The April Uplands Garden Club program was Slow Flowers, presented by Carol Larsen of Suborn Flower Farm outside
of Mt Horeb.
Carol Larsen has been a cut flower grower since 1975 selling
at the Dane County Farmers Market and doing weddings and events. In 2003 Carol
founded Fair Field Flowers, a cut flower partnership of local growers in order
to sell their flowers in Southern Wisconsin. Recently Carol’s son, Hans along
with his wife, Lisa, have joined Sunborn. With this infusion of young energy
Sunborn is growing into more weddings and wholesale flowers than ever before.
Since the mid 1950’s commercial flower growing in the US has
declined unmercifully. Off shore flowers are shipped to the US creating a huge
carbon footprint. Upwards or 85% and as high as 98% of the most common fresh cut flowers are imported, mostly from South America: roses, carnations, chrysanthemums. Domestic fresh flower production focuses on less common "specialty" flowers. Top five are lilies, tulips, gerberas, gladioli, Dutch iris.
Carol told us about how the recent Buy Local movement that has captured the public’s imagination now extends to fresh flowers. The Slow Flower movement is catching on. Once again locally grown fresh flowers are blooming with the public’s penchant for fresh local and sustainable American
products.
