Even on a snow day, spring’s first flowers start to wake up in the workshop at Cool Spring Garden.
Ranunculus and anemone seedlings sprout on top of heated mats.
Cup and saucer vine and eucalyptus seeds emerge in the basement nursery.
Hundreds of dahlia tubers are ready to come out of cold storage and start their journey.
Right now, the woman in charge of all of these plants, Mindi Bruckhart, has them all to herself. As the weather warms and the plants grow, her flowers end up in bouquets sold at the end of the lane at her farm outside of Manheim. They make their way into weekly flower shares. They become part of bridal bouquets and window box arrangements.
The beauty of each bloom is exciting to behold. Sharing this takes it to another level.
“When you can share that joy with others it’s even more fulfilling and exciting,” she says.
This winter, LNP | LancasterOnline will share more about some of the county’s flower farmers. They are part of Lancaster County’s agricultural industry as well as a new generation of flower growers. Their harvests can brighten cold winter days. They’ll also share tips on growing your own.
Cool Spring Garden
Mindi Bruckhart wanted to be home with her five children and she loves being outdoors. She started growing flowers in 2015.
In a few months, the half-acre of garden beds at Cool Spring Garden will be filled with plants.
Later, these plants will be moved to cold frames outdoors.
Plants that don’t mind the cold get a start in the workshop on heated mats.
Ranunculous sprout indoors on heating mats.
They bloom in a wide range of colors.
Cool Spring Garden grows a variety of ranunculus. Every year, Mindi likes to experiment with new plants. This year, the new recruits include butterfly ranunculus (not pictured.)
Mindi Bruckhart digs up tender dahlia tubers in the fall, stores them in a cold space over winter and then divides them for spring planting.
Those dahlia tubers are Black Satin, shown here with Rip City dahlias.
Mindi counted 134 different types of dahlias she grew last year.
Freckled foxgloves bloom at Cool Spring Garden.
Scented geraniums grow from cuttings in the workshop under lights.
Mindi harvests flowers from April through fall.
Colorful sweet peas replaced the garden peas that used to grow in Mindi's vegetable garden.
The flowers of Cool Spring Garden go to the roadside stand, into weekly flower shares, to florists and to event planners and brides.
Cool Spring Garden's roadside stand on Doe Run Road is closed for the season but in a few months, this is one spot to find flowers. Family members built this stand to replace an umbrella-topped table.
In the fall, Mindi Bruckhart grows heirloom mums.
The heirloom mums are covered to extend the season after frost.
From fruit to flowers
The seed for Cool Spring Garden was planted by Mindi’s mother, Janet Horst, who tended to a big cutting garden at their home in the Ephrata area. As a child, Mindi was allowed to cut flowers and make her own arrangements.
“I enjoy being outside. I enjoy nature,” she says. “I’ve always enjoyed watching plants grow.”
By the time she and her husband Jared moved to his family farm a decade ago, Mindi was a physical therapist assistant. She wanted to find a career that would allow her to be at home with her children.
She decided to take her love of plants and see if people would buy her harvests from an umbrella-topped table along Doe Run Road.
First, there were strawberries, then pumpkins and gourds. The farm had rows of peonies, so Mindi tried selling flowers in 2015.
“Sure enough, people stopped for those,” she says. “Then I decided to try more of the cut flowers.”
The table got an upgrade and became a sturdy stand crafted by members of the family. The garden’s grown well beyond those peonies, too, with a focus on unique flowers.
A garden grows
At first, plugs of lisianthus, celosia and zinnias replaced a patch of peas.
Now, Mindi has a rose garden, a sunflower patch and three cut flower gardens on the farm, about half of an acre of flowers.
She has turned part of a barn into her floral workshop. This is where she designs arrangements and processes flowers. Plants that don’t mind the cold get a start in the workshop. Others sprout in the basement of their home.
When many other florists were recovering from Valentine’s Day, Mindi was tending to plants like poppies and lupine that had just sprouted. Scented geraniums, grown from cuttings, were further along. Later, she’ll move them to cold frames outdoors.
Cool Spring Garden’s seasonal flowers start in early April with hellebore, then narcissus followed by tulips, ranunculous, anemones and poppies.
Garden roses and annuals
The first flush of garden roses start at the end of May.
Instead of a standard rose that’s upright and stiff with a tight bud, garden roses are blousy and romantic.
“I love their fragrance and the softness of their petals,” Mindi says.
As the months pass by, the rows are filled with annuals like gotetia, stock, zinnia, campanula and phlox. There’s space for not-so-common plants like tweedia (blue milkweed), poor man's orchid, verbascum and malope.
The flowers go to the stand, into weekly flower shares, to florists and to event planners and brides.
Dahlias
Cool Spring’s dahlias usually start blooming in late June and continue until frost zaps the last one. Mindi gets an early start by growing some of her 470 plants in the workshop under lights with heat maps. They go into the ground as small plants, giving them a head start on the rest of the crop.
The dahlias range from white and pale café au lait to deep black-red. Some are petite and some are large enough to be called dinner plate sized. Mindi counted 134 different types of dahlias that she grew last year.
She’s just now starting to bring the dahlia tubers out of their winter storage and divide them for planting with some left over to sell.
Starting with seeds
To make this all happen, Mindi starts planting seeds in January. Her five children help along with two part-time seasonal employees.
By now, she typically would be planting some crops in the ground, but the weather hasn’t helped. As soon as the snow melts, she’ll plant bachelor button, Bells of Ireland and larkspur.
“I remember there was one year, I was out planting my larkspur seed and some people were up in the building with Jared and they were like, ‘What’s your wife doing? Doesn’t she know it’s not done freezing?’ ” she says with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Listen, I know this seems weird but yes, some seeds like it cold.’ ”
Another way to get ahead of the season is by planting some tender crops outdoors under cold frames and “caterpillar tunnels” to protect from frost.
Every year brings the chance to experiment with even more plants.
This year, the new recruits are butterfly ranunculus (which can have a dozen buds per stem), wispy Silene blushing lanterns and Helipterum pierrot white, a daisy-like flower with a dark, moody center.
The Link LonkFebruary 25, 2021 at 05:00PM
https://lancasteronline.com/features/meet-a-lancaster-county-flower-farmer-mindi-bruckhart-of-cool-spring-garden-photos-video/article_6ff0e314-76b2-11eb-8a5a-d30e2e043e4d.html
Meet a Lancaster County flower farmer: Mindi Bruckhart of Cool Spring Garden [photos, video] - Fly Magazine
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment