Good Gardener

Good Gardener. A simple name for a business, sure, but it wasn’t until I visited their farm that I understood the unique origin of the name. Good Gardener started shortly after the owners got married. Amy, who you may know from Mosaic Central Farm Market changed her name from Amy Gardner to Amy Gardner DeGood. Amy jokes that once it was in writing, she legally became a good gardener, so it had to be her destiny to grow. It doesn’t hurt that she happens to be a fabulous gardener. How’s that for coincidence?Amy's farm is located near Old Rag Mountain in gorgeous Etlan, VA where she grows her flowers to sell at markets, stores and via subscribed deliveries. She also makes arrangements and bouquets for weddings. If you’ve never seen a “flower farm,” I highly recommend taking a trip to one. Amy’s fields are a wonderful amalgamation of colors, shapes, and sizes. It’s quite a sight to see!Amy wasn't always a farmer/florist. Prior to farming, Amy studied photography and lived in New York working in the fashion photography business with artists she had admired since childhood. In 2009, she moved to Virginia to open an art gallery with a friend and freelanced in marketing and events and planned IT summits for a DC-based non-profit. When her parents bought a century-old farmhouse in Etlan in 2011, she moved into a cottage on the property part-time and began to develop a love for turning the soil.One day in 2012, Amy found an article about a beginning farmer program that was accepting applications. After applying to the program, she started thinking about business plans, trying to decide whether to grow veggies or flowers. She chose flowers because she had creative skills that needed an outlet. Flower arrangements would allow her to both grow and tend to the land, while using her creativity. Amy got married on the farm in 2012 and started her flower business shortly after.Amy’s farm is full of zinnias, dahlias, celosia, gomphrena, sunflowers, eucalyptus, lizianthus, and more. Since this is only the second year of her business, her garden is still in the experimental phase of things. The flowers that I saw were remarkably vivid, healthy and beautiful! I watched her harvest the flowers with butterflies and bees flying around, doing their pollination dance amongst us.Amy told me about the importance of supporting the farming community by buying local flowers. If you think about it, flowers found in other locations might be coming from all around the world, harvested long before you take them home. This has a serious implication environmentally, as well as quality-wise. Flowers from Amy’s farm, which are sold at the Mosaic Market on Sundays, are harvested 1-2 days before being purchased! This means not only will they last longer than store bought flowers, but also they are not grown using harsh chemicals, so they are safe to touch and smell.Amy would love to own a storefront some day. She has a lot of plans for the future growth of her garden and hopes to continue sharing the importance of local, community-supported agriculture. She is also experimenting with drying flowers; making wreaths and arrangements that will last longer than bouquets. I urge you to stop by Amy’s stand at Mosaic this Sunday. Take a long look at some flowers you may never have noticed before. Appreciate the care and attention that goes into growing and arranging all of the beautiful bouquets Amy brings for sale, that she carefully wraps up for you to take home. Support local farmers by purchasing produce AND beautiful flowers! In my opinion, you never need an occasion to have flowers brighten up your day - treat yourself, you deserve it!