The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers held a Growers’ Intensive Conference at the Georgia Center on the campus of the University of Georgia March 2-3 and it drew 124 attendees from 29 different states. The conference was open to anyone interested in commercial cut flower production or floral design and the two-day event focused on the production and marketing of field and greenhouse cut flowers.

“I realized during the welcome reception just how diverse and amazing this group is,” said Tanis Clifton, ASCFG Southeast regional director, in a news release. “We have members who are just starting out all the way to growers that have been farming for over 30 years. We have designers who love to source local flowers as well as farmer-florists that do it all. We have experts in the field at the university level as well as horticultural suppliers. So it seems that there is no topic for which this organization cannot provide expertise.”

Sessions on the first day included variety selection with Rita Anders, owner at Cuts of Color in Weimar, TX; postharvest handling with John Dole and Alicain Carlson from the North Carolina State University Department of Horticultural Science; building healthy soils with Peter Hartel from the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences; woody ornamentals as cut flowers with Elizabeth Dean, owner at Wilkerson Mills Gardens in Palmetto, GA; wreath-making with Donna Mills, owner at Floral & Hardy Farm in Lexington, SC; and on-farm efficiency with Travis Hootman and Alexa Wright, both completing research at NCSU.

A tour of several local flower farms took place the second day, including Woodland Gardens in Winterville, GA; 3 Porch Farm in Comer, GA; and Davis Floral in Dewey Rose, GA. There was also a floral design demonstration by Jennie Love, owner at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers in Philadelphia, in a pavilion at the Watson Mill Bridge Park in Comer, GA.

“While I learned so much from each of the speakers and the tours, I also learned so much visiting with other growers and designers over lunch, between sessions and in the lobby,” Clifton said in the release. “This group is unique in that everyone is so willing to help, to share, to impart helpful tips and share the love of growing.”