Appearing in Skirt Magazine
by Jenny Maxwell
excerpt:
Work on a flower farm starts early, “at the crack of dawn when it’s hot, so that cutting can begin as early as possible.” Donna’s blooms are sought by florists in Atlanta and Columbia.
She also sells fresh-cut flowers at the All-Local Farmers’ Market (now Soda City) twice a month “Sunflowers are always in demand. And right now the biggest trend is green flowers. I can sell anything green.”
More from Donna:
On how she came up with the name “Floral & Hardy”:
Floral & Hardy was overheard as a slip of the tongue years ago and I thought “that would be a great name for a flower business.” In 1996, I was working for Rosewood Florist and had been growing flowers for a few years for my personal use. I began to sell flowers to Rosewood when I went in to work. That inspired me to try my hand at a business.
On the types of flowers they grow:
The flower we grow the most of is sunflowers. My favorite flowers that we grow are delphinium and anemones. They have short seasons because they like cool weather. But i’m amazed that I can grow them at all in this climate. The addition of coldframes to the farm allows us to grow flowers we normally would not be able to grow. We have had a lot of trial and error with growing in this hot climate. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing, planting early or late in the season. If I have had a hard time growing something, sometimes i’ll try it in a different season.
On how to make a better bouquet:
I can’t say I have any secrets to creating bouquets. I usually just look for pleasing colors to put together. And I try to have something spiky with something round. That sounds kind of silly but it creates depth and is pleasing to the eye. I think a great floral arrangement is one with LOTS of MY flowers in it!
