E-newsletter
Cut & Dried Flower Farm News
2010 Season Wrap-Up
We are now closed for the 2010 season. Phew...It's been a good one and has certainly flown by! 2010 was another year of hard work and improvements as we added one more special event to our calendar, greatly expanded our range of veggies and constructed our new pot it yourself area. We welcomed more customers than ever to the farm, including many 'first timers' happy to find us. Our E-newsletter now also reaches more people than ever.
Many of you have been watching the construction of our new look gardens along our driveway, wondering when I'm going to plant them! Now its time to get to work! The gardens will be mainly perennials, with a loose framework of deciduous shrubs and roses. I plan on labeling every plant in the gardens, so customers can gain some practical inspiration and really see how the plants perform. By next year they should be looking good!
Big Winner
Annual Customer Appreciation Draw
Congratulations to Jilla Williams, lucky winner of our draw for $100 worth of plants. Our annual customer appreciation draw took place on June 1st and all our E-newsletter contacts were automatically entered. Jilla dropped by the farm and picked out some gorgeous planters to brighten up her deck. Congratulations, Jilla and thank you for your continued business!
Creemore Planters, 2010 Version
This is our second year designing, planting and growing the street planters for downtown Creemore. We started off in April with planters of blue and yellow Violas. These provided a cheery start to spring and stayed out until mid June when the summer planters replaced them.
The summer plant mix that I selected this year should stand up well to the summer heat but also tolerate cold and even light frost in the fall. There is also a matching hanging basket outside the Remax office. Check out the planters next time you are in town! Here is the plant mix: Purple Fountain Grass, Begonia Dragon Wing Red, Verbena Superbena Dark Blue, Bidens Peters Gold, Licorice plant and Sweet Potato Vine Lime. Let us know what you think!
Planting fun for Playgroup kids!
June 2010
As a mother and gardener, one of my passions has always been introducing children to the joys and wonders of plants and nature. For the past 11 years the farm has hosted an annual tour and hands on planting for the children and parents from the Trinity Cooperative Playgroup (formally Adjala Tosorontio Cooperative Playgroup). This year was no exception, and the children enjoyed time exploring the greenhouses, searching for butterflies and collecting flower petals! During their planting activity, the kids examined roots and handled seeds. They went home with a Pansy pot and a planted bean seed which they could watch grow at home. The photo shows the current group and as you can see there are not many of us!! If you or someone you know may be interested in joining the group, we would love to meet you! The playgroup meets every Wednesday morning at the Trinity United Church located on Highway 89, just east of Rosemont.
Please contact Jen at or (705) 424 3486 for more information. I can honestly say that belonging to this group was one of the best things I did with my preschoolers - both the kids and I have made friends for life - I will miss my playgroup days as now Ben is 6 and starts grade 1 in September...
Potcycle 2010 Report
June 2010
Despite the cold, rainy weather, our 2nd annual Potcycle day turned out to be a huge success. 51 families took advantage of the event to drop off their unwanted used plastic plant pots and trays. As an added incentive, each family dropping off pots was given 10% off their purchase that day. The pots and trays have now been sorted and we will reuse a variety of them. The rest will be taken to Adjala Tosorontio Township's Diversion Days, where they will be further reused and recycled. Huge thanks to Councillor Tom Cook for giving up his Sunday afternoon and helping sort the plastics. All families returning pots and trays were entered in a prize draw to win a $50 gift certificate to spend at the farm. Congratulations to Basil Guinane, our big winner who stopped by to pick out some beautiful Petunia hanging baskets last week! As always, we will continue to accept our own pots and trays for reuse until June 30th. Thanks for making this day a success and for keeping these plastics out of your garbage and our landfills!
Flower Friends Invitation Only Sale
Flowers & Friends = FUN!!
June 2010
For a while now, I have been trying to think up a way to hold a customer appreciation event. This year we tried a first - and over 40 shoppers took advantage of our Flower Friends invitation only sale on May 20th. The event was by e mail invite only and guests were encouraged to bring a friend not on the mailing list. We all enjoyed a lovely night of plants, music, snacks, refreshments and lots of gardening talk. The weather even cooperated for once - it was a gorgeous night, warm with no bugs. It was great to see many loyal customers again and also to welcome many new faces to the farm. Guests who brought a friend not on the mailing list were given a Strawberry plant. Many door prizes were given away and fun was had by all!
I'm dreaming of a…
White Mothers Day!
May 2010
What a crazy weekend!! Despite the weather, last weekends' annual Mothers Day Madness was a huge success. The wind and rain on Saturday, then snow on Sunday certainly didn't deter many customers! Many families showed up to take advantage of the annual sale. Kids planted Pansies for Mom and hot coffee was available for warming up. The Alliston District Humane Society held a BBQ both days and were happy with business, considering the weather! They will be back on the long weekend with more sausages for lunch. Many families make a visit to our Mothers Day Madness a family tradition every year and it was wonderful to see all the familiar faces again. Thank you for your continued support!
Pansies for Paws
A purr...fect success!
April 2010
Over 100 people and 12 dogs came out this past Sunday for our 2nd annual Pansies for Paws event. The event was a fundraiser for the Alliston District Humane Society who are currently raising funds to build a home base and shelter for animals in need. Guests enjoyed a lovely afternoon at the farm with great deals on Pansies along with refreshments and door prizes. Dogs were given a goodie bag and kids planted a Pansy to take home.
10% of our sales from the afternoon were donated to the ADHS along with the proceeds from a prize draw. In all, $333 was raised - not bad!! The winners of our prize draw were Victoria Kean, Michelle Boon, Bob Dunn and Barb Mills. Many thanks to our generous local businesses, Cardboard Castles, PJ's Pets, Curiosity House Bookstore, Susan's Grooming Salon, M&M Pet Resort, Creemore Farmers Market, Angus Borden Music and Country Classics for donating prizes for the draw. Thanks also to John and Jane Clark, volunteers from the ADHS. If you missed the event this year, be sure to make it next April as we hope to grow the event each year and welcome more dogs to the farm!
Meet our greenhouse staff!
They're here to help you
April 2010
We are thrilled to have a couple of new faces at the farm this year! Most of you already know Sandi White who is now into her 6th year with us and Maria Kean who is into her 3rd season here. They are both back full force and are eager to share their enthusiasm for gardening with you. Joining us this year is Angie Savoie who grew up on a farm and is now a keen home gardener with a young family. She is having fun, especially transplanting tiny baby plants and watching them grow!
We also have help from Keesie de Leeuw, a coop student from Banting High School. Keesie is completing his Specialist High Skills Major in Horticulture and is planning to study Horticulture in the future. He will be helping at the Farmers Market in Creemore as well as at the farm. All our staff start work in February, growing everything except our shrubs and roses here. This way, they are familiar with all our plants and how to care for them. We hope that you will take the time to introduce yourselves to our new staff as well as getting reacquainted with Sandi and Maria.
Parade winners!
Our Winter Greenhouse
April 2010
Some news from December - we once again entered a float in the Creemore Santa Claus Parade. This time it was an Elve's greenhouse complete with flowers in hanging baskets, pots and wheelbarrows. Watering the flowers were our Elves - Rosalyn and Daniel as well as Maria's girls, Victoria and Elizabeth. Ben was trying hard to look happy up front on his tractor!! Sandi, Maria and I worked the crowds with candy canes and Chris drove! It was a lot of fun and to top off the day, we won the award for the Best Local Float.
2009 Award of Excellence Winner
Girlfriend's Planting Party
November 2009
We are extremely proud to once again be announced the winner of a Garden Centre Award of Excellence. The award program is an initiative of Landscape Ontario - our provincial trades organization and is open to all members. Last month, we were honoured to be presented with the Award of Excellence for 'Outstanding Promotional Event' for our 'Girlfriends Planting Party' held on May 30.
If you have yet to experience a planting party, you are missing out!! The event is held each year and is open to all on an RSVP basis. Bring along your favourite pots for planting and with the help of our staff, plant your creation and leave all the mess at the farm! There is no charge for the party, you just pay for plants and compost used. If you can't make the publicized date, arrange your own private party for 8 or more guests. Anyway, thanks to all our guests at our 2009 Planting Party for helping make the stormy evening a success! It is a wonderful feeling to be recognized by our professional peers for all our hard work.
Our Plants Brighten up
Downtown Creemore
July 2009
If you are out and about over the summer, drop by the village of Creemore and check out the planter boxes on the street. This year the BIA commissioned us to design, plant and grow the containers. We used a combination of Talinum Limon, Begonia Dragon Wing Red, Verbena Superbena Burgundy, Licorice plant, Sweet Potato Vine Lime and Blackie to create a classy, eye catching, hardy show that can tolerate the rigours of street life! Let us know what you think!
Thanks for Potcycling!
June 2009
Our first ever Potcycle event held on June 7 was a great success, with over 40 families returning plastic plant pots and trays for reuse and recycling. All participating customers were given 10% off all plants and most took full advantage of the incentive! The event was held with the support of Adjala Tosorontio Township, with containers that cannot be used at the farm going to Adjala Tosorontio Diversion Days for further diversion from the landfill. Huge thanks to Councillor Tom Cook for generously giving up his Sunday afternoon to help with the sorting. Those of you who came by were probably amused by our terrific team of kid helpers all decked out in their fluorescent bibs and doing such a great job of traffic control! With such a positive response from everyone, we will certainly make our Potcycle Day an annual event in the future. As always, we are happy to continue to accept our own pots and trays back for reuse. Thank you again for helping the environment!
Creemore Farmers Market
The place to be on a Saturday morning!
June 2009
Its market season again! Every Saturday morning from 8.30am you will find us selling our plants and chatting with customers at our market stall at the Creemore Farmers Market. Each week we select a sampling of our best plants and load up our trailer for a morning at the market. Hot sellers this year are our heritage tomatoes and other veggies and herbs, but look for a selection of perennials, specialty annuals, hanging baskets and planters too. Our assistant this year is Wendy Furtado who, during the week works as a professional gardener for our sister company Complete Outdoor Services Inc. Stop by and pick our brains with any gardening query - we'll do our best to answer it!
Girlfriends Planting Party a stormy success!
June 2009
This past weekend, on yet another wet and wild evening (we don't seem to be having much success with weather and events this year!) we held our annual Girlfriends Planting Party. Over 20 girlfriends attended and despite the weather everyone had a lot of laughs and created some beautiful container plantings. Our food was almost blown away, doors were banging and the greenhouses were shaking. It was quite exciting for a while and then the sun came out! This year, in addition to our advertised date, we are also holding private parties for groups of 8 or more. We just hosted a very successful event this morning (and yes, the weather was beautiful!) If you have a group of friends and would like to arrange a date, contact me.
Banting Students Tour Farm
High school horticulture reaches new
heights with SHSM course
May 2009
Chris and I are always very excited when any young person shows an interest in a future career in Horticulture as we both entered the profession at a young age ourselves. On the 5th May, we were very pleased to welcome a group of students, parents and teachers from Banting Memorial High School in Alliston to the farm for an in depth tour of our greenhouse operation. These students, however are no ordinary kids! They form the first group of students in the area to be enrolled in the new Specialist High Skills Major course in Horticulture. This specialized course offers grade 11 and 12 students a chance to learn horticultural skills through classroom teaching, field trips, work placements and hands on activities in the school's greenhouses.
Students can take industry recognized certifications that will prepare them for either entrance to college and university or immediate entry into the horticultural work place. Banting Memorial High School was selected as one of a handful of high schools in Ontario to offer this course for students. We were very happy to be asked to show this keen group of youngsters the inner workings of our greenhouses. Good luck to all the students in their future endevours - keep those Tomato plants alive!
Mothers Day Madness was certainly mad!
May 2009
Our Mothers Day Madness event this year was almost washed away by torrential rains - on Saturday at least! This did not, however seem to deter our visitors as the brave and hardy ventured out to take advantage of our 10% discount and take shelter in our greenhouses!
Everyone had fun in the puddles and there was quite a variety of fancy wellies (rubber boots for the non Brits) on display!!
Chris even had to construct a quick bridge to get into Australia - our main greenhouse! Kids planted Pansies for Mom and everyone warmed up with coffee and cookies. Paula and her Mom (shown in the photo on the right) enjoyed themselves so much that they spent 4 hours shopping and having fun!! What a great weekend!
Creemore Skating Carnival
May 2009
In March, Cut and Dried Flower Farm was proud to sponsor a number at the Creemore Skating Club's 40th Anniversary Carnival. The theme of the Carnival was 'These are the people in our Neighbourhood' with the club asking for sponsors from local businesses. We thought it was a great opportunity to help support local children's sport and have some fun with music and costumes at the same time. The Flower Farm's number 'Roots and Shoots' by the children's singer Raffi was beautifully interpreted by these 6 young skaters shown in the photo who dazzled the audience in their gorgeous 'flower fairy' costumes!
Pansies For Paws
Fundraiser Update
May 2009
Last Sunday afternoon, we held our 1st Annual 'Pansies for Paws' Fundraiser for the Alliston District Humane Society. Despite the weather (about 6 degrees C and light rain!), we welcomed approximately 50 hardy visitors to the farm as well as volunteers from the ADHS. The weather did not dampen anyone's spirits, however and visitors (human and canine) enjoyed the warmth of the greenhouses as well as coffee, hot chocolate and treats. We gave away some door prizes and sold raffle tickets. 10% of all sales from the afternoon event were donated to the ADHS and we were very pleased to raise a total of $161. The Society is working hard to raise funds to build a permanent shelter for rescued animals as currently, animals are housed in foster homes. We are already planning next year's event and will put in a request for better weather!
Parade winners!
Kids in Flower Pots
April 2009
I know Christmas is now long past, but I do have to mention our big news at the time! Last December, we braved the cold and layered up to create a float for the Creemore Santa Claus Parade. Our 3 kids, Rosalyn, Daniel and Benjamin were dressed as colourful flowers in big pots and were 'watered' by Sarah, Victoria and Elizabeth (our greenhouse ladies' kids). I was perched with the kids amongst the flowers while our greenhouse ladies, Sandi, Maria and Darlene worked the crowds with candy canes! It was a lot of fun and to top off the day, we won the Best Commercial Float and tied for the most points overall! (I have a feeling this may now become an annual event!!)
Award of Excellence Winner!
We win big award for:
'Outstanding Promotional Event'
We are extremely proud and honoured to have recently won a prestigious provincial garden centre award. The Garden Centre Awards of Excellence competition is an initiative of Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association, which has a provincial membership of 2,200. Cut and Dried Flower Farm won the 2008 Award of Excellence for 'Outstanding Promotional Event'. Our '15th Birthday Celebration' was chosen as one of three winners announced during an awards ceremony at the Toronto Congress Centre on October 20. A huge Thank You to all of you who were present in April 2008 when we held our open house celebration. Over 200 friends and customers were welcomed to our farm and shared a sunny afternoon of fun, refreshments, giveaways and beautiful plants. Thanks for supporting us and helping us become winners!
Biodegradable Pot Report
Jiffy vs Coir
Our trials this year of two types of biodegradable pots is our own small attempt at reducing waste and bringing attention to the high reliance on plastics by the horticulture industry as a whole. We trialled both a Jiffy pot, made of recycled newsprint and peat and a Coir pot made of Coconut fibre. We grew a wide range of plants in them, including vegetables, flowering and foliage plants. Compared to plastic pots, plants grew equally well in both types of biodegradable pots. The Coir pots were easy to handle in the greenhouse, the Jiffy pots less so as they started to break down earlier. Both types of biodegradable pots showed advantages at planting time, as the whole pot could be planted in the ground, with no root disturbance. We will continue to monitor growth of plants in the ground and containers over the summer before we make a decision in the fall as to whether to use more biodegradable pots in the future.
Let us know what you think
How did your plants do in biodegradable pots and would you be willing to pay more for plants grown in these pots? Email us and let us know your thoughts on this topic. (Unfortunately, the pots do cost more than the plastic alternatives right now). Also, please remember that we will accept all our own pots and trays back for reuse. We have always had this policy and will continue to do this in the future. However, it is important that all returned pots and trays be our own and not purchased elsewhere. Thanks for helping the environment!
Creemore Farmers Market
Have you experienced it yet?
June 5, 2008
The market season has now officially begun and every Saturday morning, rain or shine until the end of June you will find us at our booth at the Creemore Farmers Market. We bring a sampling of our best plants every week, including annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, hanging baskets planters and Roses. Our kids are usually hanging out too and are useful for carrying plants to cars! The market itself is into its 11th season and runs from 8.30 - 12.30 every Saturday until Thanksgiving. The long weekend was the Season Opener and over 100 Basil and Marigold plants were given away as well as free copies of Gardening Life. There are all sorts of vendors and lots of produce later in the season. The market sticks by a strict policy that all items are home produced, locally. We are definitely not a 'flea market'! If you haven't experienced the market yet, be sure to drop by soon and chat with Katie, Chris, our assistant Nicolle and our kids.
Enderlein Roses
Locally Grown Roses Now Available
May 22, 2008
News just in!! Just this morning, we received a large shipment of Roses from Enderleins Nursery. Enderleins are established Rose growers and are located just down the road in Lisle. We are pleased to now offer you a varied selection of Climbers, David Austin, Hybrid Tea and Shrub Roses in addition to our own Explorer and Ground Cover Roses. Enderleins were looking for a local location to sell their Roses as they are continually asked to sell retail, but are strictly a wholesale operation. So drop by and check out our selection of locally grown high quality gorgeous Roses! Very hard to resist!!
Meet our Greenhouse Gals!
May 2008
Most of you already know Darlene McKever who has been with us 9 years and Sandi White who is now into her 4th season. This year, with our increased planter and hanging basket production and our container planting service that is growing in popularity, we are thrilled to welcome Maria Kean to our team. Maria lives locally and is a long time home gardener with some great knowledge to share. Along with Chris and myself, we strive to offer you friendly service, advice and of course a crop of plants that we are all proud of!
15th Birthday Celebrations
April 2008
Thank you to everyone who came out for our 15th Birthday Celebrations on Sunday 27th April. Over 200 customers and friends enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in the sun. Every family received a complimentary Stargazer Lily and regular draws were held for Pansy bowls and gift certificates. The Martin children had their pets on display and held a fund raiser for the Barrie S.P.C.A., raising $102. Kids were treated to free face painting and crafts. Refreshments were served and the unique 'flower' cupcakes shown in the photo were a huge hit, with most guests indulging in one or two! Mayor Tom Walsh of Adjala - Tosorontio Township presented Katie, Chris and children Rosalyn, Daniel and Ben with a congratulatory certificate. Phew! What a fantastic day!!
15 years and still growing!
New greenhouse
March 2008
As I type this, our new greenhouse number 6 is slowly taking shape! Over the past few years, our Custom Container Planting Service has really taken off and it became fairly obvious that we could use more space!! We are planning on using the new space for custom containers and wholesale orders, so it will not contain plants for sale. With the pressure relieved in the other houses we are growing more Hanging Baskets, Planters and Vegetables. In fact, this year we are doubling our production of ready made Planters - available in single variety and mixes. All our greenhouses have names and we are pleased to name our new greenhouse 'Newfoundland' in memory of Betty Jennings who worked here for several years and passed away last year.
© Copyright 2010 Cut and Dried Flower Farm