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Ep.33: Darcy's Dahlias: Captivating Their Community With Their Flower Stand & Flourishing Dahlias
1.9k Plays5 months ago
Have you ever wondered how a backyard garden with just 10 dahlias could transform into a flourishing flower farm with over 1500 dahlias? Join Christopher Tomaso and Wyatt Thomas, partners at Darcy's Dahlias, as they share their journey on the Backyard Bouquet podcast. Tune in to hear their inspiring conversation about their growth from hobbyist dahlia growers to successful flower farmers.
In this episode, Christopher and Wyatt discuss their organic journey to becoming flower farmers. They share how they expanded their dahlia production from just a few plants to over a thousand, sharing their experiences and challenges along the way. Hear how they've dealt with everything from severe weather conditions to experimenting with different growing and propagation techniques.
Learn how Darcy's Dahlias has overcome obstacles like heavy clay soil and severe weather events, and how they turned setbacks into opportunities for growth. Learn about their approach to soil health, their strategies for supporting their dahlias in windy conditions, and their experiences with overwintering tubers and growing dahlias from cuttings.
Don't miss this engaging conversation with Christopher and Wyatt as they offer valuable insights and inspiration for anyone looking to turn their backyard garden into a successful cut flower farm. Tune in to the Backyard Bouquet podcast to hear the full conversation with these passionate flower farmers.
In This Episode You’ll Hear About:
- Introduction to Darcy's Dahlias: 00:02:40-00:02:51
- Expanding Dahlia Production: 00:03:30-00:03:41
- Transition to Flower Farming: 00:04:22-00:04:33
- Growing a Variety of Flowers: 00:05:56-00:06:07
- Selling Flowers Locally: 00:06:24-00:06:35
- Urban Flower Farming: 00:07:09-00:07:20
- Challenges of Soil Improvement: 00:13:00-00:13:10
- Dealing with Severe Weather: 00:16:09-00:16:19
- Division of Farming Responsibilities: 00:36:26-00:36:36
- Future Plans for Darcy's Dahlias: 00:44:57-00:45:07
- Breeding and Hybridizing Dahlias: 00:46:13-00:46:23
Show Notes: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/2024/08/16/ep-33-darcys-dahlias/
Learn More About Darcy’s Dahlias:
- https://darcysdahlias.com/
- www.instagram.com/darcys_dahlias
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084431747613
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Transcript
Introduction to Backyard Bouquet Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens.
Meet Jennifer Galitzia, From Gardener to Flower Farmer
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm your host, Jennifer Galitzia of the Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon. Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers.
Heartwarming Tales and Flower Growing Advice
00:00:28
Speaker
From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer,
00:00:32
Speaker
The Backyard Bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice.
Digital Courses: From Passion to Profit
00:00:39
Speaker
All right flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
00:00:54
Speaker
Hey there, flower friends. Before we dive into today's episode of the Backyard Bouquet, I want to share something exciting with you. Have you ever thought about creating your own digital course? I'm talking about taking something you already know and love.
00:01:10
Speaker
whether it's gardening, flower arranging, or any other passion, and turning it into a course you can sell again and again. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well, I've got just the thing to help you find out if you're ready to dive into the world of digital courses. My mentor, Amy Porterfield, has created a quick two-minute quiz that'll tell you exactly that. It's called Three Types of People Are Replacing Their Income with a Digital Course. Are you one of them?
00:01:40
Speaker
Amy has been helping people just like you and me create successful digital courses for over 15 years. She's identified three categories of people who can easily transform their knowledge into a profitable course. The best part, you don't need to be an expert. I took the quiz myself and was amazed at how spot on it was. It even gives you a few steps to get started if you find out you've got that course creating potential. And let me tell you,
00:02:08
Speaker
turning my love for flowers into something that can help others and bring in extra income has been a game changer. So if you're curious about whether you've got what it takes to create a digital course, head over to the show notes and click on the link to take the quiz. It's quick, it's free, and who knows, it might just be the first step towards something big.
Interview with Darcy's Dahlias: From Hobby to Farm
00:02:28
Speaker
Now let's get back to today's episode.
00:02:32
Speaker
Hey flower friends, and joining us today on the Backyard Bouquet are Christopher Tommaso and Wyatt Thomas, partners at Darcy's Dahlias. Based in Hilliard, Ohio, their farm specializes in growing vibrant and varied dahlias, offering beautiful cut flowers from summer to fall.
00:02:50
Speaker
Today, Christopher and Wyatt are here to share their journey and how they've managed to turn their vision into Darcy's dahlias. Gentlemen, welcome to today's show. Can you start by telling us what inspired you to start Darcy's dahlias? First and foremost, thank you so much for having us. We're so happy to be here. It's such an honor to chat with you. Awesome.
00:03:11
Speaker
Well, we started Darcy's dahlias kind of organically. We were hobby growers prior to um for several years. Obviously we both have been gardening for a very long time. And then in 2022, we decided to ramp up a little bit growing, going from about 10 to 12 dahlias to a hundred and then As happens with many flower farmers, ah we ramped up quite significantly the following year. In 2023, we grew over a thousand. and last year That's a big jump. It was quite the jump. But it worked out really well, thankfully. And this year we are growing about 1,500 on our property. Amazing. So you went from
00:04:01
Speaker
around 10 dahlias to 100 to 1000, and to now about 1500. So you have 10 times your production, several times in the last few years, which is incredible. So you are hobbyist dahlia growers or hobbyist flower growers. Take me back in time.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah. So, uh, at least for myself personally, I really started getting into gardening a lot more in 2016. Um, really fell in love with hydrangeas, gladiolus, just, uh, you know, typical flower beds and things like that. And was just growing a few dahlias here and there, and then really jumped into, uh, the dahlia craze, if you will, in 2022 after watching growing floret, as many people fall in love with flower farming after watching that. And that's pretty much how it happened. Yeah, she has inspired lots of people to start flower farming over the last decade. It's pretty incredible to see the numbers of people growing flowers these days. What about you, Wyatt? How did you get started?
00:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, um big thing his love of dallies is always something that I um was always supportive of and always kind of interested in. um My mother is a big homemaker. She is very involved in her flower beds my whole life. like That was our summer our summer break. was you know making sure chores and flower beds and stuff were looking nice. um And I've always loved just making a house look kept and pretty out front. And now it's developed into a lot more. um I love dahlias, yes, but I love a lot of of the other flowers too. I'm big on all the other fillers and everything such, so I enjoy it a lot. So do you strictly grow dahlias?
00:05:56
Speaker
Oh, no. um So we grow about 1,500 Alias and then we grow snapdragons, eucalyptus, lyseanthus, zinnias, psilosia, the whole, you know, general
Urban Flower Farming: Challenges and Solutions
00:06:10
Speaker
good flower flowers. um Started planting a lot of perennials this year. um So yeah, expanded more, expanded more next year too. Who is your current market that you sell your flowers to?
00:06:24
Speaker
all local actually, ah we just finished our flower stand, if you will. um So we have it on wheels that we pretty much roll out of our garage and directly onto the front of our property. And we just fill it about twice a week right now. We have two signs at the end of our street and locals just come by and scoop them up. That's awesome. And so that's your primary means of moving your flowers is through the flower stand.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yes, we do actually sell wholesale to some local forest as well. Okay. So help us paint a picture here for those that aren't familiar with where you're located. Are you, how big of a space are you growing on? I'd say less than a half acre. Okay. So we live in a suburb of Columbus and Hilliard about 10 minutes from downtown Columbus. And ah basically, ah Our home is my grandparents' old home. They passed away in 2017, and so I moved in here. Thank you. um and Actually, I grew up in the house next door. Still, my parents live there. So technically, half of Darcie's dahlias is in their yard, ah which we've been very, very blessed to have them allow us to use their space as well. So you're in an urban setting then?
00:07:50
Speaker
Definitely. Yes. So you're literally opening up a residential garage, pushing a flower stand out, and people come to your neighborhood to see your flowers. Absolutely. That is awesome. The main road we're off of, it's almost like a, not an actual highway, but it's very, very busy road. So in our opinion, it's our own little slice of paradise ah around you know a lot of craziness and loudness.
00:08:18
Speaker
Can your neighbors then see where you're growing the flowers from the street? Yeah, absolutely. And we've actually had a couple followers reach out to us and say, Oh my gosh, we saw your snapdragons just driving by things like that, which is really awesome to see. So have you basically converted your yard into your flower farm then? Most of it. Um, there's still some grass out there, but next year it probably won't be there anymore. So kind of tell us about that. Um,
00:08:48
Speaker
building out of your farm then. I mean, I think a lot of people that are listening to the Backyard Bouquet are backyard gardeners or small scale flower farmers. And so hearing from the two of you how you have taken a residential setting, and it sounds like you have two lots um and are producing a ton of flowers on not a huge amount of space,
00:09:10
Speaker
are being very successful in a very short amount of time. So help us understand the journey to get to where you are today. So you decided in 2022 to make this a business, correct? Yes. So like he said, obviously I initially was growing dahlias and then he kind of encouraged me, Hey, let's make this into something more because we saw the impact that it can have. Uh, so we told a very small section of our yard,
00:09:39
Speaker
grew those hundred dahlias along with, I think, just zenias and silosia that year, and then saw the potential at that point. Then we had ah a large amount of the yard tilled, which, you know, obviously ah we don't till anymore at this point, but initially it was just grass, so we had to do something.
00:10:02
Speaker
um And then have just been expanding really from there. This year we built a lot of raised beds um and then an additional field just for filler flowers. Filler flowers are so important. Absolutely. Yes. The first go around we've realized, well, these are beautiful dahlias, but don't make great bouquets when it's just a dahlia.
00:10:29
Speaker
and You're going to use a lot of dahlias to fill your bouquet if you don't have filler flowers. Right. That's amazing how you can put, you can make a bouquet with 15 dahlias and be the same size as one with five dahlias when you use the right filler flowers. and So what are some of the filler flowers you're growing there?
00:10:48
Speaker
Um, this season, um, the biggest, obviously we, everybody, biggest ones. Yes. Everybody loves a good thing. Yeah. Oh, the floor at ones have been amazing this year for incredible. Like the best ones we've ever grown. If you have like, you need them, they're worth it. A thousand percent.
00:11:07
Speaker
Hercelosia is also amazing this year too. Eucalyptus is probably just one of our biggest things, just how strong the smell is with dahlias not smelling. um It just brings a little more life to a bouquet.
00:11:22
Speaker
um and then I jumped into Lizzie Ant this big this season, the our first year with it, and we were obsessed. um i If it was up to me, I might have equal fields. So now I have some Lizzie Ant that's so beautiful. um um And just growing a little Escabocia status, just trying out a few things.
00:11:44
Speaker
um Our biggest thing was just you know learn a few good things, get good at a few things, you know get your you're set bouquet there, and then start introducing new things, having fun with you know different things, which is what like Status and Escamosha,
Weathering the Storm: Resilience in Flower Farming
00:12:01
Speaker
Veronica for is for us this year. It's a lot of these new test things that we want to try out. Yes. I love that you said getting good at a few things before adding more. A lot of times I think people will It's kind of that eye candy when you get that seed catalog and I'm totally guilty of it. I have, I don't even want to know how many dollars of seed packets I have sitting in boxes. We were just talking about that maybe a half hour ago. We probably have.
00:12:28
Speaker
a hundred different ah flowers from seed that we've never touched, never opened the packets yet because we just, you know, we got overwhelmed. But I think those, it's important to make mistakes, obviously. Absolutely. Let's talk about some of those mistakes because you are only three years into your flower farming journey, which I think offers a unique viewpoint for our listeners. What have been some of the challenges, especially growing small scale in a residential setting?
00:13:00
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. um Probably our biggest things to work on. Obviously, our soil ah is a residential area that hasn't been touched. It's grandparents, it's parents, they weren't farming it, it was grass. you know um So making sure our soil could support and have life and nutrition in it.
00:13:19
Speaker
I was definitely a big thing for us um from adding organic materials to we add i add a lot of earthworms into the ground just naturally into the field whatever we can to start breaking stuff down and um make it you know better.
00:13:37
Speaker
um for all the flowers has been the big focus um in this year. Our soil is starting to look dark, like we're starting to get a little ah dark mocha color to it. And so we're starting to see that health and see it in our flowers for sure. It's amazing. You said third year or you're starting to see your soil improve. I think that's such an important reminder that soil health doesn't improve overnight.
00:14:02
Speaker
Oh, a thousand percent. Definitely not. Yeah. We have very heavy clay soil here and that was a very big challenge, especially last year we had a lot of water and lost quite a few of our plants due to that. Um, and it wasn't just the soil. It was also how we built out the rows, which we had to change this year. Um, but you know, everyone's environment's different. So we're just.
00:14:28
Speaker
writing things down as we go and trying to fix them for the next year. Because as you know very well, um something might not work this year, but you kind of can't fix it immediately. You have to have patience and and work towards that goal for next year. Definitely. Patience is such a key thing in flower farming and even gardening. um We're on Mother Nature's time.
00:14:51
Speaker
Exactly. And um I always look at those mistakes. I'm doing quotation marks with my hands so um as learning opportunities. I mean, if we look at it, we're going to be better the next year from these things. That is exactly how we look at it. It's ultimately the you know these little mistakes can just help build that farm and build what your structure is going to be. you know we didn't Last year, it was hard not to get discouraged at times with how our field was flooded. But this year, you know we didn't focus on, okay, well, how do we make our grass absorb this water? how do we What can we add to level out these rows and such to make that better?
00:15:38
Speaker
I love that after three years, you were already seeing results from improving the soil. Can we talk about other challenges that you have faced in starting your flower farm?
00:15:51
Speaker
Absolutely. um Well, for one instance, severe weather is something we've really been dealing with a lot lately here with how drastic the weather change has been in general. Actually, in February of this year, we were hit by a tornado. Oh my gosh.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, completely took out our neighbor's house. ah Thankfully, it did knock down our fence, ah but we had very minor damage. um And we do have huge trees in our our backyard, so it could have been much, much worse. um Unfortunately, they decided to not rebuild. um And actually, their fence provided a lot of um protection, if you will, ah from wind, because we do seem to get a lot of wind here. ah So that's just been something that we've had to, you know, obviously build a new fence and and kind of go from there as far as, you know, how to improve that. But staking dahlias as well, added more T-posts, more support this year, ah just to ensure that they
00:16:59
Speaker
if any more severe weather comes through, which we I think we're having some tonight, maybe, um that they they stay up and stay looking good and and healthy. I'm so sorry about that tornado. That is so scary.
00:17:12
Speaker
Thank you. It's something that you never really think will happen. Funny enough, my favorite movie has always been The Wizard of Oz and I was always obsessed with tornadoes. and I was actually outside and watched their house come down. wearing I shouldn't have been outside, but I didn't think that was ever going to happen. so um It was a traumatizing experience, but it also kind of gave us a new fire inside of us just to to rebuild a little bit and and go from there.
00:17:42
Speaker
Wow. that i I'm just speechless. That is truly frightening. um Here, we don't have tornadoes, but we have fires. And I was just telling you before we were recording that there is literally a fire to the west, north, east, and south of us right now because of lightning. And my husband and I were talking the other day that We both moved here in the early 2000s before we knew each other. And we don't ever remember the summers being filled with fires and smoke. And now it just seems the last eight years have been continually filled with smoke which and and extreme heat, which changes everything. And so you're constantly on your toes just trying to figure out what's next with mother nature. So I hope you don't have too severe of a storm tonight.
00:18:29
Speaker
Appreciate that. Fingers crossed. Yeah. um You were mentioning the dahlias though in the wind. Where I am, we get a lot of wind too. We're the windsurfing capital of the world, which is why I moved here. um But I have to stake my dahlias also. So what do you do for wind protection for your dahlias?
00:18:48
Speaker
Yeah, so um ah currently we do T-posts with um trellis netting, 6-inch trellis netting um across the whole rows Generally, we plant all of our dahlias by size, and um a size range, so they all can generally support each other um while also making sure I don't have to do like a bunch of various nettings. So that's helpful. um That's truly been the biggest thing, starting out with that first layer of just a true like net support to give them many outlets to be supported. um And then this year, um started doing nylon cord.
00:19:29
Speaker
um doing the ah zigzags of of nylon cord throughout the top rows. Just one further look of it a little bit. and just ah Once they get to that bigger stage of that neck support, um they don't really need super much. But ah having that base layer of net down towards the bottom is really helpful for us.
00:19:51
Speaker
Absolutely. Last year I did the Hortonova netting at about 18 inches high to support the base. And then I did another netting layer at about my waist and my tall varieties. I did want to get about chest level, about 48 inches tall, which was overkill because it needed impossible to harvest the dahlias. So this year I just um used the bailing twine um because I didn't have the bandwidth to do the hornova, but that's a great idea for the wind to really stabilize your dahlias at the base.
Adapting to Climate Changes in Flower Farming
00:20:27
Speaker
And it'll be much easier to harvest not having that hornova happening at the top.
00:20:31
Speaker
doesn't affect any, you know, lateral shoots coming out or anything. So that definitely makes it a little easier to manage the plants. Yes. It is pain at harvest time. Well, I should say when we're pulling up tubers, they can definitely get caught in that. nut that's the worst part Yeah. Do you take the netting down first or do you take the tubers out first?
00:20:54
Speaker
We had tried last year to take the netting down for us. It didn't work out so well. Um, I'm not sure what we're going to do exactly this year, but not how we did it last year for sure. Luckily we won't have as much netting this year as we did last year. Cause we did the same same as you last year, as multiple rows of that netting. And it just became too much and even just made like putting it in the organic bins, like hard, you know, having all that around them, having to break them apart and stuff to get it out. So yeah.
00:21:24
Speaker
Uh, last year I first started by like pulling and trying to get them out of the netting and I didn't start taking them out till after frost. So once the dahlia is for anyone listening that isn't familiar, like after the frost, they go to total sogginess and it's like this terrible slimy mess of pulling it off the netting.
00:21:46
Speaker
But it took I had two thousand Dahlias last year and it took me so long to get them all out. By the time I got to the end, it was actually easier because the Dahlias had dried out and all that extra moisture. And so then they just broke right off the Hortonova netting. So if you are struggling, maybe ah see if you have any luck with that. you let eat for all but We actually, that's something we did talk about letting them cure a little bit longer underground this year before pulling them up. So yeah, for sure.
00:22:13
Speaker
Yeah, sometimes it's hard depending on what your weather is, if you can leave them or not. Yeah, absolutely. and And with drastic weather changes, our first frost, our last frost has changed so much over the last few years. And I think that we got a little paranoid, especially last year.
00:22:32
Speaker
Our last frost was sometime in October, ah but we pulled them out almost immediately when really they should have stayed in much longer. ah but We've definitely learned from that and we'll keep them in as long as possible, um making sure obviously that they don't freeze. Totally. so What growing zone are you? 6A, which actually changed since they did change quite a few areas. We were 6B, so not a drastic difference, but ah we're in 6A now.
00:23:02
Speaker
So does that mean you went down a growing zone instead of up? i yeah like I believe up. Like they adjusted our first and last frost dates. Okay. So um i zoing growing zones usually tell people how cold it can get. when is which And so even if I was in the same growing zone as you, my first and last frost dates might be different. When is your last frost date when you can start planting out in the spring?
00:23:35
Speaker
Typically, um in the past, I should say, it was Mother's Day, so mid-many. The last two years, our last frost was the middle of April. Oh, wow. Yeah. The last two years, we've actually planted our dahlias the last week of April, first week of May. Oh, that's amazing. It's been wonderful. yeah Yeah, you get a longer season. and or the season yeah Long season. but and so When does your law or your first season ending frost typically come then? um Typically, I want to say the end of October, early November. um We've had, I think two years ago, it didn't come until mid-November, and then last year we did have one very early in October, ah sadly. but
00:24:24
Speaker
After that, it went back up to 70, 80 degrees. So that's when we were like, we probably shouldn't have ah pulled them out as quickly as we did because they didn't completely die out at that point. Gotcha. You know, each year we just have to see how ah it's going to be for that year. It's always the worst that when you get that surprise early frost and then it turns beautiful again, you're like, I should still have my dahlias. Literally.
00:24:50
Speaker
yeah Um, it's so fascinating to me how you have a longer growing season and I'm almost a zone eight where I am. I'm a, I'm a borderline zone seven B eight B. Um, and my growing season is shorter than yours this year. We had so much rain and coldness after our last frost date that I didn't finish planting my dahlias until June 13th. So mine are really late this year.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah. We've been noticing our friends in the Pacific Northwest. Obviously we have always been so jealous of the beautiful climate conditions that most of y'all have. Um, and obviously this year seeing so many people affected by the rain and the loss, it's just been so devastating. And I'm so sorry that ah that was the case, but hopefully fingers crossed for everybody. You guys still have great tuber production and and a successful season.
00:25:43
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm fortunate because I waited to plant until most of the rain was done. I think I lost maybe a handful. I think there was only 10 of my tubers that didn't come up this year, which for the volume I'm growing is I'm pretty happy. I won't complain. absolutely So as long as the, uh, the voles and the wire where I'm leaving them alone, hopefully it'll be a good season. So are you swimming in dahlias now?
00:26:09
Speaker
almost almost for sure um we did a lot of overwintering dahlias and building up certain stocks and such um so one of our fields is definitely all further ahead and then our other field was tubers but those are buds like crazy right now for sure. They're all very established plants ready to um put blooms off for sure. So yeah, we're seeing more buds every day. Yeah. I'd say about 30, maybe 40% have bloomed already, okay ah but the majority have not yet, but they are about two. Probably within the next two weeks, we'll probably see a huge increase.
00:26:47
Speaker
very excited about it that's about when this episode will air you'll probably be swimming in dahlias and everyone will head over to your instagram to see yeah all of your blooms. It's um you mentioned. That you overwintered some of them those were tubers you left in the ground.
00:27:04
Speaker
So we actually pulled some cultivars last fall and actually continued to grow them indoors. We actually somewhat converted our basement into a a grow room okay um and just a couple specific ah varieties actually. So they grew out the entire fall, winter,
00:27:25
Speaker
um spring in our basement just to increase stock ah so we could get a little bit of an early start in that capacity. So when you said that you were overwintering them and increasing stock, were you taking cuttings? Yes. Okay. Which I love to take cuttings, obviously still learning, um but the majority of our Our dahlias now have all come from cuttings, really. ah We learned the hard way. You don't always have to spend thousands of dollars and and and buy 20 tubers of one thing when you can increase stock, but obviously you needed to do it the right way. ah Taking precautions with ah sanitation is very important, of course, and just learning as we go. But so far it's been working swimmingly.
00:28:21
Speaker
Who is responsible for the cuttings? Do you both do that together or is there one of you that's in charge of that? That is a Christopher thing. He likes to sit in the grow room and be a little scientist down there. But yeah, he's definitely responsible for those. But yeah, we definitely separate our jobs a little bit to keep the workloads more focused to each other. Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker
And it helps, honestly, I get seasonal depression, a lot of people do. So to still see green, even if it is in the basement, ah it's it's helpful. And you just have a goal in mind and know what these are going to turn into
Dahlia Propagation Techniques: From Cuttings to Cultivars
00:29:03
Speaker
eventually. It might be in six months, but ah you know it's it's just a lot of fun for me.
00:29:09
Speaker
And the same way when you are looking outside and it's brown or white covered in snow and it's freezing and you don't want to go outside, that little bit of hope in seeing that cutting growing makes you think about summer. And I just, yeah, I can't really get it matters. Absolutely. So how do you take your cuttings? Do you have any tips or tricks?
00:29:32
Speaker
Oh, goodness. um Well, if it's a tuber, obviously, we try to only take maybe five to six from that tuber. I don't want to ever overdo it. We want to make sure the genetics stay good.
00:29:46
Speaker
um But we use individual scalpels for each and every um shoot that we we take cuttings for, and then use Clonex. I actually experimented with several different mediums this year. Typically, we just use Root Riots, which honestly have been fantastic, but we actually tried Oasis. um growing in just pure medium this year, and then vermiculite as well, which we got different results from different cultivars, obviously. But- Which did you like best? Probably still root rights to- Really? Yeah, or just straight medium. We did have really good success with some of the ones with vermiculite, but um overall, I think,
00:30:36
Speaker
Root rights are probably where we're going to stay. Okay. Consistency wise. It's so fascinating to me because I tried vermiculite for the first time this year and I had great success with the vermiculite. The tubers formed so much faster than the root riots for me. So I haven't fully given up on the root riots, but I was definitely impressed with the vermiculite. Absolutely. And so for anyone listening, can you explain what that process is with growing in vermiculite? Yeah. So, um,
00:31:11
Speaker
pretty much you just take the cutting, put it in the vermiculite, yeah which is very fine grade or that's typically what I use at least, and then um the roots will come from the cutting. and I will say it is a little difficult to know when when they're ready. yeah We've actually been using these plastic trays so you can kind of see through them, see when actually the roots will form. Oh, that's a good idea.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah. So that was very, very helpful. But again, we didn't do a ton in vermiculite, but I'm going to try some more next year for sure. So what percentage of your dahlias do you think came from cuttings this year? Oh my goodness. oh um I would say half and a half this year. Yeah, i'm probably 50%. So you did a lot of cuttings. Yes. That's a full-time job in the wintertime.
00:32:04
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, specifically because we are releasing a cultivar next next season for someone. So and we had already, we had only had one cutting of that specific cultivar at the beginning of last season. So we wanted to make sure.
00:32:24
Speaker
We had as many as possible to plant out this year for the best tuber production. So um that's why we really, really went ah hardcore with cuttings this year. So you're growing out cuttings for a hybridizer?
00:32:41
Speaker
Yes, yeah we're actually going to be releasing KA shots for Christine Albrecht of Santa Cruz Dahlias next year. and Oh, amazing. That's exciting. Maybe you could send me a picture of that and we could include that in the show notes. Absolutely. And then people can see that Dahlia. So will you be exclusively releasing this one for Christine?
00:33:01
Speaker
It is a kind of a funny backstory. Uh, we live on shots lane. Um, I have my entire life and I had seen a picture of it in, uh, I think on florets website and reached out to Christine three years ago. It's been at this point and just, just to ask, to see if she still had it available and because it had never been sold at that point.
00:33:27
Speaker
And she did kindly semi-tuber at the time. Sadly, it was incorrectly labeled. so um and And at that point, she actually didn't think the cultivar existed anymore. um And actually, there was someone that she reached out to just so happened to have one. And so she was kind enough last spring to send us a cutting.
00:33:51
Speaker
and Honestly, I just wanted to grow it for the sentimental value of the name. um and Then we were presented with the opportunity to release it for her. So we're we're very, very excited and grateful. That's a huge honor. Congratulations. Thank you. She has some beautiful dahlias. Absolutely. Do you have a favorite dahlia that you're growing? I have to think about that one.
00:34:18
Speaker
um that we haven't seen yet. Hapit Pearl, really excited to see that one. Westerton Gatehouse, or I'm sorry, not Westerton Gatehouse. Westerton Sunset, I think is going to be a beautiful addition to our farm this year.
00:34:35
Speaker
These are ones that you've previously purchased that haven't bloomed yet. Right. Yes. OK. Some of our big favorites that we've planted, Bloomquist Mojo. That one just bloomed for me yesterday. So pretty. It's one of the best gold tip anything, really, will always get us. We planted a lot of the Jolly Winnie as well. Jolly Winnie is a big favorite. I love bold color of any sort. um Anything vibrant we're always going to go for. I know a lot of people like the wedding colors and you know the neutrals, but the bolder the better for us generally.
00:35:14
Speaker
It's funny, I always have to remind myself that I serve wedding florists, so I grow a lot of pastel colors, but my CSA subscribers prefer the bold and vibrant colors. um So I think you just really have to know your market of who you're growing for.
Balancing Work and Flower Farming Ambitions
00:35:30
Speaker
That's you have the our we our most traction for sure any of our. you know Anytime we post a white now it feels like we just are fighting to get on people's feet with it but anytime we post something colorful people love it they always eat it up and so they definitely let us know what they like to see.
00:35:50
Speaker
Yes, people are good at letting you know. It's always interesting, too, to see like when you have multiple different bouquets at a stand or something to see what people gravitate towards. Usually, it's not what I would have gravitated towards, so it's kind of eye-opening sometimes. Yeah, for sure. yeah so Okay, my head's spinning. I've got a bunch of questions for both of you.
00:36:11
Speaker
Wyatt, you I think it was you that mentioned that you guys split up a lot of the jobs on the farm. Can one of you talk about how do you divide up the jobs to share the responsibility without stepping on each other's toes? Yeah, for sure. And firstly, obviously, you know as partners and business partners, you know we always have to collaborate on everything and try our best to hear each other out. And you know or we both Know what we're talking about and you know always have the best interest in mind of Darcy's so and that's always the ultimate goal. um Some things it's just mainly things we like to do um he loves doing the cuttings and waking tubers up and loves dividing and so i let him conquer a lot of that um but like i love making sure the dahlias are supported i love making sure. um Always have everything we need i am i love building bouquets. um
00:37:09
Speaker
and really building anything. I built all of our flower, our raised beds. I built our flower stand. Christopher gets in that he loves to do all the spraying as tedious as it can be. He loves to get out there and sprays and everything of that sort. The science part. Yeah. So we definitely divide and conquer in that sense for sure. Is this a full-time job for both of you?
00:37:38
Speaker
I wish. And honestly, that is the ultimate goal. um I actually work full time. We both came from corporate jobs. um Unfortunately, why it was actually laid off earlier this year, but we have been able to have him not have to get another job, thankfully, uh, at this point in time. But I do work full time, thankfully from home, which is nice, but also can be very frustrating sitting in here knowing what's out there and what can be done. But that is the ultimate goal at some point in time. Well, it sounds like why eight years was maybe a blessing in disguise to allow you to go to the farm. Most definitely. Um, you know, I,
00:38:24
Speaker
didn't really see it coming when it happened. um I was replaced to AI, um unfortunately. and effort you know It was a kind of a freak out moment, but then it was kind of like, well, what can we do at the time? What can I do to improve our production, of what we're doing? And it opened up a door for me to just, I was able to get so much of our early season prep done that like basically it's able to just walk out and we can point out as, you know, and um dedicate myself to getting seedlings going and other filler flowers going and making sure that we were set up for, you know, stuff that we didn't have time to do working, you know, and then
00:39:08
Speaker
just the reality of be working a 40-hour job that you don't love and just what it's doing in your head. You know you don't always want to go out and do something right away and freeing up that mental space also allowed me to open myself up for dark season more. So it's definitely been a blessing.
00:39:26
Speaker
That's such a great way to look at it. I can pretty much guarantee you that AI is never going to steal your job as a flower farmer. At least I hope not. I'm in trouble if that happens. so Well, I love your attitude that you have turned um an unfortunate event into a really positive thing for your life and your business. um So that's really great to see that you're able to grow from that.
The Story Behind Darcy's Dahlias
00:39:57
Speaker
ah Let's see here. I have not asked you, and I am curious to know, and I apologize if you've shared this on social media, but I'm sure some of the listeners are curious as well. Neither of you are named Darcy. How did you come up with the name Darcy's Dahlias?
00:40:14
Speaker
Yes. So Darcy is actually our nine year old. pug ah When we were trying to come up with a name, it was, you know, obviously very difficult. We went through several different options, but then at the end of the day, the one thing we love more than anything in this life is Darcy. She, um, I can't say enough. She just makes us so very happy every day.
00:40:42
Speaker
And I always like to say that she's the only reason that he said yes when dating me. So yeah, that's why we decided to name it Darcy's Dallies. And we still get messages saying, hi, Darcy, and this, that, and the other. But it's always kind of funny. But yeah, Darcy is our pug.
00:41:04
Speaker
Well, it's a great name and that's so sweet that you named it after your pug. So that's another to-do list for you is I'll need a picture of Darcy to include in the show notes so listeners can see your pug if that's possible, please. Of course, most definitely. We are a dog family over here.
00:41:21
Speaker
We were picking up dinner last night because we were just too busy working on the farm and all dirty. So we went and picked up some burritos and there's a bulletin board and there was a thing for adopting dogs and we have two dogs and my daughter was like, mom, take a picture. Maybe we can convince dad we need another dog. And we're not getting a third dog yet, but dogs do have a special place in our heart.
00:41:44
Speaker
um so I think there is a third dog in our future, just not quite yet. ah Let's see here. so You mentioned that you are growing out some dahlias for Christine that you're going to be releasing, which is super exciting. Have you previously been selling tubers in the wintertime?
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so funny ass that last year we definitely had planned to do a first online sale. We had some other things that came up that were just, it was just going to be way too overwhelming to be quite honest with you.
00:42:22
Speaker
I'm so we actually decided to have it a little bit because we had thousands of tumors that we didn't have space to plant and i play the mall at least i should say i'm so we actually decided to have a local cutting sale and to pursue my dad's actually a pastor so ah we have a they have a church about ten minutes from us and.
00:42:47
Speaker
we very quickly put together a sale there and had an overwhelming response. We actually had people waiting in line an hour before we opened. wow ah So it was shocking for us, but it was also just really awesome to see how many people locally wanted to, even if they've done this before, they've never done this before, they just wanted to give it a try ah just from seeing whether it be our photos or our social media, whatever it was, i'm just sparking an interest. ah Because gardening is therapeutic. It does so much for mental health and just your your overall vibe in general. So it was really, really fantastic that that happened for us. That's amazing. So did you sell out at that sale?
00:43:37
Speaker
We didn't sell out, but we did a lot more than we thought we were going to do in a short amount of time. Um, and actually my mom came to help out and you know, when it's family and you're doing something pretty new, they don't quite understand how popular dahlias or flowers can be and the amazing community that we have.
00:44:02
Speaker
ah And she actually helped check people out and her face the entire time she was just like oh my gosh i can't believe they're so excited and you know it it it warmed our hearts for for them to be able to see that so.
Dahlia Hybridization: Breeding Unique Varieties
00:44:18
Speaker
That's amazing. I love when people get excited about dahlias because you just know that they're in for such a treat. Once they get that planted in, they're going to get that dahlia bug and you're spreading something really good. It's it's a healthy addiction um for someone to have. At least I call it an addiction. My addiction has grown over the years. I keep seeing a plant. Oh, I'll just have one more.
00:44:41
Speaker
never stops. It never gets better. It just progresses. Yes, totally. um You hinted earlier in our conversation that you had some plans for next year. Can you share what's the future hold for Darcy's Delias?
00:44:57
Speaker
Yeah, um really our big focus and I think a you know a lot of people who are solely in the dahlia world are hybridizing. um We are moving into um we had a first ah ah couple of first-year or second-year seedlings that we're really liking and watching. And then between We have first year seedlings on our farm. um My mother actually has a field at her property for us and that she grows out. And then um we are actually getting help from our sister farm, Black Penny Farms i'm in Marysville, Ohio. um They are growing out a couple hundred seedlings for us as well, um just to and know find that next phase um and start getting some things building up for a future release, hopefully.
00:45:46
Speaker
That's really exciting. So you've been breeding or giving breeding a shot for the last two years? Is that right? yeah me It's amazing. um I think Erin and Christine, Erin from Fluoret and Christine from Santa Cruz, the two of them have really, really impacted the Dalia community in such an amazing way.
00:46:08
Speaker
literally changed the game for us all. Totally. So much. They've both given so freely of their knowledge that it's really amazing. I'm going to do a little teaser here. Erin's going to be joining us on the podcast in a few weeks to talk about her seats for our seed programs. so I'm so excited to chat with her because it's like, uh, oh, she's just such an inspiration. So, absolutely and so grateful for the gifts that both of those ladies have given to the Dahlia and flower communities. can So going back to you though, um, with your Dahlia breeding, do you hand pollinate? Do you let the bees do the work? How do you manage your hybridizing?
00:46:55
Speaker
Our current seedlings that we're working on are just open pollinated, um making sure we did a lot of specific planting, um purposely planting a lot of dark foliage next to parents we wanted because we want to carry dark foliage over or um try to a lot of um white dahlias are the most for c creating the most colorful and we want color, so most of our parents were white dahlias. Being intentional more so with ah our open pollination, but ah I did try to do some hand pollinating last year. I was not very successful, um but this year I am gung-ho in it. I've been watching videos. I'm just stressing the importance of introducing great genetics, I think,
00:47:45
Speaker
um Erin and Christine both have expressed, you can get any beautiful thing, but it's the point of putting a good gene back into itself over and over again to create that that truly you know beautiful face, but beautiful plant, and beautiful producer, and you know resistant, and so many other factors than a beautiful face. And so we're really diving into that.
00:48:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, we made sure to, ah we didn't really grow a lot of open center dahlias, but we did remove any ah from our fields just to make sure that we were at least getting more consistently doubles from our seedlings. But like you said, we're definitely going to be diving a lot deeper into the hand pollinating game this year, or at least trying to. Fingers crossed for us. I'm crossing my fingers for you.
00:48:36
Speaker
um With yours that you are breeding, you mentioned that you're really looking for strong parent traits and genetics. Are you seeing? I'm always curious because I'm growing my own from seed also. as And now that you're a couple years in, are you starting to see any traits come through like on a consistent pattern that you're noticing?
00:48:57
Speaker
Yeah, I think the first year we had seedlings, they were very short, almost completely open center, floppy, um you know, downward facing or or just not an appealing plant structure in general. I think this year,
00:49:16
Speaker
Even how we planted them, um it's amazing to see how strong a lot of them are with that you know perfect 45 degree angle, upward facing, long stems, ah good structure overall. So we're pleasantly surprised so far at what we're seeing. And obviously where those seeds came from with good genetics. So um all plays into that.
00:49:46
Speaker
Very cool. Well, I imagine you're probably a couple of years out from being able to release any of your own. Have you had any conversations though? Will they be called Darcy's Dahlias or will you have a breeding name for them? We've talked about a few. um We also like, we're silly. We like to have fun. um If you talk to our friends and family, where we always laugh. um We just kind of almost miss the just names a little bit too. um We definitely think,
00:50:16
Speaker
Some important ones will have lines of and we'll make sure to have that like lineage name back to us, but we also want to have some just. names that are going to make people giggle when they do when they this flower and just bring some more light into that. We actually have a list that we make. And then, you know, if we think of something, we always write it down, even though we don't have anything named yet. Um, we want to have them prepared just in case one pops out and you're like, do you know what, that, that looks just like that. So, uh, but yeah, there will definitely be Darcy's, you know,
00:50:54
Speaker
whatever it might be. And then actually some of the seedlings that are being grown by his parents, their last name is Baker. So we might be doing like Baker's donut or Baker's croissant. I love it. That's awesome. Yeah. And she's starting to become competition.
00:51:16
Speaker
I went down there this weekend and she was like, I think I want my own seeds next year. I'm like, okay, calm down. I'm like, if yeah I guess you want a little family rivalry here. That's okay. It's contagious. My mom is down in Southern California and she did the same thing last year. She sent me a picture. She goes, look, I've got, I had told her too, that I was trying to cross and she's like, look, cause she had the two varieties and she goes, look, I saved the seeds from these. I'm going to try growing them out.
00:51:43
Speaker
i love the My mom got the seeds from the varieties that I didn't. oh know It's all good. um For me, if if a great Dahlia makes it out into the world, that's awesome. yes thousands like Do you sell your seeds? We haven't in the past, but we did get a a lot of questions about that, so we are considering doing that. Maybe some other pollinated ones for sure. you know Let people have some fun with it.
00:52:11
Speaker
yeah Depends on how much success we have with the handful. Make sure you have enough for yourself first. yeah right right It's funny this year. Well, two years ago I brought got rid of all of my open centered and I sell my Dahlia seeds in the winter time and I'm getting pictures this year and it's kind of that like nail biting. You get the picture and you're like, I should have kept that seed for myself. I'm really glad it's growing somewhere. but I think that's what's what we're most worried about but you know obviously we would be so happy to see a seed that came from us and producing a beautiful flower that would be fantastic but yeah right there with you. A few friends have some seeds from us from last year and we're just you know let them have them and we're waiting we're waiting to see what they pur produce is excited though. yeah Yeah, I have to say though, I'd rather someone get a great ceiling than something that's all wonky and open centered and then be disappointed that they bought for me, but it's that double-edged sword for sure.
Social Media Strategy: Authentic Engagement
00:53:13
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:53:14
Speaker
So I have another question for you that's more about the marketing and social media side of your business. You said that you enjoy having fun. There's one picture that's kind of stands out to me that I think had thousands of likes on social media and you did that really cute. You turned your dahlias into like an ice cream cone. Who's in charge of your social media? So I do all the pictures actually. Um,
00:53:40
Speaker
And I didn't really, well, I don't want to sit here and say not to toot my own horn, but I've realized that I have a gift for photography. Um, I've always been a very creative person, both of us really. So I just been trying to think of different things that we could do. Um, you know, obviously we love doing Delia flat lays and things like that, but we want to be more creative. So just kind of had the thought and, um,
00:54:09
Speaker
made him go buy me some ice cream cones and it turned out a lot better than we expected, obviously. And it was just cute and fun and it's summertime and you know, it can be appreciated even in the winter. So, um, yeah, that was going to be doing a lot more things like it. We have a lot of ideas in mind. So fingers crossed you'll be seeing some really cool things here in the future, but, um, yeah.
00:54:34
Speaker
That's exciting, I'll keep my eyes peeled for it. Now, you've only been growing commercially as a flower farmer or flower farmers um for three years, but you have grown quite a following on social media. What would you say has been the key to your success in growing your audience online? Because there's a lot of farmers who are trying to establish a brand or a name for their business. What advice can you give?
00:55:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um It's been tremendous for us, to be honest. Last year at this time, I think we had and just under 3,000 followers. We're about to hit 30,000 now, um which is still mind-blowing. We both cried when we hit 10,000. That's a big milestone.
00:55:22
Speaker
Absolutely. And we still try to ah reply to every single comment. We get just as excited over 50 likes as we do 10,000 doesn't matter um because that's not what it's about. Really for us, we genuinely want to bring happiness smiles to the community. Um, I will say, you know, on social media, there's so many ads. I'm not sure if you see them, but, um, everybody has a different opinion on how to get growth from your Instagram and Facebook. Don't post 10 times a day. Do post 10 times a day, you know, whatever it might be.
00:56:01
Speaker
It's overwhelming. it It really is. um For us, the first year, like when we first started the Instagram accounts, we tried to do like a couple ads and it was really in our opinion now.
00:56:15
Speaker
felt like we wasted a little bit of money and then we stopped doing that completely and really just. Wanted to put out beautiful photos and different perspectives and engage with people on a real life basis. You know we're not too.
00:56:33
Speaker
Up in the high horse people were we're very normal. you know I want to talk about the struggles that we have on a daily basis. so They're not all perfect if you go out into the field um and that's real life. so I think it's just important to really engage with your audience and be honest and upfront and also have fun. ah Last year we really didn't create many reels.
00:56:59
Speaker
um i'm just not great at coming up with concepts and I'm a little ah camera shy maybe at times. ah But this year we kind of just started to be silly with it and it's worked out tremendously.
00:57:15
Speaker
Well, you've had excellent growth, and I love that you are just real, like you said. Thank you. People want the realness.
Community and Education: Collaborating Locally
00:57:22
Speaker
They can see the pictures with the beautiful bouquets of flowers, but to really know what it's like to be a farmer or a gardener, I think is a lot more impactful. So thank you for sharing those words of wisdom. Absolutely.
00:57:38
Speaker
We have talked about a lot and I feel like I'm chatting with an old friend right now and I just met both of you today. Like we could talk for a lot longer, um but I want to respect your time because this is busy season where we're all out trying to harvest as much as possible. Is there anything that I have not asked you today that you would like to share with our listeners?
00:58:00
Speaker
I know locally we're really excited um actually to work with some schools next year. We've had reach out actually to do some programs with elementary kids about gardening, flower farming in general, just, and I think it's just so very important. Obviously technology is wonderful. TV is great.
00:58:22
Speaker
ah times you need to wind down but it would be so awesome to see more kids out and learning how to grow things so we're really excited to be doing that.
00:58:36
Speaker
you know Definitely pushing ourselves to be more involved with our community too. you know I think that's something we all can do no matter whether you're a home gardener or whether you will have thousands of flowers growing on a farm. I think the biggest thing is just look around, look at who is there, who are the ones who are cheering you on, who are the ones who are you know, buying your blooms, who are the ones who are just supporting your business in general and focusing on that local community. Although, you know, so happy for know our social media and the following that we have with it. and
00:59:13
Speaker
you know all the people in there cheering us on, but it's so amazing to also see the people are at home too. you know they you know It's our neighbors knocking on our doors for bouquets. The you know the school is wanting their students to learn something about nature. you know it's It's definitely there and if you look for it, you know you will find it. I think we all get clouded with what's around us and what's not to do and what's this and what's that? and Just focus on what you but you have in your garden and it just makes you happier for sure. Yeah. I love that advice. Well, the two of you, Christopher and Wyatt, you're certainly planting a lot of seeds in your community.
Supporting Local Flower Movements
00:59:56
Speaker
Hey flower friends, just popping in again with something exciting. Do you know you could turn your love for gardening or cut flowers into a digital course? My mentor, Amy Porterfield has a quick quiz that'll show you if you're one of the three types of people who can do just that. And it only takes two minutes. The quiz link is in the show notes. Go check it out. And you just might be surprised by the results. All right, let's dive back into today's episode.
01:00:26
Speaker
Well, it's really amazing. Both Christopher and Wyatt, you guys are truly planting seeds in two communities, not just one. You have your local community and you're also planting seeds to a much greater community of gardeners and farmers around the world that are watching what you're doing on social media.
01:00:45
Speaker
And I can't wait to keep following along on your journey, especially as you are growing out some of your own hybrids. So for those that just met you for the first time today, can you share how can they find you?
01:01:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So we are on ah Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. ah Instagram, it's just Darcy's underscore dahlias. Facebook, Darcy's dahlias. And ah same with TikTok. Perfect. Do you have a website also? Oh, oh yes, I'm so sorry. Darcy's dahlias.com. Perfect. Sign up, all sale updates and everything there.
01:01:24
Speaker
Perfect. So anyone that's interested in snagging some of your Dahlia tubers or those KA releases should go sign up for your email list on your website. Absolutely. Excellent. Thank you so much. It's been such a joy to chat with both of you today. And I'd love to leave the door open for a future conversation here on the Backyard Bouquet again.
01:01:46
Speaker
Of course. Thank you so much for having us and definitely would love to come to chat with you again. Love to have you back. To be here. Thank you so, so much. Thanks for joining me. Happy gardening.
01:01:58
Speaker
thank you Thank you Flower Friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us.
01:02:22
Speaker
If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends. Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard.