Benzakein Erin - Floret Farms cut flower garden: grow, harvest & arrange stunning seasonal blooms

For Grammy, who planted the love of flowers in my heart.

Text copyright 2017 by Erin Benzakein.

Photographs copyright 2017 by Michle M. Waite, photographs copyright 2017 by Christopher Benzakein.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 9781452150932 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Benzakein, Erin, author. | Chai, Julie, author.
Title: Floret Farms Cut Flower Garden / by Erin Benzakein with Julie Chai.
Description: San Francisco, California : Chronicle Books, [2017]
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011482 | ISBN 9781452145761 (hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Cut flowers. | Flower arrangement.
Classification: LCC SB405 .B495 2017 | DDC 635.9/66dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016011482

Design by Anne Kenady

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Growing up, I spent time every summer with my grandparents in the country in eastern Washington. They lived in a small town that was surrounded on all sides by wheat fields, onion farms, and a sky that went on forever. The days were hot and slow and wonderfulnothing like our busy life back home in Seattle.

When my grandparents were at work during the day, my sister and I would head down to my great grandparents place. There we played in the creek, drank as much soda pop as we wanted, and spent endless hours exploring the fields and forests surrounding their house. My great-grandmother, Grammy, was something of a legendor at least her garden was. Id hear stories of how shed built her first garden, one wheelbarrow load of soil at a time, on completely barren land in the desert of Nevada. Back in the day, she poured her heart and soul into that little plot, and everyone who had known her then would smile as they recalled her property with the blue morning glorycovered fences and flowerbeds overflowing with gorgeous blooms.

By the time Grammy came into my life, that little oasis was just a magical memory. She had moved north to be closer to family, leaving behind her beloved garden. Grammy was bedridden by then, and on those long, hot days, I would lie beside her as she told me tales of her flowers. She often sent me outside with scissors to pick her a bouquet. While her new little plot was nothing like her old garden, there were still a few treasures to be found if you dug around long enough. Id collect leggy snapdragons, bug-chewed tea roses, and handfuls of cheery sweet peas that were scrambling up the porch posts.

I took my flower-picking job very seriously. After gathering a collection of slightly wilted blooms from the yard, Id dig through Grammys stash of old, dusty bud vases and find just the right one. Those scrappy little bouquets must have been quite the sight, but she always cooed and doted over them as if they were diamonds or fine china.

Grammy passed away the year my husband and I bought our first house. I was able to bring some of her ashes home with me and spread them in my new garden. I planted two long rows of sweet peas down the center of the plot in her memory. Those sweet peas bloomed so abundantly that I filled every room in our house with bouquets all summer long, and ended up sharing the bounty with anyone and everyone I knew.

During that abundant summer, word of our flowers got out, and someone ordered a jar of sweet peas for a friend. Ill never forget that first delivery. I nervously knocked on the strangers door and awkwardly thrust the bouquet into her hands, not knowing exactly what to say. Surprised, she buried her face in the flowers, and within moments her eyes were filled with tears. She shared that the scent transported her back to childhood summers and a time of great happiness in her grandmothers garden. In that moment, I realized that Id found my calling. Witnessing the profound impact that a simple bouquet could have on a person, I knew I had discovered something worth pursuing.

The following spring I replanted the vegetable garden with flowers. The winter after that, I dug up the orchard to make room for more blooms. The summer after that, my husband built me a greenhouse, and then a few more. Every season since, the garden has grown, and along with it my love for flowers.

My time is now spent growing, teaching, and sharing the beauty of flowers with people all over the world. Those first two rows of sweet peas have since turned into Floret Farm, a thriving flower farm that supplies shops, grocery stores, and florists throughout the Pacific Northwest. Attached to the garden is our bustling design studio where we create seasonal bouquets for weddings and events. The farm has also become a school, and each year we open it up to flower lovers who travel from around the globe to learn about small-scale, high-intensity flower production, and the art of natural floral design. My love for trialing and variety selection has blossomed into my mail-order seed company, which offers my favorite, tried-and-true varieties for cutting and arranging, along with a selection of my must-have tools. If someone had told me way back then that that little jar of sweet peas would have turned into this flower-filled life, I never would have believed it.

Over the course of my journey, Ive heard from thousands of budding flower farmers, floral designers, and home gardeners who long to know more about how they, too, can have a life filled with flowers. From simple growing instructions to specific variety selections, basic cut flower care to seasonally based floral arranging techniques, they are hungry for more information.

The underlying philosophy of this book is that using local blooms and other materials when theyre in season, at their most abundant, will give you the most luscious, beautiful bouquets. Food lovers have eagerly embraced the practice of eating whats in season, and many of the worlds most respected chefs base their menus on the freshest regional ingredients they can find, with the knowledge that produce flown in from thousands of miles away, at the wrong time of year, pales in comparison to perfectly ripe treasures picked nearby, at their peak.

Consumers are demanding to know how, where, and by whom their goods are produced. Flowers are no exception. On the heels of the local food movement, the field-to-vase movement is continuing its meteoric rise in popularity. High-end florists are now seeking locally grown blooms, and working to grow some of their own material to supplement what they source from wholesale outlets. Eco-conscious couples are choosing seasonal flowers for their wedding bouquets. Many young farmers are looking to flowers as a viable crop to cultivate. And home gardeners everywhere are itching to tuck a bed or two of flowers, just for cutting, into their existing landscapes.