Each fall, our team looks forward to reading the thousands of essays we receive as part of our annual Floret Scholarship process. We’ve been offering scholarships for 12 years now (ever since our first on-farm workshop) and it’s still just as exciting and rewarding as it was in the early days.
It’s such an honor for everyone involved to get the opportunity to hear from so many deserving people all over the world about their lives and their hopes and dreams for the future.
We had originally planned on awarding 20 scholarships, but three generous donors came forward allowing us to increase the total to 23! Each scholarship recipient will receive free tuition for the Floret Online Workshop, which kicks off in January. Registration for the 2025 class will be open October 14–18, 2024.
In total, we received 3,458 applications from 76 different countries, including Ethiopia, Lithuania, the Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe just to name a few.
Every year as we’re reading through applications, it’s inevitable that some key themes emerge. Our incredible review team also pulled aside some stand-out quotes as they read through the essays.
This year, we had a very high percentage of applicants who applied for a scholarship in the past. And even though they weren’t selected previously, the process helped them get clear on their hopes and dreams and apply again, this time with more defined goals and renewed determination. The word grit came up so many times!
“Last year at this time, I filled out this application and had a dream of a large garden expansion, [to] build a roadside flower cart, and start selling flowers. Did I do it? Yup, sure did! Did it go better than I had thought? Yup, sure was amazing! Do I need more tools in my toolbelt to keep having a successful year after year? ABSOLUTELY!”
Healing and transformation
Many applicants shared stories of how growing flowers helped them overcome personal challenges, such as mental health issues, feeling burnout from demanding careers, or major life changes like a devastating health diagnosis or the loss of a loved one.
“Flowers are like humans; they start from a seed and grow with love and nourishment. They are different and unique. They have struggles; but each day they can start over, be replanted to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Flowers were described as a source of therapy, joy, renewed purpose, and hope.
“Maybe flowers could heal me. They have already started to bring me out of the dense, unyielding fog of burnout. Maybe I could help heal other nurses, too.”
Growing and sharing flowers has helped so many people combat feelings of loneliness and isolation, especially over the past few years.
“Flower farming is not easy and for me, it is also lonely. Loneliness is one of the reasons I love being front [of] face with my customers, selling and talking about the flowers they are taking home and how to care for them.”
“Flowers are my freedom. My companion. Flowers saved me.”
So many applicants, especially those in caregiving roles, viewed flower farming as a path to personal empowerment and self-discovery, often after years of prioritizing others’ needs over their own.
Community and connection
A significant number of applicants expressed a desire to grow flowers to better their communities in many different ways. Some want to provide locally-grown flowers to nursing homes, deliver flowers to women dealing with postpartum depression, support and uplift LGBTQ+ youth, and use their gardens to provide a sanctuary for neurodivergent adults and children.
“In my conservative area, safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth are scarce. By combining beautiful blooms with education and support, we can create a unique haven that brings families closer and promotes acceptance.”
Several applicants, particularly those in rural areas, saw flower farming as a way to breathe new life into their communities and preserve agricultural traditions, especially in areas where farmland is being lost at a rapid rate.
“Our state is losing farmland at the fastest rate of any state. We are a community where people retire, and we want new residents to grow more flowers and less grass. We want them to protect the pollinators and our river and ocean ecosystems.”
Education and sustainability
We received nearly 200 applications from nonprofits, community organizations, and schools.
There are so many educators wanting to teach children how to garden and integrate nature-based learning into their school curriculum, and share the beauty and magic of flowers. Many program directors want to incorporate flower growing and bouquet sales into their job skills and training programs.
“I love growing flowers and one day hope to share this love with other women in my village by creating employment opportunities.”
“Flowers are an extra, a lot of people [here] don’t have a lot of margin. Many of them are just getting by with enough for rent and food. They don’t often have money for extras like flowers. But, when kids grow and then pick flowers and bring home a bouquet of dahlias and zinnias, they sparkle on their way home.”
A record number of applicants emphasized their commitment to sustainable growing practices. There was a common desire to promote biodiversity, reduce reliance on imported flowers, and educate others about sustainable gardening.
“We plan to sustainably grow the old farmland into a successful flower farm with many native plants for the wildlife. Especially the birds (my grandfather’s favourite).”
Legacy and intergenerational connections
Many applicants mentioned being inspired by parents or grandparents who gardened and wanting to pass on this love of flowers to their own children or future generations.
Some applications highlighted flower farming as a way to honor family traditions or create new legacies. There were several instances of parents applying on behalf of children, or children applying for parents, showing how flower farming can connect generations.
“I am the 9th generation to farm our family’s land, the first generation to farm flowers. Over many years our family has desired to take care of the land that has been trusted to us, giving back to the community in unique ways.”
I am so excited to introduce you to this year’s winners. I hope you enjoy learning more about them and reading their inspiring stories.
Also, I want to give a huge shout-out to the members of our review team. Angela, Melissa R., Allison, Elora, Jess, Ana, Leslie, Becca, BriAnn, Erika, Hana, Katie, Liisa, and Melissa B.—thank you all so much for the thought and care you poured in this year. We couldn’t have done it without you.
Deanna Anthony, Bloomtown Flowers LLC, Federal Way, Washington, United States
Deanna started Bloomtown Flowers in 2021 when she decided to make a meaningful career change. She is committed to sustainability, using local Grade A biosolids to grow her flowers and maintaining her land as a certified wildlife habitat. All of the flowers she grows are donated to her local community and she sells dahlia tubers to help cover the farm’s operational costs. She hopes to use what she learns in the Floret Online Workshop to build confidence in creating floral designs with the cut flowers that she grows. Pictured above; top left.
Gabriela Batista Oliveira, Watertown, Massachusetts, United States
Gabby is a first-generation, Brazilian-American farmer who recently transitioned from vegetable farming to cut flowers. With 5 years of experience in community-focused farming and food justice initiatives, she’s currently serving as assistant flower manager at the Natick Community Organic Farm (NCOF). She’s immersed herself in the flower operation at NCOF, seeking out information wherever she can. Gabby hopes to apply what she learns in the Floret Online Workshop to NCOF’s hands-on educational programs and to her long-term dream of establishing a sustainable growing operation on family land in Brazil. Pictured above; top right.
Abigail Belliveau, Pardon My French Farm, Chewelah, Washington, United States
Abigail balances flower farming with raising her family at Pardon My French Farm, a 10-acre homestead in Chewelah, Washington. The farm produces vegetables and cut flowers, offering mason jar bouquets at the weekly local market and through a 12-week flower CSA. Abigail also donates flowers to churches, hospitals, and “friends who need a smile.” She hopes to learn how to build a financially sustainable business so that she can show her children that following their dreams can be both fulfilling and profitable. Pictured above; bottom left.
Sue Bellwood, Olive Tree Small School, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Sue is a qualified teacher and remedial therapist who runs an independent microschool that serves neurodiverse children and those with anxiety who struggle in mainstream education. Her garden serves as a calm and tranquil space where the children can spend time learning, exploring, and tending to the plants. They recently began selling small bouquets made from the flowers they’ve grown to help pay for books and other educational resources. Sue hopes to buy a larger piece of land so that she can expand the school’s bouquet sales and farm flowers on a larger scale. Pictured above; bottom right.
Crystalynn Binnendyk, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
Crystalynn is a flower farmer with 3 years of growing experience who recently began selling bouquets through a roadside flower stand. She currently balances her off-farm job with flower growing and hopes to be able to transform her small-scale operation into a sustainable full-time business. Crystalynn has learned a lot of lessons over the past few seasons and believes that the Floret Online Workshop will help her create the farm she envisions so that she can leave a lasting legacy. Pictured above; top left.
Philippa Botha, Heatherene Flower Farm, Merrivale, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Philippa is a former fitness instructor and mother of four who has transitioned to flower farming, establishing Heatherene Flower Farm on 8½ acres of family-owned land. Flower farming allows her to homeschool her daughters while building a business alongside her mother’s floral design studio, Floragem. Despite limited local resources for flower farming education and minimal industry support, she has persevered and envisions creating a sustainable business that not only supports her family but also empowers local Zulu women through training in flower farming and arranging. Pictured above; top right.
Meg Bruzan, We Got This Community Garden, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
We Got This Community Garden operates in an area of Milwaukee that is challenged by poverty, poor health outcomes, and low graduation rates. The program employs over 100 local youth during the summer, paying them for garden work across 10 vacant lots. The beautification team, led by Meg, who is a long-time resident, engages 10- to 18-year-olds in planting flowers throughout the neighborhood. In an area where flowers are considered a luxury, the program transforms vacant lots from community liabilities into assets, with plans to expand beyond their current 10 lots to some of the area’s 800 vacant properties. Pictured above; bottom left.
Camille Condomine, le garde manger fleuri de Millie, Remalard en Perche, Normandie, France
Camille, a former fashion designer, left her life in Paris in 2019 to pursue a more meaningful path in flower farming after finding solace in caring for houseplants. Despite facing skepticism as a woman transitioning from urban to agricultural life, she established a small nursery with cut and dried flowers in 2021. Camille has spent 4 challenging years searching for land to expand her farm and hopes that she has finally found it. She is fascinated by plants and wants to one day mentor others seeking to reconnect with nature. Pictured above; bottom right.
Lisa Crook, Wild Faith Flower Farm, Boiling Spring Lakes, North Carolina, United States
Lisa and her business partner Jenni run Wild Faith Flower Farm in coastal North Carolina, where farmland is being lost at an incredibly fast rate. They love educating others on the importance of native flowers and protecting pollinators. Lisa and Jenni expanded their growing area this past season and began succession planting to make their business more sustainable, but a devastating tropical storm flooded their growing area and left them unable to fulfill orders. They hope to take their flower farm to the next level so that they can inspire others in their community to grow flowers. Pictured above; top left.
Shayna Dennett, Sunhazel Farm, Graham, Washington, United States
Shayna was granted a wish in the form of a reduced schedule at her full-time job so that she could pursue her dream of having a flower farm. She built a roadside flower cart and was blown away by the community support—she sold out every weekend. Shayna believes that knowledge is power and hopes that what she learns in the Floret Online Workshop will help her scale her small farm so that she can have a bigger impact in the coming years and provide her community with “the best flowers on the block.” Pictured above; top right.
Melynda Fitt, Miss Fitt & Friends, Nephi, Utah, United States
Melynda owns Miss Fitt & Friends, a small-scale flower farm in Utah. When one of her children came out as LGBTQ+, Melynda’s heart “blossomed in unexpected ways” and she was inspired to transform her business into “a beacon of support for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.” Miss Fitt & Friends combines beautiful blooms with education and support, a vital resource in a conservative area where safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth are scarce. Melynda has big dreams for her farm and is eager to learn how to maximize her growing space so that she can support more youth in her region. Pictured above; bottom left.
Katherine Kenny, The Nettelhorst School, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Katherine is the garden steward at The Nettelhorst School, a Chicago Public School with a diverse student population that serves as a hub for the surrounding community. The gardens fill the school’s periphery and provide an abundance of nature in the middle of the city. Students in all grades are involved in growing and maintaining the flower gardens, and students in 5th through 8th grade can participate in outdoor education where they learn about sustainable gardening. Each spring, seedlings grown by the students are sold to raise money for the school, and throughout the growing season, dozens of bouquets are donated to the community. Pictured above; bottom right.
Wade Kingsley, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia
Wade is an Australian military veteran whose career ended when he was injured during a combat exercise. He has an 8-year-old son who lives with him part-time. When his son is not with him, all of his time is devoted to growing dahlias. He’s found expanding his dahlia collection, both through tubers and seed, to be incredibly healing and hopes to share the joy that flowers have brought to him with others. He volunteers at his son’s school and is developing a program called “Growing Rainbows” to improve children’s self-confidence and resilience through growing flowers. Pictured above; top left.
Rebhecca (Bhec) Lancaster, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Rebhecca (Bhec) worked in the dive industry and is a certified coral reef gardener, but has spent the last 11 years battling a terminal illness. She began creating a remembrance garden for her family as a way to feel connected to her when she is gone. Throughout her illness, she has received bouquets and posies to lift her spirits and she wants to do the same for others while she still can. Gardening nourishes her soul and she hopes to have some special varieties to leave behind for family and Kerri. Pictured above; top right.
Iseult Leonard, Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland
Iseult’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 13 months old and spent 2½ years undergoing treatment. A few months before her treatment ended Iseult planted dahlias with the hope that the flowers would bloom as her daughter healed, and they did. Flowers “have brought sunshine to our hearts when we were most scared.” Iseult eventually began selling her flowers and has gradually grown her business each year. She hopes to one day be able to supply local flowers to the Irish Market and empower other mums. Pictured above; bottom left.
Tammy Lissner, Green Valley Flower Farmette, El Dorado Hills, California, United States
Watching flower farming videos helped Tammy keep going while she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments in 2022. The following spring she and her husband started 4,000 seedlings and later that summer she celebrated her birthday, cancer-free, in the middle of her gorgeous flower field. Green Valley Flower Farmette is the only flower farm in the area and is open to the public with an honor system flower stand. Tammy hopes to expand the farm’s growing area, while also simplifying processes and using resources efficiently. She also hopes to offer workshops for elderly and special-needs gardeners. Pictured above; bottom right.
Theresa Matthews, Serendipity Strawberry & Flower Farm, Bimbimbie, New South Wales, Australia
Theresa’s entire community was razed in the massive brush fires that burned across New South Wales during the summer of 2019–20. However, as the rain came the following autumn, new life emerged and wildflowers began to sprout from the ashy soil. Theresa started collecting seeds from the flowers and sharing them with her neighbors who had lost everything. She has thrown all of her efforts into growing seeds and hopes that her farm can become a place where her community can overcome the trauma of the wildfires by reconnecting with nature. Pictured above; top left.
Claire Reynolds, Love Joy Farm, Jonesboro, Georgia, United States
Claire started Love Joy Farm after leaving behind a career in public broadcasting and relocating to Georgia to care for her family. She grows on land that her father farmed organically for decades. She started out selling mixed bouquets at Atlanta-area farmers’ markets and has now expanded to selling at bakery pop-ups and to florists. Although she’s a “one-woman farm” now, she hopes to be able to grow Love Joy Farm in the future. Pictured above; top right.
Jesica Rubio, Chispa’s Blooms, Lincoln Park, Michigan, United States
Jesica describes herself as “one of the most unlikely flower farmers [you’ll] come across” because, for the past 2½ years, she’s grown flowers as a person with paraplegia. With the help of her mother, she grows over 60 dahlia varieties. Gardening helps her to cope with the stress and anxiety of her medical diagnosis while creating and sharing beauty. While she’s had success with her small-scale farm, she hopes to learn how to better maximize her space so that she can increase sales and hire additional help. Pictured above; bottom left.
Emily Judson Sinkovic, Small & Simple Farms on behalf of the Utah State Correctional Facility Women’s Garden Program, Utah, United States
After more than a year of requests, Emily was finally successful in bringing flowers to the Utah State Correctional Facility. The prison leadership has also approved a new growing space—a large grass patch that has been transformed into a garden the women will cultivate and manage. They have brought in compost and are making plans for what to plant next season. Learning to grow flowers alongside fruits and vegetables will benefit the women physically and emotionally and give them skills they can use when they are released. Additionally, the flowers the women grow and arrange will improve the prison atmosphere and be donated to local schools, nursing homes, and hospitals. Bouquets from the program pictured above; bottom right.
Cecelia Spotted Tail, Bizzies Bees, Okreek, South Dakota, United States
Cecelia is a master gardener living on a reservation in South Dakota. As she shares, her tribe is “land rich and dirt poor.” She grows and sells seedlings to her local food grant, which aims to inspire others to grow their own food, but has found it difficult to sell flowers in an area where poverty is prevalent. Cecelia hopes to establish a tribal seed bank, create local employment opportunities, and teach gardening skills to community members, particularly children and mothers. Pictured above; top left.
Suna Turgay, Flowerwork Farm, Florence, Massachusetts, United States
Suna is a Muslim immigrant of Middle Eastern descent and a mom of trans and neurodivergent children with complex needs. They run Flowerwork Farm with another mom, Stacia. Their mission is to create an agricultural community for people of varying needs and abilities while farming in a way that nourishes the land and the people. They are part of the Care Farming movement and work with school groups and individuals to provide a therapeutic environment working with flowers, where the need for these types of services is great. They hope to be able to expand their operation so that they can support more people. Pictured above; top right.
Emily Volpert, Hands of Wonder Garden, Portland, Oregon, United States
Emily is a volunteer at Hands of Wonder, a gardening program at the Juvenile Justice Center in Portland, Oregon that combines hands-on gardening activities with a restorative justice curriculum and aims to support youth in the system with job skills and knowledge. Many of the kids in the program are from underserved backgrounds and “have lost confidence in their community caring about their outcomes.” Emily has spent countless hours working with them as they plant, care for, and harvest vegetables and flowers in the garden, and hopes to expand her knowledge so that she can be a better resource for the kids. Pictured above; bottom left.
Please join me in congratulating the scholarship recipients for the Class of 2025 by leaving a comment below. The team and I are thrilled to have this amazing group join us for our upcoming workshop.
If you’d like to learn more about the Floret Online Workshop, be sure to visit our workshop page.
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Kathryn on
I’m inspired by all of you! I loved spending some of my precious little down time reading about you!