613-802-9548

3500 Lord Mills Rd. Prescott, ON K0E 1T0

https://www.flowersofthefield.ca/

Flowers of the Field bring the best flowers to you right here in Eastern Ontario.

• No shipping delays or flowers past their prime, no chemical preservatives, and no cookie-cutter looks.

• They are growing year-round, and specialize in winter harvested tulips and other bulbs, usually January through April.

• They also grow thousands of field flowers, from Astilbe to Zinnias.

https://www.instagram.com/flowers_of_the_field_ontario/

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General enquiries: brenda@flowersofthefield.ca

Orders: orders@flowersofthefield.ca

• Monday- Wednesday: Open for pre-ordered pick-ups only

• Thursday & Friday: Onsite Farmstore 10am - 7pm, Feb-Nov

• Gan Farmers' Market: Thurs. 4pm-7pm

• Saturday: Brockville Farmers’ Market 8am-1pm

• Sunday: Ottawa Lansdowne Farmers’ Market 9am-3pm

  Farm Directory – Feature Story

Flowers of The Field

By Tanya Hammond

There is nothing quite like flowers to help brighten someone’s day. Thankfully, flower grower Brenda Visser, Owner of Flowers of the Field in Prescott, has made it her mission to produce locally grown flowers year-round.

Brenda, who has extensive experience in horticulture, having managed several garden centres in Nova Scotia and Ontario, taught Horticulture at St. Lawrence College and educated others through Master Gardening classes set out on her own in June of 2017 when she officially registered Flowers of the Field. From there, the seeds of success were planted. Flowers of the Field blossomed into an award-winning business that serves Leeds, Grenville, and the Ottawa area with bright, beautiful, freshly cut flower bouquets.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Brenda during a visit to her impressive greenhouse, where she skillfully raises thousands of tulips, astilbes, snapdragons, zinnias and more without using chemical pesticides or preservatives.

I first asked why she chose to focus on cut flowers. Brenda explained that floristry and floral supply is a very global business, and she saw a need to supply locally grown flowers, similar to the “grow local” vegetable and food movement. She says she has been a long-time farmers’ market fan, starting from when she was a child attending markets with her father and saw a niche for flowers that needed to be filled.

Flowers, like any plant, can be finicky to grow. Brenda admits that the biggest challenge she has faced since starting her flower business has been working with all of the expected variables, including the weather, the highly perishable nature of the product and, of course, pests, which I am sure every gardener of any kind can relate to.

This spring is a perfect example of how unpredictable weather can be, yet Brenda seemed unphased when asked about it, saying she has seen a good balance between sun and cloud, which is key for greenhouse growing. Her positive outlook is undoubtedly the experience of a seasoned grower and also what helped Brenda earn the Sue McLaurin Resiliency Award in 2023, awarded by Brockville Women in Business to a businesswoman who exhibits progressiveness, tenacity, courage and spirit.

Standing in the 1000 sq ft greenhouse surrounded by crates of bulbs, with numerous varieties of tulips, some just nearing bloom, I commented to Brenda that she clearly has tulip growing down to a science. Her love for flowers, especially the tulip, brought a gentle smile to her face as she proudly agreed that they are her favourite flower and being able to harvest tulips for sixteen consecutive weeks from late January to Mother’s Day has indeed put her on the map.

I asked Brenda how many tulips she would sell in a season, and she said generally around 20,000 stems, making her the largest winter-forced tulip grower in the area, thanks in part to her Ceres commercial greenhouse. Brenda says it was engineered for maximum solar capture, with insulation under the concrete slab, along the 4’ underground frost wall (foundation), insulated metal panels in the entire north wall, insulated east and west walls and south-facing knee wall, making it “supper efficient.” She says it can go to -10 degrees Celsius outside without supplemental heat and can be easily heated with solar energy to 30 degrees Celsius on a sunny January day, even if it is -20 degrees outside.

Brenda says the high upfront cost of building the greenhouse with its solid steel frame built to code for snow and wind load provides long-term, low-cost energy/heat and maintenance, and she can sleep at night during storms.

The addition of the greenhouse has been a game changer for Brenda’s flower business and local consumers. “People need beauty, flowers, and greenery in the winter to combat low light, low energy, or depression.” Brenda is pleased that she can provide flowers during the winter so that consumers have a local, sustainable alternative to imported flowers. A bonus is that Brenda also grows her flowers without relying on fossil fuels for heat.

Always striving to make a difference in the community and the local cut-flower scene, Brenda is a member of the board of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) on the Research Foundation branch. Her belief in “life-long education, scientific exploration and in connecting high-level study with on-the-ground experience” helps her stand out in her field, Flowers of the Field, to be exact!

To find out more about Brenda and her flourishing business, visit her website, www.flowersofthefield.ca or better yet, visit her shop conveniently located minutes from Brockville on a paved road at 3500 Lords Mills Road Prescott, Thursdays and Fridays from 10 am to 7 pm February through December. Brenda also has a vendor booth at Ottawa Lansdowne Farmers’ Market (9 am – 3 pm) on Sundays, Brockville Farmers’ Market ( 8 am – 1 pm) on Saturdays, and Gananoque Farmers’ Market Thursday evenings from (4 pm – 7 pm)—phone Brenda at 613-802-9548 or email Brenda@flowersofthefield.ca.

Before going home to enjoy my pretty spring tulip bouquet, I had one final question for Brenda: What would be your best advice for someone thinking about starting a cut flower business, since we know it is very on trend right now? Brenda, who trained at Dalhousie University for The Master Gardener Program and took Landscape Design at Guelph University, suggested pursuing similar courses and working in landscaping or garden centres to “immerse yourself fully in plants and to get your hands dirty!” She also recommended joining the ASCFG, stating it is the premier place to learn the intricacies of cut flower farming. Finally, Brenda says, as in life, “expect failures as part of learning to be better.”

Whether you intend to grow your own or not, Brenda has you covered. She has a bounty of bouquets for all your gift-giving and event needs or for treating yourself, and she also provides in-depth classes on forcing winter tulips.