>>Well, Dee, this is very unique.

Here I am coming to talk to you about your gardens, but we're at somebody else's house and your gardens are here.

>>We are.

It started out with me growing flowers, cut flowers, in my own front garden.

>>And then I had a neighbor who saw me out there and asked what I was doing and offered up his own growing space.

And then I put out a call for additional space about a year later when I needed to expand.

And there were people who were happy to jump on the bandwagon and not have to cut grass, because I would be out there, you know, growing cut flowers and maintaining them.

>>That's awesome.

So what type of flowers do you grow?

'Cause I mean this is a beautiful space.

It came with all these hydrangeas, I'm assuming, and... >>It did.

So I grow all types of things.

We have a really long growing season here.

So it starts with hellebore in the early spring, anemones, ranunculus kind of bulbs and corms, and will continue through late fall with lots of native plants, things that are great for pollinators.

I say anything is up for being cut as long as it does well in a vase.

>>Right.

>>So a variety of things.

>>That's fantastic.

How do you choose the plants you're gonna grow?

>>So I started, I grew a lot of native plants.

Norfolk is ground zero for climate change.

We're a coastal town.

>>Right.

>>And I wanted to do things that would help mitigate some of the nuisance flooding that I had in my neighborhood, and also at my property.

And so that was my first selection for natives, for things that did well for pollinators.

I had moved from Virginia Beach where I saw goldfinches, for instance, and I wasn't seeing them.

>>Right.

>>And so I wanted to attract them and started kind of doing some research to see, what do they like?

Okay.

Well they like echinacea they like coneflower.

They love the sunflowers, they eat the seed heads.

And I like to say the garden is some for me and the cut flower business, and some for all the various pollinators that we have here.

>>So you've embraced, I'll say sustainability theory of growing some for you, but yet leaving a lot for the wildlife as well.

>>For sure.

It's part of not just my business model, but part of my life.

And so that was really important to me to, you know, make sure I incorporated that into my work as well, and be able to use it as a teaching and education tool.

>>That's fantastic.

But here now we have a garden in full sun and raised beds.

Quite opposite of the natural garden that we just walked through.

>>So this is production garden here.

It's a little bit different than the more naturalistic plantings.

>>Yeah.

>>And this is year two, so it's a little bit, you know, still a trial and error experiment.

Some things are doing really well here.

Like the mountain mint is covered in pollinators right now.

>>Yes.

Always a favorite.

>>Yeah.

Ageratum is doing well.

I've got coneflower here.

There is heavy pest pressure with adorable bunnies, raccoons, birds that leave shells and all kinds of things.

And I'm gonna add more allium next year.

>>Excellent.

>>I try to concentrate on the health of the soil and choosing plants that do well without a lot of input from me necessarily, without a lot of water, which is why native plants make a great choice again.

I try to stagger planting.

So there are lots of things that you can grow, mums, for instance.

>>Yes.

>>Take several plantings and you can have them grow throughout the seasons.

But it's also pretty easy to find native plants that bloom from pretty early in the year, or to, here, we're lucky enough to have a season that goes until October or November.

>>Yes.

>>Depending on the weather.

>>Yeah.

Well, how many locations do you have, Dee?

>>So I'm growing actively in four different plots right now.

Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less depending on the year and what the needs are for the business.

But that's where I am right now.

>>I imagine there's different soil types at those locations, so how do you handle that?

>>I tend to bring in and build up soil.

There's a farmer here who has really amazing compost and soil with biochar.

>>Wonderful.

Yes.

>>And so I, rather than trying to, you know, do soil tests and kind of go back in and, you know, make changes to the soil, I tend to build up, which is another reason that I tend to do raised beds.

It's a little more controlled that way.

As much as we can control anything - >>Yes.

Yes.

>>that's in the environment.

>>Yes, exactly.

What kind of mulches do you use?

>>Actually, strawberries.

>>Really.

You're not saying the strawberry itself?

>>Yeah.

So strawberry plants, they're evergreen here.

They are low growing.

>>Yes.

>>They will keep the soil cool.

So they are one of my favorite mulches to use.

I also like to overcrowd plants as another technique.

>>Yes.

>>To rather than, you know, having to worry about pulling weeds, which we're all gonna have weeds, but if I can minimize the number of weeds I'm gonna have, that's a good way to do so.

>>Let the plant shade the soil.

>>Right.

>>By being so tight together.

>>Yes.

Yes.

And that's a good way to do that.

I really try not to fight against what's already existing or what we see when we look at, you know, meadows or natural planting areas, how they exist.

>>Right.

>>It's not a traditional farm in that there are, you know, rows of different things that are in barrier cloth and you know, we need to pick the weeds out of them, et cetera, yeah.

>>So you do drifts of things and allow them to weave together.

>>Yes.

Yes.

And that's also great for pollinators.

I'll plant stuff specifically for them.

Like, I grow fennel, you know, and cilantro and milkweed.

I like to interplant those with the things I'm growing so I can cut some things for me, and then hopefully they'll direct their energy towards those things they might enjoy a little more than the plants that I have for production.

>>Well Dee, I noticed that you also have a succession of bloom here.

You have things that have bloomed and things that have yet to bloom in this garden.

>>Yeah, so I think about the garden, you know, as a whole year calendar.

So, flowers that go from early spring, February, through, you know, November, October or November.

I stagger planting so that there's always something in bloom.

>>Yeah, and you know, that's wonderful for pollinators because we forget about our spring and fall pollinators.

>>For sure.

>>So it's excellent to have that.

But also, it's good for your business.

>>Yeah.

>>Yeah, youve got quite a fun business too.

>>Yeah!

So, I have a Floral CSA subscription that goes from spring to fall.

I also do farmer's market that starts in April, so of course you need blooms for that.

And then I do workshops, seasonal workshops, different themes.

For instance, like in March there was a Dutch Masters theme because that's when you have, you know, the tulips.

>>Yeah.

The tulips and such.

>>Anenomes, et cetera.

>>Yes.

>>That we think of.

And then I have a summer blooms one upcoming, and we'll have dahlias and sunflowers, and then of, course, all the cool natives.

I do a native floral arranging workshop.

So there's always something to cut and to learn and to share.

I really take a holistic approach to the garden.

It's not just about the two-legged creatures here.

There are lots of flora and fauna.

>>Yes.

>>And I want this to be a garden where I can share with the creatures that are existing, and I'm not trying to get rid of them or push them away, rather, I welcome them in the pollinator garden.

I know how important it is.

We just had the monarch butterfly make a comeback off the endangered list.

And so we see how important it is for people to be out here and doing things that support their habits.

>>Yes.

And our actions make a difference.

>>For sure.

>>And even our lack of action makes a difference.

>>Definitely.

Yeah.

>>Thank you.

Thank you for sharing this and thank you for having us out.

>>Thank you for coming!