SUSTAINABLE FLOWER GROWING with Master Gardener and Flower Farmer, Ferriss Donham

When: Saturday, 11 am PST

Where: Online on Zoom

This Saturday, Master Gardener and Flower Farmer, Ferriss Donham, will be showing us how she grows beautiful cut flowers sustainably. As a professional gardener who has been working with clients for over 20 years, Ferriss Donham is currently growing cut flowers for her CSA and assisting clients with growing plants sustainably. Ferriss studied at the Harvard Landscape Institute, developed a Master Gardener program and taught horticulture to inmates, and grew her own garden this year without using any water other than rainwater. 

I look to Ferriss as a mentor when it comes to flower growing. Traditional cut flowers have a huge carbon footprint and even though growing and buying locally is a great first step towards sustainable flower growing, Ferriss will show us how to dig deeper into low resource flower farming. 

Many flower farmers are investing huge sums of money in hoop houses, and draining their own financial and physical resources to grow cut flowers. Traditional flower farms drain our water supplies and take huge amounts of physical labor. Often these farms, are not making a profit at the end of the day.

Ferriss is taking a different approach. She’s growing cut flowers on her new plot in Maine, using rainwater and compost. She operates her gardens with minimal physical labor, and minimal financial resources, using what she already owns, and nurturing it along to multiply and expand naturally.  She sells flowers through her CSA and designs florals for events in addition to teaching horticulture and advising her own garden clients. 

This Saturday, she’ll be advising our career students and guests students on Zoom about sustainable flower growing. We’ll be talking about:

*Growing with minimal water

*Minimizing your farm’s overall footprint

*Growing climate specific varieties

*Growing perennials as cut flowers

*Growing without hoophouses

*Minimizing the physical labor involved in your flower growing

Join us on Saturday to get your own flower growing questions answered by Ferriss! 

BOOK YOUR SPOT HERE!