“These flowers make my week!”
A smiling customer told me this Tuesday, as she held up the cheery bouquet she had just cut of fresh sunflowers and zinnias. It made me smile, too.
We’ve really improved our U-Pick flower garden and now it’s ready for you to come and enjoy. This year we grew primarily sunflowers, zinnias, and marigolds for cutting. And now finally…
🌻U-Pick Flowers are Open🌻
public entry during farm stand full-service hours only
Tuesdays 9 am – 5:30 pm
Fridays 9 am – 5:30 pm
Saturdays 10 am – 3 pm
Entry is per visit:
$10 adult
$3 child (ages 5 and up)
Free for kids 4 and under
Free for current farm share members (expanded hours for members, too)
I know you want to know all about how it works, so I wrote this…
Here’s how our U-Pick flowers work:
- 💲Pay entry at the farm stand. Then enter flower garden through the red gate by the new farm pavilion. Entry fee includes the flowers you cut to take home.
- 🚶🏻➡️U-pick flowers are only open to the public during our full-service farm stand hours shown above.
- 🏠U-pick flowers to take home are for personal household use only. No picking to resell or use as decorations for your wedding venue.
- ✂️Use shears/scissors to cut the stems. They don’t “pick” easily and need to be cut with scissors/shears. We have shears to lend by the sink at the farm pavilion. Return them there when done.
- ⛳Only pick flowers from the long rows marked with orange flags (sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, etc)
- ❌DO NOT PICK the daylilies, dahlias, and from the decorative display beds that are not in long rows.
- 📷Professional photographers must contact us before doing a photo shoot here.
- 📛Dogs NOT allowed in the flower field. It is a dog-free field. Our farm dogs do not have access to the flower field. It is a dog-free field.
- 🐝Watch out for bees, lightning, heat exhaustion, uneven ground, and all the inherent risks that come with visiting a farm.
- 👑You may see Anne, the flower queen, working in there. If you have questions, just ask Anne or us at the farm stand.
Looks like a lot of rules, I know, but remember, boundaries set you free.
Here’s a welcome vignette from Anne, our flower queen, herself:
I’d like to take this opportunity to reach out to a young fellow who took a risk. If you know this fellow, please let him know – he made my week!
On the opening day of our U-pick flower season, from a distance up the hill in the zinnias, a little boy called out in a reedy, yet bold, burst, “flower queen!”
Could that be what I think it is? I turned to catch his eye, but his gaze was cast down; perhaps he had momentarily lost his nerve.
This near encounter occurred before I had read the newsletter in which Sally had shared with the world the nickname teasingly given to me by a fellow Glade Road farmer.
So take a cue from my young friend. Don’t be shy. Come on down and say hello. Ask questions, make suggestions. Our goal is to have flowers blooming in spring, summer, and fall. Share our excitement about the developments in our Flower Garden.
Now, on to the educational part…
Guide to Cutting & Keeping Beautiful Fresh Flowers
Tips for spotting younger zinnia blossoms
- Flowers will last longer for you if you cut ones that are just on the cusp of being fully emerged. Over-mature blooms will have a shorter vase life.
- Harvest zinnias when the small, yellow florets (stigmas) in the center are just starting to emerge and the inner petals are still unfurling. See my picture below.
- Select zinnias with firm necks. They won’t get firmer once you harvest them and will just stay floppy.
Tips for making your cut flowers last in a vase
- Put your flowers in water as soon as possible. Think of them like ice cream that will start to melt unless you get them in water soon. Bring a container, even with just a little water in the bottom, so that they can have a drink as you travel home.
- “Keep your vases as clean as your tea cups”. If it’s not clean enough for you to drink out of, then it’s too dirty to make your flowers last. Dirty water from a dirty vase is the fastest way to kill cut flowers. Change the vase water daily if you can.
- Put a fresh cut sprig of mint or basil in the vase. Mint will try to root in the water and since it’s actively living, it helps keep the water cleaner for the other stems. We have mint growing near the farm stand, at the brewery entrance sidewalk so harvest a fresh sprig to go with your bouquet before you leave. If you need help identifying mint at the entrance, just ask.
- Strip the bottom leaves off the stem before putting them in water.
- Keep your vase of flowers out of direct sun.
Got all that?
🌻Now throw it all out the window and just have some fun down in the flowers with us.