In Bloom at Delight Flower Farm

Flowers are in full bloom, and what better way to celebrate all your hard work this season than to enjoy those flowers indoors, too! This week, we’re at Delight Flower Farm in Champaign to learn about cut flower farming and how to create your own unique arrangements at home!  

Owner and first-generation farmer Maggie Taylor shares how she grew her flower farm from a small backyard project to now a large operation, delivering flowers locally and as far north as Chicago.  

Over 85% of cut flowers that are sold in the U.S. are imported due to longer growing seasons in countries like Ecuador and Colombia. However, working conditions are often very poor and employees are exposed to high levels of fertilizers and pesticides. Maggie hopes that her efforts will help interrupt the cut flower industry both in the U.S. and across the globe by prioritizing ethical labor practices and organic farming methods.  

"...the U.S. market demands [flowers] 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 mourning. So, I wanted to make a difference. I wanted flowers that had love from the beginning and really good working conditions for my employees and very little use of chemicals. If anything, we use compost tea and organic treatments."

Maggie also demonstrates the art of creating cut flower arrangements, sharing her tips on flower selection and care techniques. Some things to consider: 

• Include a variety of flowers; choose a “focal flower,” something with height (“spikes”), and a few different “fillers” for more volume, body, and texture, including some sort of greenery 
• Cut your stems at an angle to allow for better water uptake 
• Remove leaves from stems to reduce bacteria growth in the water 
• Change your water every 2-3 days to keep your flowers fresher longer and use about 1/3 of the flower food packet each time 
• Use a clear vase so you can monitor the water level 

We loved visiting and learning from Maggie, Remmington, and the rest of the staff at Delight Flower Farm. If you’d like to learn more, visit their website, delightflowerfarm.com. 

If you’ve got any questions for our panelists, please send us an email at yourgarden@gmail.com com, or you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.