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 these 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 save dahlia seeds from my dahlia field with plans to sell tubers of my own dahlias.  I am evaluating my dahlias from seed and 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 stand 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. 

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.   

When I started selling cut flowers to local florists in 2016, I had no idea that I would eventually grow dahlias from seed.  It is funny how starting a few dahlias from seed in 2019 really changed my focus.  I am now focused on my dahlias that I grew from seed collected from my dahlia field.  As I am planting these first-year dahlia seedlings in 2025, I cannot wait to see what magic was created from bee pollination last fall in my dahlia field.  So exciting!  I post pictures of my dahlias from seed on my Instagram account.