Melanie Harrington
Dahlia May Flower Farm
Melanie Harrington is the owner of Dahlia May Flower Farm.
Dahlia May Flower Farm, founded in 2014, is a small family farm specializing in growing specialty cut flowers. Melanie brings a background in art and horticulture to her work in building community through locally grown flowers on her family’s third generation farm.
Melanie’s studies in horticulture and design in college as well as through courses in the US and Europe, have helped her shape her rural properties into a destination for flower lovers and a hub for those seeking locally grown blooms.
From humble beginnings five years ago, Dahlia May Flower Farm has been featured in Better Homes and Gardens, The Toronto Star, Canadian Florist Magazine and more. Dahlia May was named Agri-Business of the Year in 2019 at the Quinte Business Achievement Award and Melanie was awarded the title of Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018.
Thoughts from Melanie:
I love the idea of pre-selling tulip bulbs to pay for the crop creating a more profitable crop in the spring and revenue in the fall.
Turn to other local plant producers to provide add-on sales for holidays while your flowers are still growing.
If you grow dahlia’s, Dahlia tubers sales might also create additional revenue sources in the spring.
If you’re exploring the idea of creating an on-line shop research Shopify. It has great tools that Melanie really found helpful.
Understand your limitations when opening your on-line shop. You don’t want to over commit your resources, time and logistics making for unhappy customers.
Lastly, embrace the philosophy of keeping everything as simple as you can.
