https://youtu.be/RslR3txR91Q?si=yleBkHEYO26z4Ag4




Next year, Gretel and Steve Adams will celebrate the 20th farming season at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, Ohio. Far younger than the average U.S. farmer, these first-generation flower growers have built Sunny Meadows into an impressive floral enterprise encompassing more than 30 acres, employing a crew of few dozen folks, and producing tens of thousands of floral stems each year. I first met this talented couple in 2010 at the ASCFG conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is where I first realized that they were ones to watch. Over the years, they have appeared in articles I’ve written for national magazines, as guests on the Slow Flowers Podcast, and now, in the pages of The Flower Farmers. Last week, I joined Steve and Gretel and 100 of their customers and friends, at a special book signing party at their farm. Today’s episode features highlights of that event.



Gretel and Steve Adams, co-founders of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, Ohio



Turn to page 126 in The Flower Farmers book and you’ll read the story of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm, the Columbus-based family farm started by Gretel and Steve Adams in 2006, on a 10-acre parcel with a small cottage and little more. Their dream of farming together, sharing their mutual love of nature, has blossomed into an impressive source of domestic flowers for regional and national customers.



Ranunculus at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm



Early on, they shifted from a food-and-flower-growing operation to 100% cut flowers, inspired by a market grower who raised sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos to supplement a teacher salary. “We quickly realized how much money we could earn with our local flowers,” Steve explained. “We found this niche that no one else was really doing in Columbus, and we went for it. What we earn per acre on cut flower production is dramatically different than what we were doing with vegetables alone.”



The landscape at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm -- at one of the leased fields



By adding leased parcels in and around Columbus to their original 10 acres, the farm has expanded like a patchwork quilt. The home farm is where woody and herbaceous peonies grow – crops like hydrangeas, viburnum, willows, yarrow, and sea oats. There are more than one dozen greenhouses that produce luxury crops like ranunculus, anemone, freesia, and lisianthus, plus a farm store open to the public. The leased farmland – across the street – is filled with vibrant rows of field-grown annuals (celosia, amaranth, sunflowers, zinnias, and lots and lots of dahlias. I visited both sites while attending our book launch party, and have some video to share with you.



Scenes from Sunny Meadows Flower Farm



The crew at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm with Steve Adams (standing, far left)



You’ll want to check out the video in today’s show notes to see highlights of my visit. On Saturday, I spent time with Gretel as we visited all of the lisianthus trials. You’ll hear us discuss CULTIVATE, which is major horticulture conference that takes place in Columbus each July. In addition to our book event, Cultivate brought me to Columbus. The conference made it possible for Takii Seeds’ flower product development manager Jessica Cudnik to attend and share her insight about lisianthus breeding. The episode concludes with Gretel’s floral design demonstration.



Pinto at Sunny Meadows Flower Farm -- one of the most popular photographs in the pages of The Flower Farmers book.



I’m so grateful to Gretel and Steve Adams for their longtime support of the Slow Flowers Movement as members and collaborators. I know you will be inspired by their story.