Kristin Hildabrand, Warren County Horticulture Agent visits with grower Jean Bowles of Kentucky Cuts to discuss her flower farm.

Jean is a cut flower grower who specializes in growing sunflowers, zinnias, and lisianthus during the summer season. In the Kentucky Farms Kentucky Flavor segment, she explains to Kristin the process she takes in growing cut flowers on the farm from seed to harvest. Jean shared that she got into farming because she enjoyed being outside and first started farming flowers, when her kids were young. She quickly figured out that it was going to take much more time than she could devote, so she left farming flowers for several years. Now that she is retired and her kids are grown, Jean is back to flower farming again! Her goal for the farm is to make it more self-sustaining! In the future, she hopes to try growing different flower varieties that most people don’t grow.

Kristin shows us how to make a fresh flower arrangement using seasonal flowers grown on the farm from Kentucky Cuts.

Before starting the arrangement process, gather a few items from around the house: a sharp pair of scissors, container or vase for the flowers, fresh water, and freshly harvested flowers. To begin making the arrangement, make sure that the container or vase is clean. Next, add fresh room temperature water to the vase. Now, the flower arranging process can begin! Use the thriller, spiller, and filler method, when arranging flowers. The thriller flower provides the height in the arrangement, the spiller plant cascades down and softens the sides, and the filler flower fills in the dead space. Place the thriller plant in the vase first. The thriller flower should only be about 1.5 to 2 times the height of the container. Make stem cuts at a diagonal to allow water to easily transport through the stem. Add the spiller plant next followed by the filler flowers. For more information about flower arranging, please contact the local Extension Office in your area.