“With all of the flower emergencies throughout the pandemic, I hope that people remember that local flowers were there for them. It’s up to consumers to give florists the freedom to use local and seasonal flowers,” says Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm. The Columbus-based flower farm is in its sixteenth year and specializes in bouquet production and flowers for florists.
Sunny Meadows operates year-round with cut flower production from March through November, Christmas wreaths in November, and dahlia tubers from November to March. The home farm spans 10 acres and has heated greenhouses, with an additional 20 acres of field production down the road. Sunny Meadows grows a wide range of flowers but has an especially large area devoted to dahlia production as both the cut flowers and tubers can be sold. Ranunculus is a star performer in the spring and lisianthus in the summer.
Beyond Columbus’ city limits
As Gretel explains, Sunny Meadows has undergone multiple changes in recent years with respect to its distribution model. After quitting farmers’ markets and weddings in 2021, Sunny Meadows has shifted its focus to include clients outside of Columbus.
The Sunny Meadows’ team makes the trip to Cleveland and Cincinnati once a week, operates its Farmstand on-site, and ships flowers to retailers and florists. Sunny Meadows has implemented local delivery routes to maintain its connection to Columbus clients who purchased their flowers at the farmers’ markets. Sunny Meadows also has an online store aimed at creating frictionless shopping.
“With some of the large flower farms that ship, florists, and retailers need to buy a whole case of one thing. At Sunny Meadows, we offer mixed boxes. We cater to a mix of designers and shop florists. Designers have less regular demand, while shop florists are more regular, and grocery store bouquets help us absorb the rest,” explains Gretel.
Aside from selling to florists, designers and stores, Gretel notes that Sunny Meadows also sells to other farmer-florists who sometimes need more of a certain flower, don’t have season extension technology, or are catering to events larger than their flower fields can host.
“We are supporting the domestic flower industry as a whole and are collectively building it,” says Gretel.
Sunny Meadows Flower Farm will be hosting a farm tour on June 3rd, 2022, to showcase medium-scale flower farming in Ohio. This tour is designed for flower professionals who are members of the ASCFG (Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers). The tour will show attendees the farm’s processing operations, greenhouses, shop, and Farmstand. Anyone interested in registering can do so at the following link. Membership and registration with the ASCFG also includes access to the Cut Flower Quarterly and networking and marketing opportunities, as well as relationships with other flower farmers across the nation.
For more information:
Gretel and Steve Adams
Sunny Meadows Flower Farm
www.sunnymeadowsflowerfarm.com