Joan Morton (left) of Tweed Hort welcomes guest speaker Dawn Harper.
Tweed and District Horticultural Society welcomed Dawn Harper, owner of Oops a Daisy Flower Farm and Florist in Erinsville as the guest speaker at the September meeting.
Dawn worked a a pastry chef in England before coming to Canada 23 years ago. After working for several years at the Selby Garden Centre, she decided she wanted to start her own flower farm which she did in 2018. So now, Dawn plants over 8,000 seedlings and 8000 sunflowers seeds on her farm and has 3 donkeys as well…. the baby donkey is named, Daisy!
Her power point presentation highlighted aspects of the growing season on the farm. She plants the seeds in plugs during April. Grow lights and heat mats are used. New seeds are purchased every year. Seedlings are hardened off in her 10×20 greenhouse (unheated) and the timing of this depends on the weather. She prepares the soil in the fields by adding manure each year as she has learned that “great soil yields even greater flowers”. Landscape cloth to help control weeds and irrigation systems are set up in the spring. June is planting month for the seedlings and the sunflower seeds. And in mid-July, colour starts blooming in the gardens….and that according to Dawn, makes all the hard work worth while! And then the harvesting begins!
Although Dawn has had no major issues with insects, she has experienced problems with groundhogs and rabbits.
Dawn purchases her seeds from The Jolly Farmer, William Dam and Johnny Seed. She admitted she has even purchased items from Costco!
She attends the weekly market with her flowers at the Beaver Lake Market on Fridays. She has flower subscriptions from August to September where she delivers her cut flowers right to your door!
Dawn holds special events at her farm throughout the year. High Tea with a flower arranging workshop is held once a month in July, August and September. Wreath Workshops are held in November/December. An Open House is held once a year during late summer. Details about upcoming events are on her website and Facebook.
Dawn concluded her presentation by creating a floral arrangement using flowers from her garden. And one lucky member won the arrangement!