How We're Different
Cut flowers are a $7.5 billion dollar industry in the United States.  However, 82% of all cut flowers are imported into the country.  At Wren's Gate Garden & Studio we grow hard-to-find, fragrant, stop you in your tracks flowers in an environmentally friendly way.  The flowers are picked fresh for you and often handed to you by the farmer.  

10 reasons to buy locally grown flowers and support small farms:

1)  Locally grown flowers look better and last longer. The blooms are picked at their peak, and processed for the longest possible bloom life, often up to a week or more.  We are proud of our product.  No traveling around the world in a cardboard box.  The shorter the time between the farm and the table the better!

2) Local flowers are better for you and the farmers. We grow our flowers in a sustainable way that limits the use of pesticides and other chemicals.  We go to great lengths to manage our farm with organic fertilizers (thank you chickens), deep mulches (oak leaves, lots of oak leaves) and to combat pests with natural methods. Thank you lady bugs, spiders, toads and, again, chickens.  There's a unique kind of assurance that comes from looking a farmer in the eye at the market or driving by the farm where your flowers come from. Local farmers aren't anonymous and they take their responsibility to the consumer seriously. 

3) Local flowers preserve genetic diversity. In the modern horticulture system, plant varieties are chosen for their ability to bloom uniformly, resist disease and pests, withstand harvesting, survive packing, travel long distances, and last a long time on your table.  Sounds great right?  With this large-scale production there is limited genetic diversity and selection for you. Many of these growers cannot provide the flowers that are more difficult to pack or grow on a large scale. Smaller local farms, in contrast, often grow many different varieties of crops to provide a long harvest season, an array of colors, and the best blooms.

4) Local flowers smell so good! Have you ever paid $80.00 for a bouquet of roses and they didn't smell like roses?  Does that lilac candle smell as good as a basket full of beautiful purple blooms?

5) Local flowers provide a sense of place.  Utilizing local flowers is not a new trend.  Not until very recently in the era of global trade did brides use flowers that were grown across the globe.  Flowers grown in season will provide the memory of your event each year as the new blossoms emerge. Do geraniums remind you of your favorite gardener?  Or do sunflowers make you smile?  That is the power of flowers.

6) Local farms build community. When you buy direct from a farmer, you're engaging in a time-honored connection between consumer and grower. Knowing farmers gives you insight into the seasons and the land. In many cases, it gives you access to a place where your children and grandchildren can go to learn about nature and agriculture.

7) Local flowers make you happy! Okay, so I don't have any scientific research to justify this claim (although surely it exists). But just think of all the happiness! You get to make the recipient happy  and I am happy to grow beautiful flowers, and the bees are happy, and the soil is happy.... Job well done, you!

8) Local farms keep our community unique. Where we shop, where we eat and where we have fun all make our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. A growing body of economic research shows that folks are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

9) Local flowers benefit the environment and wildlife. Hello sweet bees!  Our small farm helps conserve fertile soil and protect water sources. Wrens Gate is a patchwork of gardens, meadows, woods, ponds and buildings that provide habitat for wildlife.  We utilize a series of rain barrels and well water for our gardens, compost all of our plant materials and provide habitat for everything from ducks to deer.  Although if the deer were only more polite, we would get along better!

10) Local farms are an investment in the future. By supporting local farmers today, you are helping to ensure that there will be farms in your community tomorrow, reducing our current reliance on fossil fuels to produce, package, and distribute flowers.