A True Story of the Power of Love
The Flower Project
The flower project began in August of 2023 when I made 15 flower bouquets to give to the clients at the local food pantry. I got the idea when I read about someone doing that in our local newspaper. I thought; I can do that with the flowers that I grow. Now we make about 130 small bouquets weekly for the clients at Elisha’s Pantry on Yulupa Drive in Santa Rosa, CA. Usually we have enough shorter flowers to go into small jars for the patients at Summerfield Convalescent Hospital. Sometimes we even have a big bouquet for their front desk.
The project has grown over this past year to include many others. I could not have imagined the connections people have to this project. We began working at my house making about 40 bouquets a week. Kim and Sue started to come regularly. Then Ann started to come. Since I have moved to our new house, a neighbor also comes weekly.
Now five of us meet at my house Thursday morning to arrange bouquets and put them together with a rubber band. Most of us are gardeners or becoming gardeners. It seems to be contagious among us, as we make sure we have enough flowers for each week.
The pantry doesn’t operate the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we have managed to have bouquets every week. Winter is a hard time to have flowers growing. The two weeks before Christmas we used mistletoe and red ribbons with red berries or eucalyptus. Through January we used jonquils donated by neighbors near my house whose properties were planted in these bulbs many years ago.
We hear that the flowers give a bright spot to those needing free food. The clients tell the person who goes from car to car with the bouquets that the blossoms make a difference in their lives. One said that they made her day. Every week after flower day, I get a phone call and hear all of the wonderful compliments that people give about the flowers. Besides being kind enough to call me with compliments, this lady has treats for the dogs that sometimes come in the cars with their owners. She has about four dogs hanging out the car windows when they see her.
Many devoted volunteers have kept Elisha’s Pantry going since 2005 when a church and a temple, Christ Church United Methodist and Shomrei Torah started the food pantry. Bethlehem Lutheran Church joined in a bit later. These three religious groups have combined to run the pantry. The volunteers occasionally get a few bouquets to take home when we have enough.
Having enough flowers each week has been a great challenge. Last winter, I was busy helping my husband build our new house. I worked on a 20 foot by 20 foot fenced garden after we finished work. In the fall, I had started making this space a garden, so I could move my dahlia collection. Dahlias grow from tubers that can remain in the ground in this climate. My collection includes a wild species from Mexico and several that have grown from seed including an almost black daisy shaped dahlia. That summer the dahlias thrived along with coreopsis, chrysanthemums, zinnias, and many others. The rocky soil was fine with the addition of compost.
We moved into the new house in July. Then I put my drought tolerant landscaping plants in the ground. Near the end of October, the big piles of rocks from digging the foundation and trenches for the utilities were made into rock walls. These walls including a forty foot windbreak wall created a space for a 40 foot square garden in the back of the house. I started cover crop seed on this compacted soil with the thistles and grasses already sprouting. In January, I put up a deer fence with two gates and started mulching paths and putting compost on the beds. Now there are ten new planting beds with 80 feet of rock wall to grow against. The rocks help to make the temperatures less extreme. Already there are plants like anemones, feverfew and snapdragons in beds along the walls.
I love having an excuse to grow flowers. We are trying new varieties from seed. A couple of us have experience with nursery work and know how to start plants from seed and cuttings. In winter, we let our imaginations run wild about what we can grow. I have plenty of room to grow on land that has never been a garden, so January has been a time of seed purchase and planning a dream garden. The other grower has parking strips and a small lawn strip for growing, and is friends with the manager of a local community garden. We can cut flowers from the grounds of the community garden and send our extra seedlings to the community garden.
Since I am retired, I can devote time to the flower project. Besides time, I am ensuring that I use the best practices of growing that I have learned from my many mistakes. I read and study. I have angels giving me insight while I sleep. Often when I wake up, I have a clear idea of how to proceed with a certain task.
Like ripples on a pond that interconnect, this project includes more people over time. We are friends with the firemen at our local firehouse where we cut their lavender. I got extra Amaryllis belladonna bulbs from a local farmer. Today, a local flower grower gave us more dahlia tubers and flower seeds as a thank you for getting her in contact with the neighbor who has the jonquils in bloom. The flower grower needed these flowers for a February wedding.
To me, the flower project shows the strength of love in action. This project has endured through many difficulties this first year. This year, my husband and I built a house, and I moved many garden plants to a new garden. Others in the group find ways to grow flowers with little extra space. Neighbors contribute with their flowers. Sue brings others into the project when she drives by and sees blossoms at their businesses, like today stopping to cut camellias at a doctor’s office. The people were happy to contribute, and we made a big bouquet for their office. I have often wondered how I would establish a garden on a new piece of land in time for spring planting, and now this soil is being transformed by plant roots and compost. I look at our new growing space and see the mulched paths laid out and some compost and cover crop on all of the new beds that are not already planted. Even the voles or mice who ate the flower seedlings are no longer active.
As I see this project grow with more people participating and benefitting, I am hopeful that we are having a positive impact on our community. I feel hopeful that the flower project offers a metaphor for following your heart even when difficulties make challenges.
