Last week, we had the pleasure of visiting the Diliberto family at their flower farm, Flowers at Cider Hill. In 2020, Matt & Amy took the opportunity to purchase the 5 acre property next door to Amy's family apple orchard, and they quickly began learning and planning how to grow flowers for others. Now, four years later, they produce thousands of flowers for local farmers markets and florists across the KC area, including Verdant!
Matt and Amy grow flowers with their two daughters, and it has become a foundation for their livelihood and family.
"We believe that God gave flowers to humanity and to the Earth to show us that even the simplest most temporal things like flowers, he clothes with great Beauty. Flowers bring so much joy, hope and encouragement in a broken world. We love seeing the transformation from a tiny seed to a beautiful bloom, it truly feels like witnessing the miracle of life. Flowers symbolize the beauty and design of our creator and many of our plants give bloom after bloom all season. We are in awe at how these plants give and give all throughout the season, even in the midst of disease, pests and storms they will push through. They sacrifice themselves for us over and over again and I just find that very humbling. We had storms come through and take our broom corn to the ground twice this year... they stood back up over the course of the following weeks and still provided a harvest for our fall wreaths, to us that's just incredible to witness."
Along with flowers, we learned their daughters take care of animals--bunnies, chickens, two little pups and a handful of cats. There is always something going on a the farm! Matt is a seasoned horticulturist and their planting schedule is a year long process:
"We love the seasonality of a farm, the anticipation for spring starts in the fall as we plant our cool hardy annuals and perennials for next year. Things slow down a little in the winter months but the anticipation builds after the new year with crop planning and extensive seed starting. This seed starting in the winter has helped seasonal blues so much as we are around grow lights and new life. As Spring mounts we get super busy with planting, tending overwintered plants and preparing to sell at markets and to customers. Summer is when we get to start enjoying our harvest, however we are still constantly thinking about the next season and what needs to go in the ground to keep that harvest going all season long into the fall. Fall is probably our busiest season as the orchard opens and we work to supply an additional market. But the excitement of fall and all the season brings makes it so enjoyable too. We will start creating fall and Christmas and winter wreaths which take us into our one truly slow period. December into early Jan... we try to take a month off of thinking, planning and to truly refresh."
In the late summer/early fall when we visited, the flower farm was full with Sunflowers, Zinnias, Marigolds, Amaranth, Basil, Mahogany Hibiscus, and much more. Their garden color palette was a bright array of cheerful blooms. Their advice to starting your own garden:
"Start with something you love, if you are passionate about it you will push to make it work even amidst failures. Some of the easiest and most cheerful flowers two grow would be sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos and marigolds. Planting something in the fall in anticipation of Spring is always a great way to start your season too. Daffodils come in so many specialty varieties, they are one of the first things we purchased in fall of 2020. We especially like the double apricot colors and the stems with small cream blossoms of the Winston Churchill varieties. They also multiply over the years and come back year after year. They are one of the first of the spring season and we enjoy them year after year."
Just past the flower farm, we drove through the apple orchard which was dripping in green, peach, and red apples. Fall is the Orchard's busy season. Each day, flocks of people head to the orchard to picnic, pick apples and pumpkins, and enjoy their cider doughnuts and apples slushies. We can confirm, these are delicious! Touring the farm with Matt, Amy, and their daughters, we were once again reminded of the magic of local flower growers. From walking the rows of the flower field, touring the orchard on "Big Red", and collaborating to design an arrangement together, we were inspired by our visit.
How beautiful is the possibility that one family with a dream and a bit of land can create seasons of beauty for others for years to come? Hopefully you will take a visit to the orchard to experience some of the beauty for yourself! We’re honored to share some of Cider Hill's flowers and apple throughout the growing season.
