillion Amaranth seeds in one bed and they are doing quite well! I haven't decided it I'll thin them yet. Oh, I tucked some sunflowers in there too! They take up so much room on a bed of their own I figured I'd sew them in with something else. I'll keep you posted on how that experiment works out. 

The lisianthus are almost ready to pop. I think they are anyway? You know what they say though,  "A watched flower never blooms"...

I hope you're all enjoying some pretty blooms this summer and spending time with your loved ones.
I'll be back soon with a farm update! I have a new flower cart on the way and some other exciting farm and floral news to share! Stay tuned!
And if you're on Instagram follow me @dandelion_house for daily updates and news!

Love,
Deb

New England Farm and Floral " SPRING " Meet and Greet

Happy Spring, friends! I hope this note finds you in good spirits and feeling happy about the promise of a new season. March has been filled with lots of activity here at Dandelion House. Preparations for a new season of backyard flower farming are under way and moving full throttle ahead which is very exciting. Even though I've done absolutely nothing in the way of actual physical preparations outside yet, my seed orders are completed; tubers and plugs are ordered and I've already quoted a few weddings for 2017/18.  What I'm most excited about sharing with you as March comes to a close is the amazing response we got for our New England Farm and Floral Meet and Greet event which took place March, 25th at Salted Root Farm, home of Beach Plum Floral Design, here on the south shore of MA. You may recall my mentioning the event in my podcast with Debra Prinzing last month. Debra was instrumental in helping us get as much exposure for our event as possible. What surprised me ( and my lovely co-hostesses, Jill Landry of Beach Plum Floral Design, Monica Tavares of
Prince Snow Farm and AJ Kocon of Little State Flower Co, was the overwhelming interest in our event from our regional flower farmers and floral designers. All of us are tuned in to the Slow Flowers Movement and are committed to doing our small part to educate others on the benefits of growing and using locally grown cut flowers, but we had no idea how thirsty our NE flower farmers and floral designers were to meet face to face to begin the conversation about how they can work together to provide local flowers to their clients and support each others businesses. Let me just say, next time we're gonna need a bigger barn! We were busting at the seems with over 60 extremely eager guests and unfortunately, had to shut down registration due to the venue being filled to the brim. Every New England state was represented as well as New Jersey. As a result of the event, new connections and friendships have formed and I have no doubt there will be many more NE Farmer/Florist events in the future. I cannot wait to see where this new family of flower farmers and floral designers takes the slow flowers movement both regionally and nationally.

 Below is a shot of Monica and me. Monica is a mom and full-time 6th grade teacher who's approaching retirement and has a love for flowers too.  She farms her small acreage, Prince Snow Farm just a short 30 minutes from where we live. We met on the NE Farmer/Florist Facebook Group I founded last year and we've been following each other's backyard flower farming adventures. When I had the idea to host an event like this my intuition told me to reach out to her to see if she might be interested in helping out, and it was right. Monica got busy right away procuring donations for our raffle. She sent out over 40 emails to farm and garden businesses and vendors which resulted in some amazing gifts for our attendees. Monica was my creative co-conspirator in crime on this event and we both had so much fun with the planning and executing. Her husband, Kevin helped with getting us a projector and screen for the guest speakers. Fun Fact! We also learned that our son's share the same birth date ( different years) and the last four digits of our land lines are exactly the same. You can read all about Monica's flower farming and floral design endeavors at her beautiful blog Prince Snow Farm.

 Monica also created these adorable parting gifts for each of our attendees. It was a mad dash to get the fresh pansies for the berry baskets. She tried three places before she finally found some the day before the event!
 

 Each one included one of these darling stickers from Sticker Fiend on Etsy



  Our half-day program was simple. Sign in was at 1:00 sharp followed by some words by yours truly about growing the Slow Flowers movement in New England and how the event came to be etc, etc.

 
 Our daughter came along to help me out with checking people in and handing out raffle tickets for the array of items that were generously donated by various businesses. And when it got to her turn to introduce herself she said some very sweet things about her momma and made the attendees cry. Me too.

Then we did that horrible thing speakers do and asked our guests to stand up and introduce themselves one by one. I know. Pretty cheesy of us but, it was a meet and greet after all. Then it was time for a break and things got loud very quickly. People were beyond excited to finally have a chance to connect. Just look at those faces! I wish I could convey the buzz in the room everyone heard and felt that day. I know it's something none of us will soon forget. It was kind of like the Beatles were in town but the Farmer/Florists were the Beatles and the guests all at the same time, except no one fainted. For whatever reason my phone only captured a loud ringing sound with no audible voices. In a way, that's exactly what it sounded like only in the best of ways!

  We put out some refreshments for everyone to enjoy. Keurig coffee and tea, cookies, cupcakes, cheese and crackers and some fresh grapes with plenty of bottled water. And, fresh spring tulips of course!

 After the break Anna Jane Kocon, of Little State Flower Co. gave an informative, realistic and fun presentation about how she started her specialty cut flower farm and what her vision and goals are moving forward.

  "Little State Flower Company is a 5 acre specialty-cut flower farm based on Aquidneck Island in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Little State focuses on sustainable, environmentally-friendly growing practices in an effort to create local, healthy options for the wedding and event industry in and around Rhode Island.Their flowers find their way into the design studios of some of the most progressive and local minded florists with a strong desire to benefit their community and environment by supporting locally grown flowers. "

 After Anna's wonderful presentation  Jill Landry, Owner/Lead designer Beach Plum Floral Design presented the Floral Designer side of working and creating with flowers. She shared the ins and outs of working with brides to create their dream wedding and how having access to local flowers is changing the way she consults with her clients by offering them a local flowers option. This year Jill and her team will create and deliver over 100 weddings in the Boston/South Shore area. Dahlias are a high demand flower among brides and a favorite among floral designers, but any floral designer will tell you that they don't ship well. This is an opportunity for any flower farmer who can grow dahlias in their region. We are fortunate that dahlias love our southern New England climate and flower farmers are adding to their dahlia stock every year as demand increases. Jill placed her entire 4000  stem dahlia order with one lucky local flower farmer for the first time ever this year. 

Flower Farmers take heed! Floral designers want to buy your flowers and they want to be loyal to you. Grow a beautiful product, grow plenty of it and make shopping convenient by setting up your website with a simple pick and click ordering system. List your flowers by the season to further the selection process and you'll be well on your way to increasing your relationships with more local floral designers and fattening up your bottom line to boot. 

Jill Landry Beach Plum Floral Design

Meet Jill

"My craft began at a very young age when I returned from a walk in the woods with a large bunch of Lady Slippers and handed them to my Mother. Yes, these stems are indeed endangered but even at the age of six, I could not resist the urge to pick them.  From here, you could find me picking from our acres of farm gardens or trimming fresh pine and holly berry for holiday swags. I can still smell the lilacs before they are seen, stare at a peony for hours and feel a connection to all things rooted. Never did I believe I could take this love and create it into an actual career! You are supposed to dislike your jobs and complain about them, right? Truth being, there is something incredibly rewarding about meeting a client for the first time, listening to their newborn ideas, becoming familiar with their own uniqueness and within minutes create sketches of their dream day. Seeing the sudden comfort and trust on a brides face after a few photos and brainstorming sessions is remarkable. Creating a sense of ease and growing a personal connection with my clients is important to me. Listening to their ideas and turning them into concepts is the art. The true magic of my job is to create them with my own hands and watch the tears of joy and giant smiles on their day. It never grows old."

Jill Landry, Beach Plum Floral Design

 Jill created this beautiful Beach Plum spring arrangement and donated it to the raffle. Wouldn't you have loved to be the winner? 

 Having our event hosted in Jill's beautiful finished barn was so perfect. We couldn't have asked for a more ideal location for what turned out to be the perfect meeting of the minds we had hoped it would be. We can't wait to meet and greet again with our NE Farm and Floral tribe soon! I promise to keep you posted as more events unfold.

Put Down Some Roots and Bloom!
Deb

Generous Donors: NE Farm and Floral Meet and Greet
Debra Prinzing~ Slow Flowers ( www.slowflowers.com )
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds ( www.kitchengardenseeds.com )
Floret ( www.floretflowers.com )
Field Notes ( www.fieldnotesbrand.com)
Thimblepress ( www.thimblepress.com )
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds ( www.rareseeds.com)
A-Roo Company Floral Packaging ( www.a-roo.com)
Neptune's Harvest ( www.neptunesharvest.com)
Renee's Garden Seeds ( www.reneesgarden.com)
Pith and Vigor Newspaper ( www.pithandvigor.com)


Sellers/Vendors:
Berrybaskets:wwwsecondsunhdro.com
Pencils: Express Pencils LLC on Etsy
Journals: Beach Tree Paper on Etsy
Farmer Stickers: Sticker Fiend on Etsy
Fresh Flowers Tags :folkcity on Etsy
Chair Rental: New England Country Rentals ( www.newenglandcountryrentals.com )

Living Gifts for Christmas

 Howdy friends. I'm popping in for a short farm update and to share some great last minute " living gift" ideas with you. Some of you may remember that I went to work part-time at a local nursery back in April. It's been a great compliment to my own flower farming endeavors and quite an education to go through the growing season from a garden center's perspective.

 One of my favorite things about this time of the year at the garden shop is still being surrounded by seasonal living plants.  Paper whites and Amaryllis bulbs are some of the easiest bulbs to force. Paper whites will grow in pots, jars, tubs, bowls, soup tureens, what ever you have on hand.

Amaryllis bulbs take about 8 weeks from planting to bloom time and make a lovely, bold impression indoors during the holidays. Once dormant you can store them away until the following year and start all over again! 

I may be showing my age here, but do you recall the taste of Wintergreen gum? Did you know that it's the Tea Berry that gives it that wonderful sweet flavor? You can taste it immediately after popping one in your mouth. They are darling in a small container inside until the ground thaws then they can be planted outside after the danger of the last frost in your garden zone to be enjoyed year after year  in your garden.

Christmas Cactus is always the perfect living gift for indoor gardeners. This winter flowering plant comes in a variety of bright tropical colors and will brighten a windowsill like no other plant can.

 They are happiest placed in indirect sunlight with temps between 60 -70 degrees. Christmas Cactus are easy to propagate which makes them a great plant to grow and share.

 Working at garden shop has opened my eyes to the other side of the growing industry making me all the more grateful and passionate about my backyard flower farm endeavors. I love guiding customers in the early design stage of planning their gardens and assisting them with plant choices and you can bet your last pack of zinnia seeds there will be more of that happening in the coming year. 

That said, I'm so ready to go inward now that my own little farm has been put to bed. 

I'm excited to have some quiet time to plot out what's next for Dandelion House 2017. 

Please stay tuned! In between blog posts you can find me on Instagram @dandelion_house

Merry Christmas and thank you all for growing with me! 

Put down some roots and BLOOM.

 

Flower Growers Fellowship and Membership

 

Can I just tell you that I am NOT a good prankster. I'm just NOT. I have the worst poker face on the planet and I'm not good at coming up with ideas for pranks to play on people. It must be in my DNA because now that I think about it, no one in my family is good at it. I think the worst prank someone could play on me is to tell me I'm out of chocolate, coffee or potato chips. That would be all kinds of awful around here. Hmm...I'll be right back.

Okay, we're good. Still plenty of chocolate! See? I told ya. No pranks and everyone is home! What a boring bunch we are! Anyway, what I really want to share with you today is how excited I am about recently becoming a member of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

Becoming a member and attending a conference has been on my "goals list " for a couple of years now and I can't wait to get my members packet and begin to learn, grow and share with this community of flower farmers, designers, educators, writers, speakers, propagators, and mentors. 

  I'm  really looking forward to the members benefits , fellowship that comes with it and the new people I'll meet along the way. 

The association has seen a 60% increase in membership over the last five years. 

Proof that the flower farming renaissance is alive and thriving. 

 It's an exciting time to be " in the flowers". 

Tell me if you're a member and what you love most about it. 

Small Business Dedections for Your Backyard Farmer/ Florist Business

Don't you just love tax season? It gives my husband and I hives every year. 

For years we've done our own using Turbo Tax but with the launch of Dandelion House Flower's last year we decided to hire an accountant knowing we could benefit from some small business deductions. We don't have employees ( yet ) so all I had to provide was a list of any additional business income that wasn't already reported on our 1099 forms and expenses. No additional documentation was needed other than providing the name of our business.

 I thought I'd share the list we used this year. 

BUSINESS INCOME

  Farmers markets, farm stand, event work, gift certificates/cards, weddings, wholesale, CSA subscriptions, consultations, speaking engagements, workshops,etc.

 BUSINESS EXPENSES

 Advertising, business cards, labels, stickers, signage, phone, Internet, printers, ink, fees for industry organizations/publications, ( yes, even those Wedding magazines you pick up at the grocery store count ) meals, shows, travel, office supplies, construction supplies, garden supplies, floral design supplies, tools, equipment, plants, shrubs, seeds, soil, irrigation, etc.

DONATIONS

 Charities, gift certificates, gift cards, and flower arrangement's.

( Did you donate flowers to a nursing home or hospital last year? )

AUTO

Keep track of all mileage to and from client appointments, pick up and deliveries for events and weddings, meetings, speaking engagements, workshops, farm tours, meals, etc. I'm keeping track of my mileage with Mile IQ for I Phone for 2016! How easy is that? 

Looking back at our last year in dollars and cents gave me true picture of what it cost to make it all happen!

ORGANIZATION

This is key to keeping track of what's what from season to season. I confess, I'm not a spread sheet gal but I did pile all of my receipts into a wire basket throughout the growing season and put them away for the winter. When it came time to make my list, I knew right where to look. 

I hope this helps those of you thinking about farming your garden into a small business some day. It's easy when you start small, right in your own backyard, and have a good accountant!

MUM'S the Word ( King's Mums)

King's Mums

One of the greatest gifts of gardening is knowing that there will always be new plants to discover and trial. I just clicked the "order " button over at King's Mums and I can't wait to begin a new romance with these gorgeous old fashioned blooms. These billowy, voluptuous, romantic blooms are finding their way back into home gardens and floral design and for good reason. They are simply sumptuous and bring an old fashioned charm to the garden. Did you know that Chrysanthemum is the flower for the month of November? I'm a November baby and I've been walking around with that fun fact in my brain for years. It's about time I planted some don't you think?

I'm just dipping my toes into the wonderful world of Chrysanthemums and you can be sure I won't be able to keep quiet about them once I see them in action and I'll be sure to share all growing tips as I get a grasp on how they do here in the south coast of New England.
Something tells me that a life time wouldn't be long enough to learn everything there is to know about Chrysanthemums, though.

 Cultivars are grouped by the National Chrysanthemum Society bloom class number. There are 13  numbered classes that are divided into three lettered classes, A, B, and C. The letters that follow each number designate the cultivars size. I chose mostly tall varieties for cutting.
I'm just sharing a snippet today... When the plugs come in I'll share planting tips! In the meantime, I encourage you to check out King's Mums website to learn more about these beauties and pick a few to trial in your garden this year.

Seton's J Dore

Isn't she lovely? Isn't she won-der-ful? I'm hoping ( praying ) she'll find her way into some design work this season. Heck, I'd settle for just seeing her in the garden too.

 Are you digging into the unknown in your garden this year too? If any of you have experience with " mums" please share.

 Put down some roots and BLOOM

Deb