Election Day has come and
gone but the memory of a small
turnout lingers in my mind. People
seem to feel that this election is
not important even though it is the
time when they pick the people to
be voted on in the fall. It seems
that a Presidential election really
gets people interested in politics.
The district that I work in only
had about one-fourth of the regis
tered voters voting. It is a 14-hour
job but one that allows me to see
neighbors that otherwise I would
not see. In November most of the
same people will again make the
trip to the polls to show their pre
ference for nominees.
Last week my husband and I
took the boat to our camp site and
this time we left it at Walker Lake.
We picked rainy days to go there
and we had to wear raingear as we
fished during the showers. We
caught 20 fish in two days of fish
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ing but most of them were pan
fish. However, we did get some
nice perch and a trout
One night while we were eating
the fish that I prepared in our cam
per for supper, the lights went out
We had no electric and the battery
failed, too. Boy, was it dark to
pick bones out of fish. But the
electric did come back on and we
finished our meal and could read
magazines until bedtime.
In the morning, we awakened to
sunshine and lots of tiny birds in
the treetops. When I took a walk
in the woods, I discovered a
Roseshell azalea growing on a
large native shrub. The flowers
were a delicate pink as they bloom
in late May.
Now that I’m home again, I
must spend more time in the gar
den. The peas have been blooming
for weeks and will soon be ready
to pick.
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) —Cut flowers can be a high
value alternative crop if you
can carve out a marketing niche,
says a Penn State horticulture ex
pert.
“Cut flowers, including both
field- and greenhouse-grown
varieties, can bring in a higher re
turn per acre than many agro
nomic crops,” says Dr. Robert
Berghage, assistant professor of
horticulture in Penn State’s Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences.
“Growing flowers is, however,
very labor-intensive and can re
quire more of an investment—es
pecially if it means building a
greenhouse,” he adds. “Chances
are you won’t get rich raising cut
flowers, but many growers make a
reasonably comfortable living
growing them full time.”
Cut flowers grown in Pennsyl
vania include both greenhouse
and field-grown annual and peren
nial crops, such as daffodils, lilies,
snapdragons and sunflowers.
Some growers specialize in plants
that can be used in dried arrange
ments. such as straw flowers and
statice.
Many farmers have begun rais
ing cut flowers or other ornament
als as an additional income source.
“It can be an excellent business for
Grow Cut Flowers
As Alternative Crop
a farm spouse or other family
members,” says Berghage. "This
is done all over the state and is es
pecially common in the Southeast,
where there are a lot of full- and
part-time flower growers.
“You can grow any flower that
is used in florists’ arrangements,”
Berghage says. “But it pays to
grow specialty crops, such as Ger
man statice, rather than widely
grown items such as carnations,
chrysanthemums or roses.”
Carnations, chrysanthemums
and roses used to be grown exten
sively in Pennsylvania, but now
mostly are grown in Colombia and
other Latin American countries
and shipped to the United States.
“Even though these flowers are
shipped long distances, they often
are sold at lower prices than those
grown locally,” said Berghage
Although some Pennsylvania
growers still successfully market
roses and carnations, most grow
ers are better off growing other
flowers.”
Growing cut flowers doesn’t
necessarily require a lot of land,
unless you’re planning to go into
business in a big way. “Many peo
ple grow flowers in their back
yards and sell them locally,” Ber
ghage says. “Visit any farmers’
market and you’ll probably see at
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least one person selling cut flow
ers.
Others sell their merchandise
through cooperatives or have their
own wholesale or retail business
es. “Small growers are better off
growing a variety of flowers and
selling locally or working through
a cooperative,” Berghage says.
“If you want to compete with
larger businesses, it’s important to
keep up with the trends.” he says.
“Many flowers go in and out of
style. For instance, there has been
a sunflower fad for the past few
years, but that’s becoming passe.
Shrewd growers are already anti
cipating what will be popular next.
“Read everything you can find
about the business,” Berghage
says. “Get to know your local flor
ists, and find out what flowers
they are interested in buying. Visit
farmers’ markets in your area and
see what others are growing and
size up your competition.”
If you're thinking of growing
and marketing cut flowers, several
associations and periodicals can
help. The horticulture expert at
your county’s Penn State Co
operative Extension office is an
excellent source of information on
floriculture groups and publica
tions.