Message from my friend Elise at Cedar Rock Gardens –

Planting a cut flower garden: How to have fresh blooms all season with a take home planting guide.

Hello!

As the season winds down on the seedling side of our business – the field and greenhouse crops really start to ramp up. We are currently harvesting cucumbers, eggplant, kale, chard, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, many greens, onions, herbs and flowers among other things. I am hoping you are all having success with your gardens also despite the blistering heat we have had lately. Heres to hoping this next forecasted rain will actually amount to something??

Most of you know this already but Tucker and I started Cedar Rock Gardens initially as a cut flower farm back in 2014. We had success in that venture but it slowly turned into what it is today which is a robust seedling operation alongside a diversified vegetable, herb and flower farm. The flowers have not been lost on us though. I still find my creative outlet each week lies happily with the small amount of bouquets I get to make for our wholesale accounts and for my own kitchen table. We were selling cut flowers to the Boston Flower exchange as well as to many florists locally and even dabbled in wedding arrangements for a short time. It was a labor of love for a while and then we decided to move in a different direction to focus on edible crops.

Alas, flowers still have my heart and I am very excited to share my knowledge with you. Join me this Thursday evening at Cedar Rock Gardens for a cut flower course sponsored by Gloucester SaLT. We will cover some tried and true varieties from seed to bouquet visiting on succession planting and planting layout. This course is specifically designed for home gardeners who want to make the most out of limited space. You will be able to take home a plating guide and I will do my best to answer any questions you have. The course is free and I am happily donating my time – if you get something out of it or just feel generous you can donate to SaLT Here.

Please respond to this email if you do plan to attend so I can have a better idea on how much I need to psych myself up to speak to a crowd. I also need a general count for hand-outs.

Currently we are open:
Thursday to Saturday 8 am to 4 pm

Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

We will continue to be set up at the Farmer’s Market at Burnhams Field in Gloucester every Wednesday from 2:30 to 6:30 selling our produce.

All the best,

Elise Smith
CedarRockGardens@gmail.com