Hey, it's Tinisha, Spain, host of Mid-American Gardener, and you know the team and I love a field trip.

So this week, we are at Delight Flower Farms in Champaign.

We're going to spend the whole show talking about cut flowers, how you can make arrangements of your own flowers at home, and how these flowers go from the farm to a vase in your kitchen.

So we're going to go track down the owner, Maggie Taylor, and ask her some questions.

Let's go find her.

(music) All right, and I finally have been able to catch up with the woman herself, Maggie Taylor, the brains behind this operation here.

First of all, you have a beautiful, beautiful flower farm here.

Thank you so much.

It is lovely.

So tell us a little bit about your your origin story.

How did this come to be, and how did you get from a small farm to a big farm?

Yeah, well, I actually grew up with an avid gardener as my mom.

So as a kid, I my chores were pulling weeds and spreading mulch, and I hated it as a kid, and then grew to find it very therapeutic to be in nature and to be working with plants and noticing the season.

So I started a little backyard project, and I initially had seven CSA members, and I delivered the flowers on my bicycle, and it was really cute.

And I was working my day job as a reference librarian at Parkland College, and then my interest in it and the demand for the flowers just started to take off, and so I started, I went to a little farm school to learn a little bit more about, you know, enterprise budgets and building fences.

I learned some things I don't use, like milking cows.

You never know.

But as a first generation farmer, I learned a lot about what farming and agriculture really is.

And if we were in another country, cut flowers is a really valid form of agriculture.

In Colombia and Ecuador, where most of the US flowers are imported from, that's one of the main crops that are produced.

Here.

We have corn and soybeans, so people don't really legitimize cut flowers as agriculture in the same way that they would in another culture context.

And we talked about the international flowers--because you wanted to kind of change that.

You wanted to make your own mark on the industry.

You said that a lot of--what was the percentage of flowers that are imported?

About 85% of flowers that are sold in the US--cut flowers--so not landscape, potted plants, but cut flowers for floral design, are imported.

85% Wow.

And if you think about it, most of those are coming from countries where the growing season is much longer, so they don't have winters in the same way that we do, or the same way that we historically have.

And so a lot of flowers are imported just because of that growing condition, but many of those flowers that are imported are grown with pesticides and herbicides, and because the US market demands them at certain times a year for us at valentine's day in February, which is the dead of winter where you can't grow anything, at least here in central Illinois, those flowers are being imported, and the working conditions are really atrocious, and the chemical exposure that those workers have is also really, really sad.

And it just is this underbelly, this backstory to something that's given as a gesture of love or as a symbol of appreciation or celebration or morning.

So I wanted to make a difference.

I wanted flowers that had love from the beginning and really a good working condition for my employees, and very little use of chemicals, if anything, we use compost tea and organic treatments.

Wow.

Yeah.

So making a difference in your little corner of the world?

Yeah!

That's excellent.

And now you talked about this starting from a small project.

Now you have staff.

You have a dedicated staff that come out here and harvest flowers and kind of work the grounds.

How long did it take for it to go from you to now you can hire folks?

Yeah.

I mean, I think for any small business owner in any industry, that's the huge leap.

Is when you start someone starts relying on you for a paycheck, there's a lot more pressure to make the business succeed.

So I was still working as a reference librarian and renting land until 2017 I rented for a couple more years, and then was able to find this piece of property to purchase at the end of 2019 and started growing in 2020, and so I started hiring people around 2017, 2018, wow, and yeah, now I have a farm manager, even, and she's great.

She's been a great support, because we do so many things with this farm, and there's a lot of knowledge to pass on to new staff, and it is seasonal.

So we have changeover and staff.

So it's really helpful to have support in the form of a manager, but it takes a while for a farm to get to that stage.

Okay, awesome.

Tell me a little bit about the areas that you guys plant in.

What is this called?

Yeah, right behind us is what we call field one.

Not a very exciting name, but it's our annual beds.

And so we have 28 beds in this field.

14 of them are 100 foot long, and and 14 are 50 foot long.

And these are our flowers that we heavily harvest off of.

They're ones that we plant.

In spring, we harvest a bunch.

Sometimes we plant that same bed.

Again.

In summer, we harvest a bunch, and then frost comes and kills it.

And it's bittersweet, because our work is temporarily more because we have to clean up the field after frost, and then it's a relief after all the hard work of the summer.

And then we have a couple of hoop houses, which are unheated greenhouses, and those are what we grow in in spring and fall, when we can kind of have a little protection from those cold tents in early spring and late fall, and then we have a more of a perennial field, which we call field two, and that has peonies and hydrangeas and some more of those woody perennials that we use as greenery.

Did you ever think that this would be your reality?

You know, when you started that small project, did you think--did you envision this?

I don't think I envisioned this exactly, but I did start a blog in 2011 and it was Delight Flower Farm, which, you know, at the time, my boyfriend, who's now my ex-boyfriend, said, Why are you calling it a farm?

Because it's really just a little garden that you have.

He didn't see the vision.

He didn't see the vision.

But I think that that, if I'm able to use the metaphor, it planted a seed for me, of this project becoming a bigger thing, and it's gone through different iterations.

I think in the early days, it was just a great experiment and a practice that brought me joy to garden.

And I think now people are depending on me for paychecks.

Also, customers are relying on me.

We have florists that we work with weekly, and it's part of their business and part of their customer sales.

So there's a lot more pressure to the whole project.

But that's kind of for me, what makes it exciting.

It's the challenge that makes me keep going on days where it's really hot, or we have a windstorm that knocks down stems, or things that are challenges that I face that may make someone want to give up.

I think all those people and plants that depend on me keep me going and bring me a lot of joy.

Excellent.

What's it like when you run into someone in public that recognizes you and you're an arrangement or something you grew here, touch them or and they just come to you.

Like, is that?

Is it weird for you when people have this emotional connection from the flowers to you?

Like, what is that like?

You're gonna make me cry.

I do think people share stories about the impact of flowers on their lives, and it's so much more than I can imagine.

I mean, I spend every day with flowers, and I'm touched by them deeply in my heart, but to see other people say, like, I brought these to the hospital my sister had her baby, or I wanted your flowers on my mom's grave, that can really it can really touch me still.

For sure, for sure.

And I bet that's an awesome feeling to just, you know, to see it go from seed all the way to those special or even sad moments where people are experiencing.

And your flowers are everywhere.

I know I asked you earlier, how many people sell them?

If you had a guess, how many places are you in commercially?

I think, about 20 a week.

And we deliver now.

We do weekly deliveries to Bloomington, normal to Peoria, and we just this year, have started delivering to a couple florists in Chicago.

Wow.

So cut flowers are, as I mentioned, mostly imported and grown in really temperate clients near the equator, but the majority of flowers that are grown in the US have historically been grown in California, because it also has a great climate for free.

But in the past 10 years, many cut flower farms have been leased or sold to cannabis farms because of the legalization of cannabis has really similar infrastructure, needed greenhouses and field space, but makes a lot more money.

So there's a bit of a deficit in the kind of us grown flower market.

So I'm trying to think, okay, how can we create these medium sized, cut flower farms?

And as part of that goal of interrupting the industry of imported flowers and creating better working conditions and flowers grown with love.

I also mentor up and coming flower farmers.

So I'm part of a national organization.

I mentor through that, and I also mentor just privately so cut flower growers.

I'm right now.

I'm mentoring one from Kansas, somebody from Skokie, and.

And somebody in Connecticut.

So yeah, a few different places around the country.

The next generation, right?

Yeah Excellent.

Okay.

Thank you so much for letting us come out before we leave.

Though, I have to have you teach me how to make a bouquet, or some, in some way put together an arrangement.

Because as the at home gardener, it's go time.

Everything is in bloom.

And so we want to know at home how to put our flowers together to make them look as lovely as yours.

So... Sure I'd be happy to show you.

Excellent.

All right, let's go.

(music) All right, so Maggie, this is the part I've been waiting for.

You pick the flowers.

Well, first you get the seed in the spring, you spend all this time waiting for them to grow and bloom, and then the harvest comes.

So for a lot of us at home, we just kind of go in and grab some and throw them in a vase.

But I would love for you to show us how to make an arrangement, maybe how height goes into play color, and just kind of walk us through how to do it.

Yeah, well, typically, if you get flowers from the farmer's market or your own garden or from a grocery store or something like that, they will have a variety of different flowers in them.

So what I typically do is kind of unwrap it.

We use, you know, compostable wrapping material, and take the rubber band off.

Now some people will just, go home...

I was just gonna say... and do this.

That's it.

And I will just say it looks pretty good!

It does...but you can put your own...kind of...

But a little compare and contrast.

We'll see how this looks in a few minutes.

So I typically take the rubber band off.

We'll talk a little bit about this.

I know this was one of your favorites that we grow this Eucalyptus.

So typically, a bouquet will have some form of greenery.

So I usually set that aside to kind of know what that is.

And even though we we blended these all together for our customer, I still go through and sort them out.

So I kind of know what I have.

Okay.

So typically, so we have our our greenery, and then this is what, what the Snapdragon is being used as kind of a spike, or like some nice height, because it naturally has this tall presentation to it, like a delphinium mite or a foxglove, depending upon the time of year.

And then we look for some kind of accent flowers, or filler pops of color.

So today we have these zinnias.

These are the clean lime variety and in Oklahoma, and they're what's considered disc flowers.

So they're kind of round.

They're going to take up some space in there.

So we've got another little option there.

And then there's a few accent other accent flowers we have today.

This is Queen Anne's lace, very pretty.

So it also kind of has that round disc presentation.

But this is something that kind of grows often by the wild, you know, wild on the road, You've got varying heights in that one as well.

So that'll be interesting to play with.

You've got some really tall ones and some short ones as well.

Yeah.

And then we have a focal flower which is more like the Lisianthus.

So we have this Lisianthus, which is more like a rose presentation.

And this would be our focal flower if we have dahlias or actual roses or sunflowers are hydrangeas, those might also be a focal flower.

Now, what does it take to be the focal flower?

That's a great question.

So a focal flower is usually one that takes up a little bit more space in the bouquet.

So in this they're not in this case, they're not exactly huge, but there's a lot of them, so we can call these the focal flower.

Okay, sometimes, if they're more premium bloom, like a rose would be, that would also make it a focal flower or a Dahlia.

This is some more filler, so tansy and Cosmos.

So we have all of our different varieties here kind of laid out to see what we're working with.

So organized something kind of just basic to understand is that you I usually use a clear vase so I can see the water level.

If you have an opaque vase, you're not going to know if it drinks up the water.

And if people are harvesting these out of their garden, they're a lot thirstier than flowers that have been sitting in a grocery store for a week or so interesting.

So they're going to take up water a little bit faster.

So you want to make sure you refill that water often.

And then we have a little pack of flower food.

So flower food typically has is made up of a sugar, which will help unopened blooms continue to ripen and open, just like produce would when you leave it on your counter instead of in your fridge, it has a little bit of an acidifier, which just helps change the pH and the water level and reduce bacterial growth.

And it actually has the equivalent of bleach, which is just reducing bacteria in the water.

So on our farm, when we harvest, we strip the leaves off the bottom of the plant so that there's less surface area for.

Bacteria to grow on, which, in the end, is going to make your flowers last longer, because when there's that funk in the water, it clogs the stems.

They can't uptake water, they won't stay hydrated, then they wilt.

So better to keep the water clean, use a little flower food and make sure you've stripped the stems.

So we're going to start with the greenery, and I'm using snips.

Mine are a little dirty from being on the farm, but these are different than pruners because they have two blades.

So you could use kitchen scissors.

That's more preferred than a pruner, which has a blunt side and a sharp side, because a blunt side is going to smash the stem, which will also clog the stems.

Okay, so we'll cut it at an angle, so that when it sits on the bottom of the water, it's not gonna prevent water...

I always wondered why they did that.

...coming up.

Yeah, so if you cut it flat, you know that perpendicular cut, it's gonna sit right on the bottom, and it makes it hard for the plant to drink.

Who knew?!

I'm just learning all kinds of new stuff today.

And you know that flower packet of food, I don't know if the majority of people even know what to do with that.

I was saying before we got on camera, I just kind of sprinkle some in.

Are you supposed to use the entire packet in one vase?

Or?

Well, I typically tell people to change the water on their fresh flowers every two to three days, and you usually only get one flower packet.

So, you know, I say half a packet or a third of a packet each time.

You could, if you know this about yourself, if you know you're not going to be good at changing the water, you could give it the whole packet at once and just go for, just go for it.

Gotcha.

Okay.

So I'm kind of placing these opposites.

These are going to serve as greenery, as a backdrop, but also just kind of a nice base for holding the rest of the flowers up.

So let's go with a few more of these, a few more of these filler flowers, and you mentioned like height.

So when I am trying to decide how to cut something, I actually will hold it often on the edge of my kitchen counter or somewhere, and kind of see where do I want it, what kind of height Am I looking for?

And then I'll cut it at that height.

So when it goes down in it's still kind of consistent with that height.

Gotcha.

This is building the anticipation for the main the main flowers.

Yeah, it's kind of setting up all the support.

You know.

These have a nature that's a little sprangly.

I don't know if that's a real word, but it is in the flower world, and so we kind of want to play into that nature and that organic quality to it, so it can reach out a little bit to the side.

So you mentioned a little bit about height.

When I am teaching workshops, I tell people, don't be afraid to make your arrangement go horizontal instead of just vertical.

So these Cosmos, which are still yet to open.

So this can be kind of a joy for the receiver to witness these open.

They have an eight, a quality that is kind of reaching out, and we want to play into that quality and and kind of let them continue to reach out to the sides.

And I'm just trying to weave these stems in here.

I was going to ask, is there a method to the madness or or is this your own style?

Is this just kind of... Well, I will just make the disclaimer that I do not have professional florist training and designers really have some skills that they've worked hard to learn.

My style is more as an artist and as a gardener.

Yes, okay, so now we're going to weave in some of this Queen Anne's lace, and these are a little bit less this is more of the madness and less of the method, I would say, because these are also a little bit more wild when you're making a bouquet or an arrangement, I think it's helpful to think about where it's going to be in your house.

Oh, that's good, too.

So like this one we're designing for y'all on TV.

So this is the front, and it might work on an entryway, you know, table or something like that.

But if you're making a centerpiece for a dining room table, you want to make sure you design so that all sides look good.

In our case, right now, we're not really so concerned about how the back looks.

Whimsy.

Whimsy is the word I would use to describe this bouquet.

Now, how do they vary with the season?

We're in the dog days of summer.

Now, does your what you offer change throughout the season?

Absolutely, yeah.

People that have our CSA membership, which is a subscription service where they get flowers every week from us, that's one of the biggest comments that they make is like, Wow.

I didn't know there were so many different flowers and that they had a seasonality to them.

So our spring.

CSA has tulaps and ranunculus and anemone and some of the Fox club and delphinium in it.

Our summer CSA is more Zenia, snapdragons this tansy.

We have a fall CSA that we call it's a little bit more exclusive.

We call it the dahlia club.

Ah, so dahlias are kind of the star flower for that one.

Gotcha, I bet sunflowers do really well too.

Yeah, you know, sunflowers are not a flower.

We lean into a ton, but we do grow some.

For me, they're a little hard to justify because they take up a lot of space and they only make one bloom.

I like plants that are going to produce a lot for you over a long period of time.

I also think that sunflowers are something that a lot of people grow, and it's a less of a unique offering.

So I like to grow something that people can't see everywhere, even our zenias.

I try to not grow just the big what is that common seed pack?

I'm trying to think of the brand.

I don't know anyways, that kind of burpee.

I think probably zinnias.

I try to grow more specialty varieties.

So this is, it has more of a vintage look.

This is Queen lime orange, and it's got a little bit more subtle color variation going on in it.

So we haven't even got to the focal flowers, but hopefully...

It's coming together.

Though it looks really nice.

Here's the front.

Gorgeous.

Am I just, like you said, it's, it's got some...oh, what are the words I'm trying to...width is not the word I want.

But, yeah, you can tell that it's, it's not just... Volume.

Body.

Volume, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so now we have these focal flowers, which is the Lisianthus.

They also kind of act in a way similar to the snapdragons, like a spike, because they're very tall.

But something that is helpful to think about when you are designing is depth.

So you know, if you look at a painting in an art museum, usually your eyes attracted to one focal point in that and then it starts to move, and you watch, and you start to notice other things in the painting.

So I think of flower arrangements like living art.

Even though we've cut these, they're now a longer living they're natural art.

So you want your eye to kind of move in and out throughout the display.

So we have some, if we tuck this deep down in here, we're going to have a color that, you know, if this is sitting on your kitchen counter, your your table for a while, you're living with it, so you're going to start to watch it.

And, you know, it's a meditative quality, yeah, so you kind of want to see, oh, notice something a little different each time you look at it.

So for the at home gardener, if you're outside and you've got your zinnias and whatever I said, I like straw flowers Zinnias, and this is not something that is not accessible to the at home gardener.

Just go out there, cut some flowers out of your own garden or flower bed and create.

Yeah, just like other gardening, there's a great there's great resources on cut flowers, specifically so cut flowers, usually, the varieties that are grown for cut flowers have been tested to have longer vase life.

So a lot of the native prairie plants don't make good cut flowers because they will actually kind of wilts when you take them inside, like, you know, you think of like some of the Black Eyed Susans or things like that.

They just don't hold up as well as some flowers that have been bred to be cut flowers.

But that said, it doesn't mean that they're not accessible for you to grow in your home garden.

It's very easy to grow cut flowers.

There are more complicated ones.

So like these, Lisianthus are a little bit more challenging.

But, you know, I think most gardeners like a challenge.

Wow.

Yes, and there it is.

There it is.

That came together beautifully.

And I have to say, it looks much better out of the paper, you know, and kind of reconstructed.

Than that initial plop, yeah, it actually looks bigger, I think.

Usually it looks like there's more flowers than if you just take the rubber banded bunch and put it in your vase.

And I'm using a little shorter vase, but still it it looks big and takes up a lot of space.

So.

Very nice.

All right, thank you, Maggie.

Yeah!

(music) Well, that does it for us on this week's show.

Big, big thank you to Maggie, Remmington, and the rest of the team for allowing us to come out and hang out with them today at the flower farm.

If you would like to learn more about Delight or maybe attend one of the public events that they host here, just look them up on the web.

Search for Delight Flower Farms, and if you've got questions for us, you can send those in to yourgarden@gmail.com, and we'll get those answered on an upcoming show.

Thanks for watching.

and have a good night.

(music)