For many years, in the heyday of blogging, I used to write a long, detailed post at the end of each year reflecting on the highs, the lows, and everything that had transpired that season. They were some of my favorite posts to write and served as both a seasonal journal and a visual record as Floret grew.
It’s been a long time since I’ve written this type of post. Each December I sit down intending to do it and then for one reason or another, I find enough excuses and end up not writing it. But this year I want to change that and get back into the habit of sharing what we’re doing on the farm in a less polished, and more personal way.
So today I’m sharing my 2024 Year in Review, albeit a little late.
January was spent getting as much seed packed as possible in preparation for our big Floret Originals launch. Alicia, Rosario, Nina, and a host of helpers scooped, sealed, counted, and boxed tens of thousands of packets filled with our magical farm-bred seed.
While the barn was humming with activity we were deep in the process of editing a special documentary we made about how the breeding varieties came to be. Outside temps dropped to some of the lowest we’ve ever had in our area and our poor plant nursery took a hit.
February was FULL and the first week was spent doing a final inventory, getting all of the seed racks labeled, their channels filled, supplies organized, and the barn set up for shipping.
While our team handles all of the prep work leading up to a launch we typically invite a big group of local flower friends to come in and help us fulfill orders for the first few weeks. Having more than 20 motivated, enthusiastic, and incredibly helpful folks join our ranks is such a gift.
We made a number of improvements to our processes and streamlined things in some great new ways. It made for record-breaking numbers almost every single shipping day and we were able to get all of our orders out in just 3 short weeks!
In March as the farm started to wake up, the team’s time was split between filling orders and getting ready to start our farming season, which at times felt a little like being pulled in half. The big greenhouses got a deep clean, the guys started prepping planting beds in the hoops, and the very first seeds were sown. Outside the daffodils made an appearance along with the earliest plums in the orchard and we started to realize just how much damage the cold had done in the nursery.
By April, the propagation greenhouses were the hot spot on the farm and it was all hands on deck. Nearly 1,400 trays were filled with soil, more than 100,000 seeds were sown, and the constant chore of keeping all the baby plants happy and watered began.
While the seedlings were putting on growth inside, it was a mad dash to get all 85 of our hoops covered and the soil prepared for planting. By month’s end, the weather was finally warm enough and the baby plants were big enough to start making the transition to their new homes.
Chris and I spent a full weekend inventorying the rose damage and we ended up dumping out close to 350 dead plants. It was a terrible loss and one I blame myself for. The whole thing could have been prevented had we brought everything inside during January’s arctic blast but I didn’t think it would really get as cold as the weatherman said—lesson learned the very hardest way.
May was a blur of watering, organizing, schlepping, staging, and transplanting. We got every hoop filled to the brim and then moved on to the outdoor beds. The “private garden” behind our house became home for my big dahlia seedling experiment and the back field was filled with more than 160 varieties of breeding dahlias.
Chris and I made a mad dash down to Salem, Oregon to visit Schreiners Iris Gardens during peak bloom for a special project we’ll be sharing this spring. In addition to touring their fields and absolutely incredible display garden, they taught me how hybridizing is done. On our way home we stopped and got supplies at Office Depot, and before the car was even unloaded, I was already out in the garden making iris crosses.
Across the pond, a precious load of Floret Original seed packets safely landed on English soil and the ladies at Alma Proust helped us get them out to gardeners all over the U.K. just in time for planting. Without Nikki’s relentless drive and Angela’s masterful coordination this nearly impossible project would have never happened. They navigated an unbelievable amount of regulatory red tape with so much grace.
In June, we invited a group of workshop alumni to spend a day with us here on the farm to talk about all things flower farming and what they were struggling with the most. It’s been 6 years since we’ve had students visit the farm and it was both terrifying and thrilling to finally have them back and be able to connect in person after so long. The team and I learned so much during our time together and we’re still processing it all. You can watch a video about that special day here. (Photos above by Rob Finch.)
Out in the hoops, the zinnias were finally coming into bloom and every morning and evening was spent making selections, recording notes, and taking photographs. By 10:30 a.m., even with the doors open and the sidewalls pushed up, it was well over 100°F inside on a sunny day so it was a bit of a push to get all of the work done during the cooler windows.
At the very back of the farm, the wildflower meadow became a sea of blossoms with waves of daisies punctuated by thousands of purple spiked lupine. If you sat very still on a warm day and closed your eyes, you could hear the entire field humming with life.
By July every breeding variety on the farm was in full bloom and I was barely able to keep up with making all of the selections and documenting them properly. At some point during the month, I vowed not to add any new varieties in 2025 because I didn’t think I could physically walk that many miles every day. We’ll see if this resolution sticks!
Out in the world, all of the Floret Originals varieties were also starting to bloom and the first pictures of them were beginning to circulate. I hadn’t realized how nervous I was about whether or not other gardeners would love them as much as I did, but their excitement and joy were beyond my wildest expectations.
In between making selections, Jill, Chris, and I spent a good chunk of the month filming the final videos for our new Flower Arranging Workshop. Because filming landed during one of the busiest times on the farm, it was quite challenging to balance the many competing priorities, but we stayed the course and finished strong. I’m so excited to share more about it soon.
As we wrapped up filming, our beloved kitty and my loyal companion Timmy sadly passed away. She was such a part of this place and it hasn’t been the same without her.
The month of August was almost as full as July and it felt like we were running to catch it the entire time. Eric, Sam, and Nikki spent hours and hours every day hand-crossing individual zinnia flowers as part of a multi-year experiment we’re conducting on how different traits (such as color, form, height, and size) are inherited.
Over 4 weeks, they made more than 650 crosses and we’re all so excited to see what will be revealed this season. In addition to all of the work out in the field we also spent a considerable amount of time finishing up all of the records for the breeding varieties and even went so far as to match each one up with both the RHS and Pantone color swatches. Thank goodness Eric has the patience of a saint.
On the other side of the world, two more batches of Floret Original seeds arrived safely to their destinations, and gardeners in both Australia and New Zealand were able to finally get them thanks to Emerden and Veggie & Flower Garden Seeds.
In September we switched gears from flowers to seeds and dug back into working on the seed-saving manual we’ve been chipping away at writing over the past few years. This time around we were really focused on filling in all of the holes in our variety profiles (there are nearly 70!) and documenting all of the important step-by-step processes that we go through when harvesting, drying, and cleaning seed. Unfortunately, Jill and Chris are both allergic to dust, so September was a rough month for them!
Mid-month the breeding dahlias really came into their own and I spent most evenings out in the field evaluating varieties, taking notes and photographs, and just soaking in all of their beauty. There is nothing more magical than standing in the middle of a field full of dahlias, especially the open-centered types because the pollinators love them so much. If you keep perfectly still, you’ll notice that every flower around you is buzzing with life. I got stung so many times wading through the shoulder-high sea of flowers, but it was worth it.
October was all about seeds and the main focus on the farm was bringing in the harvest. Each week the crew would comb all of the hoophouses, greenhouses, field rows, and the dahlia patch collecting anything that was ripe. While the season as a whole was cooler than normal, we still had a record seed set.
We also shared our first-ever class on seed saving and it was a hit. More than 70,000 gardeners from all over the world joined in to learn how to save their zinnia, dahlia, and celosia seed. It was such a fulfilling experience to see their excitement and interest in this topic. I know it was a highlight for Eric too.
Team Floret spent more than a week reading scholarship applications and we opened up registration for our annual Flower Farming Workshop, our seventh year teaching this program.
At the end of the month, with no frost on the horizon, we decided to dig up the breeding dahlias anyway. I normally like to let them get a bit of cold before digging, but it’s a good thing we didn’t wait because our first frost didn’t arrive until December.
There’s nothing more fun than taking a big task, getting super organized, and busting it out in record time while still maintaining exceptional quality. This year we broke our previous records and got all 2,700 clumps out of the ground and stored away safely in a single day!
In November, we turned our attention to roses. The guys were busy preparing the soil, getting all of the beds amended and covered with fabric, posts set, and permanent irrigation strung, while Nikki mapped the entire collection by class and color and Jill hand-wrote hundreds of labels.
After years of living in pots, waiting for their forever home, we finally got to plant the roses from Anne and Gregg. While we only have 270 of the 550 total varieties that will be part of our collection, it was still quite thrilling to see so many of them going into the ground. Over the next few years, we will hopefully get to replace the varieties that we lost to the cold and gather the others that are part of the full collection.
Once the rose project was wrapped, the planting continued and we took full advantage of the incredibly mild weather while we had it. My goal was to empty out the nursery before winter came, not wanting to repeat the same mistake I made the year before. We planted three new hedgerows, dozens of crabapple trees, 80 varieties of daffodils, tons of new perennials and bulbs, expanded the clematis collection, added more than 70 new lily varieties, and filled two greenhouses full of spring flowers and sweet peas. I can’t wait to see all of the new varieties this coming season.
December was a bit quieter, at least outside, but inside things were still quite busy. Jill spent the first two weeks of the month reconciling all of our plant lists and updating the numerous farm maps to reflect all of the changes that had taken place over the season. It was no small feat.
Once the farm was put to bed, we all took a much-needed break for the holidays. Other than checking on the greenhouses each day and a little bit of watering, Chris and I relaxed and enjoyed the quiet.
2024 was a very special year, and while it was filled with a fair amount of challenges, it was also full of so much growth. As we’re stepping into 2025, there are some very special projects that we’ve been working on for a number of years now that I want to bring all the way to completion so we can finally share them with the world.
In order to fully focus, so that all of our collective efforts can be channeled into this important work, we will not be having our annual seed sale this year. I am so grateful for all of the support and encouragement you’ve shown us, and for your patience as we create the next chapter for Floret.
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Patti O’Brien on
What a spectacular summation of a year filled with so much growth, a few challenges and some deeply felt losses. I was so sorry to read about Timmy, sending you lots of love and empathy regarding her. Thank you for organizing everything in the warm and generous way that you do, it is not only very inspiring but it’s also confidence building. Your enthusiasm for learning, experimenting and exploring is only outshone by your genuine desire to see others get out there and dare as bravely. I am most certain that you are the energetic nudge that many of us flower farming neophytes need to go and find our own edge! Thank you so much Erin, I can’t wait to see what’s next.