Flowering in the North Conference 2025

January 21-22, 2025
University of Southern Maine
Abromson Community Education Center
88 Bedford Street, Portland, Maine (Google Maps)

Join us as we bring together flower growers across the North for an exciting two-day conference for learning and sharing fresh ideas, strategies, tips, and resources for growing in colder climates. The Flowering In The North (FITN) conference will be geared for all flower growers, so whether you’re an experienced farmer or just starting out; whether you’re a sole operator of a small farm or if you’re part of a large-scale operation, you will take away valuable information to help you grow. This is a great opportunity to network as well as explore the vibrant city of Portland, Maine. Let’s build and strengthen our grower community because together, we can continue to raise the profile of locally-grown flowers.

Registration

Cost: $250 for the full conference (both days), or $135 for one-day registration (Tuesday OR Wednesday)

Schedule

2025 FITN Schedule at a Glance (PDF)
(see full schedule below)

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

8:00-8:45 a.m. – Registration and Welcome (Mezzanine)

Hannah Carter, Dean of University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Tori Jackson, Extension Agriculture and Horticulture Program Administrator Committee Member

8:45-10:00 a.m. – Keynote Address (Hannaford Hall):

Profitability and Work-Life Balance
Jenny Marks (Trademarks Flower Farm)
Learn how to grow a money-making, profitable flower farm…without working 80 hours a week. Jenny will share how Trademarks Flower Farm achieves high profitability through careful crop selection, a focus on effective business strategies, and data-driven decision making, despite growing the business on a shoestring budget.

10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Morning Breakout Sessions:

Forcing Spring Bulbs (Room 109/110)
- State of the Industry: Weathering the Bulb Industry Storm
  Linda D’Arco (Little Farmhouse Flowers)
  This session demystifies the flower bulb production process from planting in The Netherlands to delivery at your stoop. Linda will address the factors affecting the flower bulb industry in recent years and how these are playing into our forecast for 2025. She will also discuss the implications of federal administration and policy changes for imported goods for our industry. And lastly, she will share suggestions for managing risks to growers, lowering pressure on suppliers, and how to have a long year of beautiful bulb-grown flowers if you would like!
- From Commodity to Community
  Jodi Sargent (Eden Street Flowers)
  Planting spring bulbs and coaxing them indoors has created winter income, increased customer retention, and brought more abundance to winter. Jodi will share the basics of her winter forcing program including infrastructure, timelines, and how trading bulb planting for bouquets has solidified her business model. Winter growing is high-risk, but also allows Eden Street Flowers to sell local flowers during two major holidays, hit record bouquet sales for her small business, and decrease the intensity of the summer hustle.
Growing Under Cover: Hoophouses and High Tunnels (Room 213)
Joy Longfellow (Johnny’s Selected Seeds), Sarah Lutte (Lazy Acres Farm)
Join Sarah Lutte of Lazy Acres Farm and Joy Longfellow of Johnny’s Selected Seeds to discuss year-round flower growing in unheated high tunnels. They will cover how they are using tunnels across all four seasons here in Maine and will share successes and failures as well as the challenges and benefits of tunnel growing throughout the year. Joy will share updated trial results from recent overwintering trials at the Johnny’s Research Farm as well initial results from trials now underway for fall season extension. Sarah will share how she utilizes her tunnels to maximize production and extend her sales of local flowers while considering both farm profitability and farmer sustainability.
Sales Channels and Marketing Techniques
- Attracting and Retaining Your Customer Base With Authenticity and Consistency
  Rita Champion (Stitchdown Farm)
  This session will cover how Stitchdown Farm has grown a loyal and consistent customer base through their marketing and brand authenticity over the past 10 years. Rita will also talk about how their diverse sales channels work together to minimize waste and get more flowers to more people, and how working with unconventional product can save money and be creatively fulfilling.
- Marketing Techniques and Sales Channels
  Rebecca Sadlowski (Rooted Flower Farm)
  In this talk, Rebecca will share more strategies than you’ve ever thought of to promote and sell your flowers. You will learn how to reach more customers and grow your flower business. This session will focus on two major areas that every flower grower needs to succeed. Help your business thrive and expand. Join Rebecca and learn how to make your flower business grow!

12:00-1:00 p.m. – Lunch (Lobby)

Yoga Location (TBA)
Warm up your achy joints with Joanna of The Grow Love Company each day during lunchtime! Joanna will guide you through a gentle, conference-friendly flow to get your body moving and ready to sit for another three hours. Location will be announced during introductions.

1:00-2:00 p.m. – Mini Sessions

Topics are subject to change, depending on interest, but may include: Sourcing Seeds/Plants/Bulbs, Partnerships & Collaborations, Pests & Diseases, Working on a Flower Farm, Owner/Operators, Farming & Parenting, Finding Balance, Mental Health & Burnout, and Grants/Funding Opportunities. We are also thrilled to have Cynthia Flores of Labor Movement and representatives from the Maine Flower Collective running more structured mini sessions on both days (more details below).

Maine Flower Collective
Sofia Oliver, Operations Manager, and Ryan Ravenscroft, Board Member and Grower, will give an overview of how the collective was formed and discuss its mission, goals and a timeline of operations. They will discuss the motivations behind the formation of the collective and its benefits to local flower growers and floral professionals. Slides will show an interactive map with the locations of their growers, buyers, delivery zones and central hub. They will describe their ordering and fulfillment schedule along with their online sales platform, and give information on how to join the collective (applications are currently open for the 2025 season!). There will be time for Q&A.
Labor Movement: Athletes in Overalls
Techniques and Tips Related to Flower Farmers’ Movement Health + Wellness
Discuss movement health and wellness for farmers and farmworkers from an athletic perspective. Tips on managing food, fluid, sleep, and stress for best performance for long days over a long season. Q&A and focused movement practice related to reducing back pain and injury.

2:15-4:00 p.m. – Afternoon Break Out Sessions:

Perennials and Woodies (Room 109/100)
- Companion Planting Perennials: How to Maximize the Space You Have
  Anna Jane Kocon (Little State Flower Farm)
  Down in little Rhode Island, land access and growing space is HARD TO FIND. Anna Jane will discuss all the quirky and experimental ways she has maximized her property to create a haven of productive perennials from March through to November.
- Perennials & Woodies For Cut Flower Production
  Emily von Trapp (von Trapp Flowers)
  Perennials have always been the backbone of Emily’s spring, summer and fall cut flower production. During the past several years, in response to increased environmental impacts, she has moved away from labor-intensive annual flower production and increased her stock of tried and true perennial flowers and foliage to pair with lilies and other focal flowers. Emily will share about her favorite spring/summer/fall varieties, as well as tips for growing, harvesting, postharvest care, and increasing plant stock through division, as well as moving certain crops inside undercover for better success.
Soil Health: Fertility, No-Till and Cover-Cropping (Room 213)
- Working With Your Soil to Improve Soil Health
  Matt Boucher (Maine DACF)
  Soil health is a versatile crop management strategy that can be adapted to fit the specific technical and operational needs of a given farm. Key to adapting soil health principles to your operation is understanding some fundamental properties of your soil. These fundamentals are inherent to the land you are working with and can affect management decisions ranging from irrigation management to cover crop selection. In this talk, Matt will review key soil properties and how they may affect soil health management, alongside concrete steps that you can take to better understand these properties on your farm.
- Soil Health and Fertility for Maximizing Blooms
  Jason Lilley (UMaine Extension)
  Soil fertility is the foundation of high-yielding crops. Balancing creating a strong rooting zone, increasing water management, improving weed control, and good soil fertility can be a difficult puzzle to piece together. In this session, Jason will cover the basics of soil fertility, provide options for increasing yields through fertilizer management, and discuss the interactions of fertility management and soil health building for cut flower production.
Farming and Social Justice (Room 214/215)
Bo Dennis (Dandy Ram Farm)
Join Bo Dennis of Dandy Ram Farm for an interactive workshop about farming your values. Central to the farm’s mission is mutual aid focused on land justice and queer liberation. Bo will first share about Dandy Ram’s farm production before leading an interactive workshop on building a values-centered business and strategies for advancing social justice through farming. Workshop participants will explore values they hold and how to use their business as a tool for social change.

4:15-6:00 p.m. – Social Hour / Movement Workshop option (Lobby/Mezzanine)

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

8:15-8:45 a.m. – Registration (Mezzanine)
8:45-10:00 a.m. – Morning Panel (Hannaford Hall):

Strategies for Uncertain Times
Melissa Law (Bumbleroot Farm), Sarah Ryhanen (World’s End/Saipua), Emily von Trapp (von Trapp Flowers), Moderated by Stacy Brenner (Broadturn Farm, Maine Farmland Trust, Maine State Senate)
Join Melissa, Sarah and Emily as they share their perspectives on farming and running a business in what sometimes feels like an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable world. These three growers have spent years imagining and integrating innovative solutions to volatility into their businesses. Come hear their insights during this panel discussion, moderated by Stacy Brenner, founder of Broadturn Farm.

10:15-12:00 a.m. – Morning Breakout Sessions:

Post-harvest Handling (Room 109/110)
- Postharvest Handling Practices
  Nikki Bartley (Cross Street Flower Farm)
  Cross Street Flower Farm grows cut flowers on five acres, selling mostly to their retail customer base via a large CSA and a busy Barn Shop, selling about 300 mixed bouquets and 300-400 bunches a week from April to October. They also host Cut Your Own events almost weekly throughout the season. Nikki will talk about her harvest strategies, focusing on postharvest handling of their top five selling crops: tulips, dahlias, peonies, mixed bouquets and ranunculus. She will discuss stages of flower maturity and how to properly harvest each crop. She will also discuss storing, processing, designing, pricing and display for each of these flower crops.
- The Nuts and Bolts of Postharvest Handling for Wholesale Markets and Grocery Stores
  Gregory Witscher (Understory Farm)
  Gregory will share the ins and outs of Understory Farm’s cut flower operation, focusing on what production systems, tools and techniques they use to get their flowers from the field to customers with a focus on efficiency and quality. Understory Farm’s primary markets are florists, wholesalers and grocery stores. Gregory will share how each market has its own unique postharvest handling approach and associated costs of production.
Roses and Mums (Room 213)
- Growing Heirloom Mums in a Cold Climate
  Cindy Creps (Meadow Ridge Perennials)
  Join Cindy as she shares the basics of growing heirloom mums in a cold climate. She will talk about her experiences growing them successfully, including what varieties do best and have proved hardiest, their fertilization needs, pest control, and the importance of disbudding. She will then move to timing of harvest, storage and vase life, before addressing how to market these amazing blooms.
- Cold Climate Rose Production
  Linda D’Arco and Karissa Monette (Little Farmhouse Flowers)
  Join Linda and Karissa, flower farmers at Little Farmhouse Flowers, where they grow a collection of over 600 roses. This session outlines the reasons the farm moved away from annual production in covered spaces to embrace work with roses. They will discuss the rose program at Little Farmhouse Flowers and offer varietal suggestions, a schedule for building a rose collection, and planting, growing, and harvesting tips and expectations. Roses have helped LFF deepen its connection with discerning customers and florist buyers looking for elevated product offerings. LFF has found roses are in high demand in the region!
Growing and Selling Flowers for Weddings (Room 214/215)
Angela Fields (Broadturn Farm), Rebecca Maillet (Many Graces Farm and Design), and Melissa Masters (Tanglebloom Farm)
Join Rebecca, Angela, and Melissa for an engaging session on diverse wedding flower services. This talk will explore the unique opportunities and challenges of providing full-service floral design, à la carte options, and DIY packages. Learn strategies for success, no matter your floral business model or experience level. Rebecca shares insights into specializing in destination and full-service weddings, covering brand establishment, workflow optimization, sustainable floristry techniques, client management, and crop planning for design-focused outcomes. Angela delves into Broadturn Farm’s versatile offerings, from high-budget full-service weddings to hybrid packages combining bulk and à la carte. She will discuss client workflows, sustainable practices, and balancing staff demands to maintain creativity and avoid burnout. Melissa focuses on a la carte and DIY weddings, offering practical tips on matching service levels to farm capabilities and ideal clients, crop planning, pricing, and marketing.

12:00-1:00 p.m. – Lunch (Lobby)

Yoga Option (TBA)
Warm up your achy joints with Joanna of The Grow Love Company each day during lunchtime! Joanna will guide you through a gentle, conference-friendly flow to get your body moving and ready to sit for another three hours. Location will be announced during introductions.

1:00-2:00 p.m. – Mini Sessions (TBA)

What’s the best part of attending a conference? Socializing! Sure, there is always so much to gain from the presentations and workshops, but the one-on-one conversations are often just as valuable. There will be up to ten mini sessions each day, allowing for attendees to connect around the table, with the guidance of a moderator or service provider. We believe that everyone is an expert with experience and knowledge to share! Or maybe you just need to complain about Japanese Beetles with folx who understand. Topics are subject to change, depending on interest, but may include: Sourcing Seeds/Plants/Bulbs, Partnerships & Collaborations, Pests & Diseases, Working on a Flower Farm, Owner/Operators, Farming & Parenting, Finding Balance, Mental Health & Burnout, and Grants/Funding Opportunities. We are also thrilled to have Cynthia Flores of Labor Movement and representatives from the Maine Flower Collective running more structured mini sessions on both days (more details below).

Maine Flower Collective
Sofia Oliver, Operations Manager, and Ryan Ravenscroft, Board Member and Grower, will give an overview of how the collective was formed and discuss its mission, goals and a timeline of operations. They will discuss the motivations behind the formation of the collective and its benefits to local flower growers and floral professionals. Slides will show an interactive map with the locations of their growers, buyers, delivery zones and central hub. They will describe their ordering and fulfillment schedule along with their online sales platform, and give information on how to join the collective (applications are currently open for the 2025 season!). There will be time for Q&A.
Labor Movement: Athletes in Overalls
Techniques and Tips Related to Flower Farmers’ Movement Health + Wellness
Discuss movement health and wellness for farmers and farmworkers from an athletic perspective. Tips on managing food, fluid, sleep, and stress for best performance for long days over a long season. Q&A and focused movement practice related to reducing back pain and injury.

2:15-4:00 p.m. – Afternoon Breakout Sessions:

Dahlias (Room 109/110)
- Growing Dahlias in a Short Season
  Stephanie Burnett (University of Maine)
  Stephanie will discuss how dahlias are an ideal cut flower for outdoor or high tunnel production.
- Dahlias: Trials and Tribulations
  Anna Jane Kocon (Little State Flower Farm)
  Does everyone REALLY love dahlias? Well, not Anna Jane. In this unusual approach to the dahlia discussion, Anna Jane will be listing all the issues and problems that dahlias create on her farm, and all the ways she has worked hard to combat them throughout her career. Some successes, some failures….and some perpetual drama that is just part of growing dahlias.
- Organic and Spray-free Methodologies
  Rebecca Maillet (Many Graces Farm and Design)
  Rebecca will delve into the organic and spray-free methodologies used on their farm to grow 10,000 dahlias for diversified sales channels including direct-to-customer, wholesale, florists and weddings. She will cover the specific challenges she faces on her farm, as well as industry pricing and specific varieties that make the cut year after year.
Pest and Disease Management (Room 213)
- Certified Organic Pest and Disease Management for Cut Flowers
  Matthew Dell (Treadlight Farm)
  “Certified Organic” may be unfamiliar words for many in the ornamental plant industries, but contemporary ecological crises require that we reconsider appropriate uses of synthetic, toxic chemicals in all plant production. Matt will discuss the hows and the whys of certified organic production of ornamental plants, as well as challenges and strategies for managing pests and diseases organically. Topics will include cultural techniques for pest and disease prevention, challenging pests, organic sprays and amendments, beneficial insects and more.
- Pest and Disease Management
  Alicyn Smart (UMaine Extension)
  Pests and diseases are challenging to identify, manage and deal with in general. Do you have something that happened last season you want to get a better handle on? Come talk about pests and diseases with us to plan for a better season. We will cover common diseases the diagnostic lab gets sent into the lab and the recommendations we give for managing them. Are pests bugging you? We will cover common pests and management for them, too. Bring photos and descriptions of issues you have dealt with.
Ranunculus and Anemones (Room 214/215)
- Lessons Learned and Tips for Growing
  Jenny Elliott and Luke Franco (Tiny Hearts Farm)
  Jenny and Luke will share the lessons they have learned from their 10 years of growing ranunculus and anemones. Topics will include using parasitoid wasps to battle aphids, soil steaming for disease, greenhouse temperature controls, and marketing.
- Timing, Temperature and Techniques to Optimize Ranunculus & Anemone Production
  Melanie Stock (Utah State University)
  Melanie will highlight her cut flower production research for high tunnels conducted at Utah State University (USDA Hardiness Zones 5-6), sharing the management practices that resulted from a research journey to significantly improve the production of ranunculus and anemone in high tunnels and fields. Ranunculus yielded net losses when grown according to standard industry recommendations, but had the greatest net returns after targeted pre-sprouting, planting timing, temperature management, and use of insulation and shade.

Speakers

Julia Baecher

Julia is the owner of East of Eden Flower Farm, a specialty cut flower farm in Bowdoinham, Maine, where she lives with her husband and her two young kids. East of Eden focuses on tulips, early spring flowers, peonies and dahlias, and currently sells primarily through their seasonal farmstand. She has been one of the Committee Members of the 2025 Flowering in the North Conference and is delighted to see this event come back to life.

Nikki Bartley

Nikki Bartley is the founder and owner of Cross Street Flower Farm, a seven-acre cut flower farm retail operation with over 900 CSA members, a retail Barn Shop and Cut-Your-Own-Bouquet events from April to October. Nikki started farming in 2010 when she became the founding chair of a non-profit organic vegetable farm. Prior to farming, Nikki worked in international banking in Boston. Nikki has a BA in Russian language and literature from Wake Forest University and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University. Cross Street Flower Farm is located on town-owned farmland at the 300-year-old Jacobs Farm in the beautiful New England town of Norwell, Massachusetts. The town of Norwell is where Nikki and her husband, Scott, live and are raising their three boys.

Matt Boucher, Ph.D., LSS

Matt grew up in Western Massachusetts, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and anthropology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, and a PhD in entomology from Cornell University. He worked for Penn State studying cover cropping and pest management before joining the Maine Department of Agricultre. Matt has spent the last few years bringing the Maine Healthy Soils Program to life, building out the technical and financial resources Maine farmers need to center soil health in their operations. He is excited to announce that several new grant and incentive programs will go live throughout the first half of 2025 as the Maine Healthy Soils Program continues to grow.

Stacy Brenner

Stacy Brenner is a farmer who co-owns Broadturn Farm in Scarborough with her husband. She is the President and CEO of Maine Farmland Trust. Stacy is in her third term in the Maine State Senate, serves on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, and is the Senate appointee on the Maine Climate Council. She spends her legislative time focused on issues related to climate, the clean energy transition, agriculture, and PFAS contamination. Her early work includes a career as a nurse-midwife.

Stephanie Burnett

Stephanie Burnett is a Professor of Horticulture in the School of Food and Agriculture at the University of Maine. She is the instructor for Herbaceous Landscape Plants, Greenhouse Management, and Introduction to Horticulture. Her research explores techniques for growing cut flowers in areas with a short growing season and sustainable greenhouse production techniques.

Rita Champion

Rita Champion is the owner, operator and lead flower slinger at Stitchdown Farm. Located in the hills of Central Vermont, Stitchdown Farm has been growing nutrient dense flowers for local markets, weddings and florists with a focus on seasonal beauty and long-term land stewardship since 2015. Their floral designs are an expression of the whimsy and abundance that is uniquely inherent to the Vermont landscape. The goal of Stitchdown Farm is to feed their community with flowers.

Lee Cline

Lee started Fox Hollow Flowers in 2019 after a 20+ year career as a tech designer in Silicon Valley. She and her husband now grow flowers on a small farm in Downeast Maine in view of the mountains of Acadia National Park. She counts every day she gets to work outside as a very good day indeed.

Linda D’Arco

Linda founded Little Farmhouse Flowers in Jay, New York in the northern Adirondacks in 2017, following a career in independent school administration, to grow local flowers and provide sustainably-minded floral design services for the region. Her business has grown to include educational programs, a partnership in The Tulip Workshop, and a wholesale bulb company called Ampersand Bulb Co.

Cindy Creps

Cindy and her husband, Jaycee, work together on their flower farm in western Maine. They grow a diversity of flowers focusing on perennials, bulbs and woodies, and supplemented with their favorite annuals. They grow in hoophouses and fields for a season that extends from mid-April until Thanksgiving.

Matthew Dell

Matt is the owner and general manager of Treadlight Farm, a certified organic cut flower farm and nursery in Kerhonkson, New York. At Treadlight Farm, Matt has synthesized a passion for organic farming practices and growing ornamental plants, especially natives. He sits on his town’s environmental conservation and agriculture committees, and enjoys hiking, traveling and visiting gardens.

Bo Dennis

Bo Dennis is the lead farmer and designer of Dandy Ram Farm, an LGBTQ+ flower farm and floral design studio based in Monroe, Maine. Dandy Ram grows and designs florals for weddings as well as local retail outlets, and ships evergreen and floral products nationally. Dennis has been farming in Maine for 16 years and started Dandy Ram in 2019. Additionally, Dennis works as the Beginning Farmer Program Specialist at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) where he supports farmworkers and new farm businesses.

Angela Fields

Angela is the lead floral designer at Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, Maine. With 12 years of design experience, Angela manages the farm’s floral program for weddings, special events and local retail accounts. The farm’s designs are inspired by an incredible variety of farm-grown annuals and perennials along with materials gleaned from the surrounding fields and forests, with the guiding principle of sustainability and a true affinity to bring the natural world into lived and shared spaces.

Cynthia Flores

Cynthia Flores, owner and founder of Labor-Movement LLC, owned and operated a vegetable and cut-your-own flower production in western Maine for 20 years. She has been a strength athlete for 12 years, and is a Certified Personal Trainer and Licensed Massage Therapist. Founded in 2020, Labor-Movement works with farmers and farmworkers in body mechanics and movement pattern training, with a goal of preventing injuries and extending career longevity. In 2024, Cynthia worked with over 900 farmers and farmworkers in 18 states and British Columbia.

Anna Jane Kocon

Anna Jane Kocon owns Little State Flower Company, a five-acre year-round flower farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Anna Jane has been professionally flower farming for 19 years, and her business is 11 years old. Along with a two-acre heavily diversified home farm, she long-term leases two other fields for her bulk production. The majority of her flowers are either sold through her bustling farmstand, or sold directly to her dedicated florist clientele.

Melissa Law

Melissa Law runs the flower program at Bumbleroot Organic Farm, a small organic vegetable and flower farm in Windham, Maine. Bumbleroot has been in business for a decade and seeks to strengthen their local community through a CSA, farmstand, community events and wholesale partnerships. Melissa is a founding member of the Maine Flower Collective and is serving her second term as the Agriculture Representative to the Maine Climate Council.

Jason Lilley

Jason Lilley is an Assistant Extension Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Maple Industry Educator with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. His work involves supporting farmers in Southern Maine to build sustainable farming systems. His work includes business consultation and planning as well as farm safety programming. Additionally, Jason places a strong focus on soil health and cover crop research, outreach and demonstration. He is serving as a Flowering in the North planning committee member for this year’s conference, and has served as the chair of the Flowering in the North planning committee for all previous FITN events since the program’s inception in 2018.

Joy Longfellow

Joy Longfellow is the Flower Product Technician at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, managing every aspect of the flower trialing program on the Johnny’s research farm in Albion, Maine. The flower trialing program runs year-round, trialing annual and perennial flowers from seeds and bulbs in field and tunnel environments. The flower team at Johnny’s has been trialing overwinter flowers in unheated tunnels since 2016, with the goal of extending the growing season with early season blooms.

Sarah Lutte

Sarah Lutte runs Lazy Acres Farm with her husband, Mark. They raise seasonal cut flowers and pastured pork on their 40-acre farm in Farmingdale, Maine. They are entering their ninth year of farming and sell their flowers through a 75-person CSA, an on-farm stand, wedding and event design, workshops and wholesale to florists. They sell their pork by the whole or half hog direct to their customers. They live on the farm with their two children, dog, cats and too many chickens to count.

Rebecca Maillet

Rebecca Maillet (she/they) is a queer farmer and floral designer and the Founder & Creative Director of Many Graces Farm & Design, as well as the co-owner of Sub Rosa Botanical Lounge & Flower Shop. Rebecca and her team farm 5.5 acres of land in Hadley, Massachusetts where they grow for diversified sales channels throughout the region. As Creative Director, Rebecca has produced events and weddings throughout the Northeast and Europe. Rebecca is a self-taught farmer and florist who is dedicated to both growing and designing sustainably. With her focused approach, she endeavors to merge sustainable, seasonal growing and design with the world of luxury events.

Jenny Marks

Jenny Marks is a flower farmer and flower business teacher from western New York state. She owns a profitable one-acre flower farm called Trademarks Flower Farm, where she specializes in growing early spring flowers and dahlias. She also owns Trademark Farmer, where she teaches small-scale flower farmers how to grow the money-making flower business of their dreams. She hosts a popular podcast called Six Figure Flower Farming, and teaches an online business course called Six Figure Flower Farming. Jenny also serves on the board of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) as the current Northeast Regional Director.

Melissa Hessney Masters

Melissa Hessney Masters is the founder of Tanglebloom, a Vermont-based flower farm established in 2013. As a farmer, educator, and coach, Melissa offers workshops, one-on-one coaching, and The Peony Course: Small Scale Production for Farmers and Florists, empowering others to thrive in sustainable flower farming. Tanglebloom also provides event flowers and wholesale and retail peonies, and operates a popular farm stay. Melissa serves on the Education Committee of the Global Agritourism Network, and has been nominated for the Small Business Administration’s Woman of the Year Award for 2024.

Karissa Monette

Karissa joined Little Farmhouse Flowers in Jay, New York in 2021 with a background in customer service, a degree in chemistry, and a love for gardening and the outdoors. She is the lead rosarian for the rose collection and manages customer service and logistics for The Tulip Workshop and Ampersand Bulb Co.

Joanna Puza

Whether you’re looking to root down or grow your mind, body and soul, join Joanna for some fun and inspiring movement between sessions. Joanna holds a 200 RYT certification and welcomes everyone to come as they are for an uplifting yoga experience. All levels welcome. Bring a mat a smile and open mind. You’ll have fun!

Alaena Robbins

Alaena is part of a team that coopertively runs Broadturn Farm in Scarborough, ME. She focuses on seed sourcing and starting, harvest, wholesale, floral design, and crew management. Broadturn Farm grows four acres of annuals and perennials on a property of over 400 acres preserved by the Scarbough Land Trust. Alaena is on the Policy Comitee for the National Young Farmers Coalition.

Sarah Ryhanen

Sarah Ryhanen is a farmer, floral designer and educator. Her company, Saipua, is known for its handmade olive oil soap and garden-inspired floral designs. For the last decade, Sarah has been developing Worlds End Farm in upstate New York as an interdisciplinary school and retirement community.

Rebecca Sadlowski

Rebecca Sadlowski is the founder of Rooted Flowers, the first cut flower farm in Massachusetts to secure a farm ownership loan through the Farm Service Agency. With over a decade of experience in the floral industry and a lifetime in agriculture, she has developed a complete farm-to-table florist model that includes a year-round farmstand, services over 100 events annually, and offers next-day delivery, subscription services, and on-farm workshops. Rebecca is dedicated to innovation, exceptional customer service, and community support, empowering flower enthusiasts and businesses with expertly designed arrangements and sustainable practices. Under her leadership, Rooted Flowers sets new industry standards for quality and environmental sustainability.

Jodi Sargent

Jodi owns Eden Street Flowers in the coastal town of Bar Harbor, Maine, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Acadia National Park (zone 5b-6a), and grows cut flowers on a 1/4 acre. The mission of Eden Street Flowers is to build a business that is an indispensable part of the community through reciprocal relationship-building and ecological farming practices. Jodi wants her neighbors to be excited about fresh, dependable, locally-grown flowers that return year after year. Eden Street Flowers specializes in winter-grown tulips, and sells annual and perennial bouquets from January through October with four different weekly subscriptions, online retail sales, wholesale to designers, and grocery stores.

Dr. Ankit K. Singh

Dr. Ankit Singh serves as a Sustainable Agriculture and Ornamental Horticulture Educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. In this dual role, he provides research-based education and support for sustainable agriculture to growers in York County while also offering statewide assistance to Maine’s ornamental horticulture industry. Through his efforts, he promotes best practices in sustainable agriculture and horticulture, addressing critical needs for the state. Additionally, Dr. Singh is the principal investigator at the APS Laboratory for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Maine, where he leads innovative research in controlled environment agriculture, greenhouse technology, and space agriculture.

Dr. Alicyn Smart

Dr. Alicyn Smart is an Associate Extension Professor and Extension Plant Pathologist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Dr. Smart is the Director of the UMaine Cooperative Extension Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab, which serves as an important resource for the identification of diseases on plant samples from growers, farmers and homeowners in Maine and beyond. The lab serves as the Regional Center Lab for the Northeast Plant Diagnostic Network, which supports 12 diagnostic labs in the northeast. She has a Doctor of Plant Medicine degree from the University of Florida and is the Executive Director of the National Plant Diagnostic Network.

Dr. Melanie Stock

Melanie is a soil scientist with a passion for plants, manure, soil physics and fertility. Her research program focuses on improving cut flower production in the Intermountain West through season extension and resource-use efficiency. She enjoys diverse collaborations to address emerging needs in flower farming, from diseases to economics, but meeting and working with cut flower growers across the US has been one of the greatest joys. Melanie is also a founding board member of the Utah Cut Flower Farm Association. In her free time, Melanie is an avid homesteader and loves to run and hike with her two dogs.

Emily von Trapp

Emily is a year-round flower farmer in Waitsfield, Vermont where she has run her business, von Trapp Flowers for over 20 years. She is also a co-founder of The Tulip Workshop and The Lily Workshop. Emily’s farm focuses on growing 200,000 tulips during the winter months, 35,000 lilies from May through December, and a broad selection of perennial cut flowers and foliage during the spring, summer and fall months. During the past several years, due to impacts of climate change, she has completely moved away from annual production, with the exception of sunflowers. Emily is passionate about finding innovative ways to farm and adapt to the environmental stresses that are becoming increasingly present with climate change and the prevalence of extreme weather events.

Gregory Witscher

Understory Farm was started in 2012 on rented land with a few hand tools and a team of horses. Now they produce specialty cut flowers on 5 acres in Bridport, Vermont with 6 greenhouses, 5 employees and a team of tractors, delivering their products to florists, grocery stores, CSA members and wholesalers around the state of Vermont.

Parking

Parking available on-site (code will be provided).

Accommodations

The Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland is offering attendees a special rate of $119 per night for reservations made before January 5, 2025. Please call 207.775.2311 for details and mention the “Flowering in the North Conference” to access this special rate.

Reserve a Hotel Room

Organized by University of Maine Cooperative Extension in collaboration with:

Alaena Robbins, Broadturn Farm
Julia Baecher, East of Eden Flower Farm
Lee Cline, Fox Hollow Flowers
Jason Lilley, UMaine Extension

Organizer Contact

Ankit K. Singh, Ph.D.
Assistant Extension Professor
Maine Sustainable Agriculture and Ornamental Horticulture Educator

E-mail: ankit.singh@maine.edu
Phone: 207.324.2814

To join the Flowering in the North mailing list, please e-mail ankit.singh@maine.edu.

To request a reasonable accommodation, please contact Ankit Singh at 207.324.2814 or ankit.singh@maine.edu. Requests for accommodations at least seven days before the program provides a reasonable amount of time to meet the request, however, all requests will be considered.

In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine System does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, familial status, ancestry, age, disability physical or mental, genetic information, or veterans or military status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The University provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director of Equal Opportunity, 5713 Chadbourne Hall, Room 412, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5713, 207.581.1226, TTY 711 (Maine Relay System).

Cooperative Extension: Agriculture