At left, Liz Wardlaw, of Gardenia Farm Flowers in Thomas Hollow in rural McDonald County, Missouri, displays some of the peonies making their seasonal spring debut on the farm.
Fresh Flowers: From One Mother For Others
May 5, 2021
Sheila Harris
Nothing says Mother’s Day quite like flowers, and, deep in Thomas Hollow, a mother is providing them.
While most people don’t think of flower beds and cut flowers when “farming” is mentioned, Liz Wardlaw began Gardenia Farm Flowers with exactly that vision in mind.
With marketing experience to her credit and a love for flowers learned from her grandmother, Wardlaw began researching the possibilities of flower farming long before any soil was turned.
“I learned there was a demand for flowers grown without pesticides,” Wardlaw said. “Florists also liked the idea of having a local flower farm. For them, it would mean being able to access a wider variety of much fresher flowers than anything they could get from growers outside of the area.”
Wardlaw and her husband Ben broke ground on Gardenia Farm Flowers in 2015 and haven’t looked back.
“That first year, we planted three 150-foot rows with zinnias, dahlias and asters,” Wardlaw said. “My goal was to cut and deliver fresh, organically grown flowers to florists within a 60-mile radius.
“I spent a lot of time on the telephone and computer trying to establish a market for the flowers that first year,” Wardlaw said.
Although she says attaining that initial market base was challenging, it has since expanded, as has her garden.
The Wardlaws now have one cultivated and strategically-plotted acre brimming with 60 varieties of flowers and perennials to be used in cut flower arrangements. While one acre may not sound like a lot of land, the Wardlaws carefully plan the usage for every square foot.
“My goal is to plant as many varieties of flowers as possible, in as small amount of space as possible,” Liz Wardlaw said. “It’s like a big science project.
“Our rows are planted nine inches apart, and we practice succession planting. For example, when the narcissus are finished blooming in the spring, we plant sunflower seeds directly on top of them. A week later, we’ll plant more of them.”
According to Wardlaw, sunflowers are a hot seller, so she successively plants 1,000 sunflower seeds every week throughout the growing season.
Another flower Wardlaw can’t seem to grow enough of is the dahlia.
“I sell them as fast as I can grow them right now,” she said. “They’re really popular for wedding bouquets and arrangements.”
Wardlaw has been experimenting with over-wintering dahlia tubers as a way of hastening the availability of the popular blooms.
“In our climate, dahlias are typically grown as annuals,” she said, “so, this past winter, I created an insulated bed for them in hopes they would survive.”
Wardlaw reports they did make it through the winter, a feat difficult to pull off in southwest Missouri’s Zone 6B.
Since 2015, Wardlaw has expanded her marketing base to include some 22 retail vendors, a number which she’s always looking to increase.
“I don’t just sell flowers to florists now,” she said. “Several restaurants in northwest Arkansas buy our edible flowers for culinary purposes, and I recently added a northwest Arkansas grocery store to my customer base.
Carey’s Cassville Florist is a regular customer of Gardenia Farm Flowers.
“I can get varieties from Liz that I can’t get anywhere else,” owner Carey Howe said. “Her flowers are so fresh they look like they’ve just been pulled from the ground.”
Wardlaw said 80 to 85 percent of fresh flowers that florists typically receive are imported, which means flowers need to be picked prematurely in order to allow for the necessary shipping time.
“With imported flowers, there’s usually about a 30 percent loss of usable product by the time the flowers arrive at the florist,” she said. “Because I’m a local grower, I can deliver the flowers almost as soon as they’re cut, which reduces the amount of loss.”
In addition to selling her flowers wholesale, Wardlaw vends her blooms at farmers’ markets in northwest Arkansas, and offers flowers by the bucket (grower’s choice) to individuals.
“I also host workshops at different venues in the area for those interested in learning more about flower-growing techniques,” she said.
Growing flowers offers Liz and Ben Wardlaw a perk beyond just the commercial aspect: they are available for their four children, the youngest of whom is named, appropriately, Dahlia.
More information on Gardenia Farm Flowers can be found at www.gardeniafarmflowers.com and on Facebook.
Sheila Harris
Nothing says Mother’s Day quite like flowers, and, deep in Thomas Hollow, a mother is providing them.
While most people don’t think of flower beds and cut flowers when “farming” is mentioned, Liz Wardlaw began Gardenia Farm Flowers with exactly that vision in mind.
With marketing experience to her credit and a love for flowers learned from her grandmother, Wardlaw began researching the possibilities of flower farming long before any soil was turned.
“I learned there was a demand for flowers grown without pesticides,” Wardlaw said. “Florists also liked the idea of having a local flower farm. For them, it would mean being able to access a wider variety of much fresher flowers than anything they could get from growers outside of the area.”
Wardlaw and her husband Ben broke ground on Gardenia Farm Flowers in 2015 and haven’t looked back.
“That first year, we planted three 150-foot rows with zinnias, dahlias and asters,” Wardlaw said. “My goal was to cut and deliver fresh, organically grown flowers to florists within a 60-mile radius.
“I spent a lot of time on the telephone and computer trying to establish a market for the flowers that first year,” Wardlaw said.
Although she says attaining that initial market base was challenging, it has since expanded, as has her garden.
The Wardlaws now have one cultivated and strategically-plotted acre brimming with 60 varieties of flowers and perennials to be used in cut flower arrangements. While one acre may not sound like a lot of land, the Wardlaws carefully plan the usage for every square foot.
“My goal is to plant as many varieties of flowers as possible, in as small amount of space as possible,” Liz Wardlaw said. “It’s like a big science project.
“Our rows are planted nine inches apart, and we practice succession planting. For example, when the narcissus are finished blooming in the spring, we plant sunflower seeds directly on top of them. A week later, we’ll plant more of them.”
According to Wardlaw, sunflowers are a hot seller, so she successively plants 1,000 sunflower seeds every week throughout the growing season.
Another flower Wardlaw can’t seem to grow enough of is the dahlia.
“I sell them as fast as I can grow them right now,” she said. “They’re really popular for wedding bouquets and arrangements.”
Wardlaw has been experimenting with over-wintering dahlia tubers as a way of hastening the availability of the popular blooms.
“In our climate, dahlias are typically grown as annuals,” she said, “so, this past winter, I created an insulated bed for them in hopes they would survive.”
Wardlaw reports they did make it through the winter, a feat difficult to pull off in southwest Missouri’s Zone 6B.
Since 2015, Wardlaw has expanded her marketing base to include some 22 retail vendors, a number which she’s always looking to increase.
“I don’t just sell flowers to florists now,” she said. “Several restaurants in northwest Arkansas buy our edible flowers for culinary purposes, and I recently added a northwest Arkansas grocery store to my customer base.
Carey’s Cassville Florist is a regular customer of Gardenia Farm Flowers.
“I can get varieties from Liz that I can’t get anywhere else,” owner Carey Howe said. “Her flowers are so fresh they look like they’ve just been pulled from the ground.”
Wardlaw said 80 to 85 percent of fresh flowers that florists typically receive are imported, which means flowers need to be picked prematurely in order to allow for the necessary shipping time.
“With imported flowers, there’s usually about a 30 percent loss of usable product by the time the flowers arrive at the florist,” she said. “Because I’m a local grower, I can deliver the flowers almost as soon as they’re cut, which reduces the amount of loss.”
In addition to selling her flowers wholesale, Wardlaw vends her blooms at farmers’ markets in northwest Arkansas, and offers flowers by the bucket (grower’s choice) to individuals.
“I also host workshops at different venues in the area for those interested in learning more about flower-growing techniques,” she said.
Growing flowers offers Liz and Ben Wardlaw a perk beyond just the commercial aspect: they are available for their four children, the youngest of whom is named, appropriately, Dahlia.
More information on Gardenia Farm Flowers can be found at www.gardeniafarmflowers.com and on Facebook.
