Garden Bee Flower Farm

I have been growing dahlias since 2017.  I sold blooms to florists until I retired in 2022.  In 2016, I sold sunflowers and zinnias to nine local florists in the Greensboro, Kernersville, and Winston-Salem area. I was so happy that local florists were excited to have fresh locally grown flowers. The following year I added celosia cockscomb, celosia plumes, ageratum, dahlias, eucalyptus, lisianthus, yarrow, and zinnias. I also tried some other cut flowers but narrowed the flowers down to those eight cut flowers. Besides selling to florists, I added some wedding designers especially since I had increased the number of dahlias I had been growing.  I grew over 200 varieties in 2020.  I really enjoyed being self-employed and growing flowers for a living.  In 2020, I sold dahlias to Mayesh Wholesale Florist in Charlotte, NC.  I sold 500 to 1000 dahlias a week to them. I appreciate all the local florists who bought my flowers. I no longer sell blooms to the public or local florists.

I am a member of the American Dahlia Society, and I belong to my local dahlia societies. There is the Central Carolina Dahlia Society in Winston-Salem, NC and the Carolinas Dahlia Society in  Asheville, NC.  I am learning more about showing and exhibiting dahlias.  I am an American Dahlia Society Candidate Judge.   In 2026, I did join the Knoxville Dahlia Society in Knoxville, TN.  I look forward to learning more about exhibiting dahlias through this southern state group of dahlia lovers!  

After I begun growing a few dahlias from seed in 2019, my focus gradually shifted toward cultivating unique dahlia cultivars from my own dahlia garden.  I save dahlia seeds from my dahlia field and evaluate the dahlia seedlings.  I am looking for the cultivars that produce long stems for cutting, have solid bloom attachment, great vase life, tubers store well, and are floriferous.  I am also looking for seedlings that have a vivid or unusual color that stands out.  It is a long process as it takes 3 or 4 years of evaluation to make sure the new dahlia cultivar is consistent in form and color with stable genetics.  As I plant my first-year dahlia seedlings each year, I cannot wait to see what magic was created from bee pollination in my dahlia field.  So exciting!  I share weekly photos of the dahlias that I grow from seed on my Instagram account where I document their progress.  I hope you will follow along!  I have short articles about growing dahlias from seeds, cuttings, and tubers on my website under blogs.  I hope you enjoy reading them.  https://mygardenbee.com/blogs/news/planting-and-growing-dahlias