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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 29, 2012 20:32:40 GMT -5
Do any of you grow plants or flowers for your market.
I started doing flowers a few years ago, my palette is pretty simple, feverfew, zinnias, cosmos, statice, drumstick allium, amaranth...
So, I was thinking about adding small potted things occasionally. Coleus might be easy. I remember growing them in grade school. Any ideas?
Thanks, Holly
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 29, 2012 21:22:19 GMT -5
Do any of you grow plants or flowers for your market. No flowers for me. First thing in the season, when my offerings are sparse, I take potted plants: Chives, mint, oregano. This year I also potted up some Egyptian onions. I only take plants that could be considered food... When chives are blooming, I might gather together a bunch of chive flowers. Mostly I put them on the table as a decoration. They might sell, they might not. Do flowers sell well at the farmer's market? |
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Post by MikeH on Mar 30, 2012 2:09:38 GMT -5
My wife, Joyce, takes cannas and dahlias to market. She grows them in the garden and takes them up in the fall. In the spring, she subdivides them and pots them up. She has a never ending supply for free since the tubers multiply in the ground over the summer.
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Post by ottawagardener on Mar 30, 2012 6:52:23 GMT -5
Mike: Does she have any heritage dahlias. I"m looking for the older ones, especially high tuber producing. I'd be happy to pay market prices.
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Post by steev on Mar 30, 2012 10:48:23 GMT -5
ottawa, are you familiar with tree-dahlias? Native to southern Mexico-Guatemala, very impressive. The tubers and tender tips are eaten.
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Post by bunkie on Mar 30, 2012 11:54:07 GMT -5
holly, i potted up several French white marigolds one year and they were a big hit. others people liked that were potted were snapdragons, calendula, allysum, strawflowers. for cuttings, daisies yellow and white, and sunflowers did well.
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Post by olddog on Mar 30, 2012 15:16:41 GMT -5
Holly,
my friend used to sell flowers around Petaluma, and the Bay area, and she said that field flowers such as Rudbeckia were always popular and good as the base (foundation structure?) for a bouquet, and she also said Agrostemma?, delphinium, and larkspur were very popular, though she did not sell potted plants, just flowers, if this helps.
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Post by MikeH on Mar 30, 2012 16:04:51 GMT -5
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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 30, 2012 22:11:15 GMT -5
Today we went to the spring trials at Headstart Nursery. They do plugs and flats that you can plant out. We've been looking at adding perennial flowers to our CSA boxes. I put in some last year Golden Marguerites...I chose them because they attract beneficial insects. When we did the farmer's market, I did $3.00 bouquets, mostly wild things like cat tails, Anise, statice and few annual flowers from the garden, they sold out (along with the jam) every week. For the CSA, I put 5 stems in a wee vase. Sometimes I put the cut herbs in the vase and send them out that way. (Basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley). My problem with the stuff at Headstart that they showed was that they were all hybrid proprietary things that I would never do. But Leo and I are interested in flowers that we could plant in a 50 foot row that would last for a few years, and pick seasonally. Daffodils are great, but come too early. Lillies do fantastic here (caged against the gopher) but they don't really feed the bees as much as I would like. I'm looking for the bumbler special. Attachments:
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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 30, 2012 22:23:14 GMT -5
This is arugula that I let go to flower. (Boy I love those Italian Greens!) I'm using the flowers in my lettuce mix and they are very very yummy. I was thinking Wall Flowers might be great, but then Leo reminded me that they are in the brassica family and may cross. Erysimum teretifolium Is the native here. I noticed the bumblers were all over those cabbage flowers. I put some cabbage flowers in a vase and they lasted for a whole week. And of course, they aren't perennials. I'd love to have some more ideas. It's hot here, so delphiniums are fabulous, but only in April for about a week. There must be something perennial and hardy and easy to grow that makes a good cut flower and bees like? Joseph, last year I threw the Welsh onion flowers into bouquets. I think my CSA might love potted chives! Attachments:
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Post by diane on Mar 30, 2012 22:34:06 GMT -5
I grow dahlias from seed. They flower for such a long time - until frost. The
tubers usually last a few years in the ground here, though eventually they
succumb to a bad winter.
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Post by steev on Mar 31, 2012 10:20:41 GMT -5
Alstroemeria is a good cut flower perennial; lasts well in a vase.
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