Playing Wordle every day and a weekly Scrabble game with my husband has me googling words frequently this winter. One I was just checking the definition of is burgeon, which perfectly describes the locally grown flowers movement in our region. The number of specialty growers has been rapidly increasing, so much that flower availability is flourishing in local markets year-round.
I’ll be featuring different growers regularly here on the IFDA website. In between, the Maryland Cut Flower Growers Association is a terrific resource for finding flowers in this area: http://www.marylandgrownflowers.com/flowerfarms Traveling to design for a destination wedding? Find local farms all over the nation from the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers here: https://localflowers.org/find-flowers/
It isn’t just individual growers that are increasing in number, but also cooperatives, both formal and informal. This first grower’s profile will feature the first cooperative in this area in recent years, Monocacy Valley Flower Cooperative. Four years ago, prompted by their love of flowers and their desire to share that beauty with others, six growers from three Maryland counties banded together so that they could offer a broader range of flowers and foliage on a more consistent basis to designers, streamlining the ordering and pick-up process.
Each of the growers has been growing for six to 12 years professionally, and each brought prior experience and education to the cooperative. For instance, the part-time administrator, Lydia Printz, has a degree in Agriculture from the University of Maryland, and Jackie Coldsmith of Tierra Blooms ran an organic vegetable farm before venturing in to cut flowers. Those years of study and experience have helped them navigate the many challenges of farming and still offer high quality product to their customers. Additionally, they are able to grow flowers and foliage for nine or more months of the year, as each has either a heated greenhouse, an unheated hoop house, a low tunnel, or some combination of these.
Melane Kinney Hoffmann of Hidden Ridge Farm and a Past President of the Maryland Cut Flower Growers Association shared with me that the members prioritize talking with designers to better meet their needs.
“The single most valuable thing that designers could do to make the process go better is to give us very early notice of what they want for large events so that we can custom grow it,” Melane said. For example, if a designer will need 300 stems of white cosmos or 200 stems of coral fountain amaranth for a September wedding, or 400 white ranunculus for a May wedding, if they let us know in time to get the seed, plugs, tubers or corms we can grow it, manage it, and save it for the occasion. If plans change, there is no obligation to buy; we can still sell it to someone else. But if you don’t ask for it in time for us to grow it especially for you, there’s a chance we won’t have it.”
So, how do you find out what products Monocacy Valley has available? Request to be added to their Wednesday availability list, which goes out weekly from Mid-March to Mid-November. Visit www.monocacyvalleyflowercoop.com to complete the contact form.
Melane described what each of the talented growers in the cooperative enjoy about their work.
“First, how cool is it to produce fields of colorful beauty and elegant stems of spectacular flowers, all from a tiny seed or humble cutting or wrinkled tuber? That brings a daily feeling of satisfaction and pride. Second, we love the sense of community and connection with others in the field, from growers and designers to customers and suppliers,” she said
Thank you to the growers of Monocacy Valley Flower Cooperative for talking with us. The members include:
Belle Blooms Farm, Morgan Wilson Patterson, Adamstown, MD, Frederick County
Cut Flowers by Clear Ridge, Jessica Todd, Union Bridge, MD, Carroll County
Hidden Ridge Farm, Melane Kinney Hoffmann, Clarksburg, MD, Montgomery County
M & M Plants, Madgie and Mark McGaughan, Dickerson, MD, Montgomery County
The Petal Patch Flower Farm, Julianne DuFour, Walkersville, MD, Frederick County
Tierra Blooms, Jackie Coldsmith, Taneytown, MD, Carroll County