When Certified American Grown organizers launched their popular Field to Vase dinner experience to raise awareness of the glorious bounty and ingenuity of U.S. flower farmers, it was obvious which farm would be included in their star line-up: The Arnosky Family Farm in Texas.
Frank Arnosky met his wife Pamela while doing graduate work in peach breeding farming at Texas A&M. Pamela was studying the geographical distribution of plants. Connected by a love of nature and farming, in 1990, the Arnoskys bought a parcel of land in Blanco, Texas, and embarked on their farming adventure. Thirty years and four kids later, their business has blossomed into creating a variety of seasonal flowers including, as Pamela says, “All Native to the Americas including marigolds, Supercrest Celosias, Pampas Plume Celosias, Sunflowers, Zinnias, and Gomphrena.” Other flowers include snapdragons, iris, and statice.
Their farm has grown to 88 acres, and they also cultivate another 16 acres in Minnesota for late-season peonies during the hot Texas months.
Furthermore, they were, as Frank proudly says, the first to market locally grown flowers with their own names on the packaging to ensure quality and integrity. Selling to H-E-B, a grocery store chain, they labeled it “Fresh from the Texas Hill Country.”
Read the complete article at www.flowerpowerdaily.com.