“Thursday Crew” Cut Flower Garden Project

Growing over 3,000 stems in the pilot year, GFRI mini grants were critical in launching and supporting the The Cut Flower Project. The “Thursday Crew,” which is comprised of community volunteers and master gardeners working alongside a crew of young adults with disabilities, managed and maintained the project.  This “Crew” cultivated an unused area between two greenhouses located at the RW Park Botanical Center and grew flowers that would be cut daily and sold to Botanical Center Visitors in hopes to eventually offset the costs of seed, soil and other needed materials. The initial GFRI grant provided funds to clear the area, create beds and purchase the start-up supplies. A second GFRI grant helped move the project towards sustainability providing funds to purchase a small floral cooler, soil blocking system, trellis netting, stakes, row cover and supplies to make hoop houses- ultimately extending their growing season.

To assure flower freshness and proper storage to sell quality flowers, a cooler was needed along with more flower buckets- funding from the GFRI made this possible.  

Learning and teaching gardening, pruning and greenhouse growing skills, this project continues to empower these young adults as they learn to deal with problems, extreme temperatures, and finding the best solutions for growing in a small space. Once a crew member learns these skills, they often share amongst other crew members lending to a true model of mentorship. 

The beauty of this project was not only seen in the blossoms but in the support of people working side by side while teaching and learning

The crew members learned to continue despite difficulties, to prioritize, and were able to increase their sense of empowerment through the project. A second GFRI Mini-grant provided funds for a small floral cooler, soil blocking system for seed starting to better enable the crew to seed, plant and water effectively while gaining fine motor skills