I always thought this was a strange question—especially at a farmers market, right? 😂 I mean, aren’t vendors supposed to bring their own grown product?
But over the years, I’ve realized that maybe this question isn’t so strange after all. There are people who purchase flowers and then arrange them to sell, which I suppose could fall more into the “craft” category.
But here at Garington Field, yes—I grow all of these flowers. Every single row, every season.
For the vast majority of what you see at our booth, I start with a tiny seed in a tray. A small percentage of flowers are direct seeded right into the ground, and there is one exception: lisianthus.
Lisianthus is notorious for being a little high-maintenance when it comes to starting from seed. They are slow, fussy little things that require quite a bit of babysitting. So, like many flower farmers, I purchase my lisianthus as already-started plugs from a greenhouse supplier and plant those out on the farm.
Other than that, it all starts with a seed.
And honestly, I think that is one of my favorite parts of specialty cut flower farming.
Every year I learn something new. What worked beautifully last year might completely flop this year. A variety I thought would be amazing might turn out to be a dud, while something I planted on a whim becomes a new favorite. You could say the whole thing is one big science experiment—with a lot of dirt involved.
And growing everything myself means I get to do one of my favorite winter activities: curl up under a blanket with a stack of seed catalogs and start planning the next season.
I pour over pages of flowers, carefully curating my seed list, imagining color combinations, textures, and those really unique flowers that maybe my customers have never seen before.
That’s what specialty cut flower farming is to me.
It’s not just growing flowers. It’s choosing them. Experimenting with them. Learning how to grow them better. And constantly dreaming about what I can put in the field next.
And then, several months later, getting to stand at the farmers market and say, “Yep. I grew those.”
