Today we’d like to introduce you to Kara Jamison.
Hi Kara, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My flower growing journey began in the winter of 2018 when a seed was planted in my heart to learn how to grow cut flowers to bring others joy. Growing plants was not a new endeavor to me as my husband and I had spent the past decade growing vegetable gardens to supplement fresh food for our family. Growing fresh flowers for the purpose of cut flowers was new to me though. This idea was planted in my heart a short time after I lost my mother, Joy, who bravely battled the fight against breast cancer. Flowers bring people joy and I decided to name my business, Blooming Joy Flower Company, after her and spread joy in her name. Once this seed was planted in my heart to learn how to grow cut flowers, I dove headfirst into anything I could find about how to grow cut flowers. There was a lot to learn such as what flowers grew in each season, how to start seeds when to harvest flowers, how to condition flowers after harvesting, and design techniques to arrange the flowers beautifully. I knew when I started my business that I wanted to share my journey on social media. I’ve shared my successes and failures of growing flowers. In turn, I have met flower friends from all around the world through social media.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Learning how to grow cut flowers to sell is a long-term learning process. Not only do you need to understand basics like building good soil for plants to thrive and how to grow different types of flowers, you are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Once you understand that you must roll with her, instead of fighting against her, things become easier.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Over the past three years of learning how to grow cut flowers, I saw early on that I loved to design using the flowers I grow. I also discovered that I really loved to teach about growing flowers. Walking in my gardens became my inspiration for the designs I would create and I quickly saw how different plants sparked my creativity. During the pandemic when we all had to stay home, I got to work and planted over a thousand perennials around my farm. This is when I discovered that I loved the process of designing gardens that I could create from. My most proud accomplishment is creating a large cutting garden that sits in front of our livestock area where over 2,000 plants grow. It is a mixture of annuals and perennials that bloom from March to November and houses about 750 specialty narcissus for which I am known to passionately showcase my love for. Many of these plants have a dual purpose of being used as a cut flower or just to look at and draw inspiration from. A strength I am known for is capturing my journey of growing plants on video. It is my passion to teach others how to grow their own cutting gardens and create flower arrangements they can bring inside of their home.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
In the next 5-10 years, a big trend I am seeing is using video to display talents in a wide variety of fields. Specifically for the floral world, video creation on how to create cutting gardens, how to create a simple floral arrangement to how to create a large-scale floral installation seem to really captivate a target audience. In the small-scale cut flower world, I see a heavy emphasis on growing unique cut flowers and foliages that cannot be readily found at import wholesalers. The need to diversify yourself and stand out is important.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.bloomingjoyflowerco.com
- Instagram: bloomingjoyflowerco
- Facebook: Facebook.com/bloomingjoyflowerco
- Other: pinterest.com/bloomingjoyflowerco
