Veronica's Hidden Garden, LLC

29/08/2024

05/07/2024

When I’m not flower farming, I’m tending to my personal garden. Here are a few pics of my favorites so far!

Proven Winners

Coffee Cups Elephant's Ear
Blue My Mind® XL Dwarf Morning Glory
Solenia® Yellow Rieger Begonia
Toucan® Yellow Canna Lily
Snow Princess® Sweet Alyssum
Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime Sweet Potato Vine
Incrediball® Smooth Hydrangea
Reminiscent® Coral Rose
Summerific® 'Cranberry Crush' Rose Mallow

Zone 6B

01/07/2024

Veronica Marquez Otero

15/05/2024

Rainy day read! I’m so excited to “dig in” to this one.

06/04/2024

Flower farms are popping up everywhere !! Check out these beauties from BLOOM Flower Farm from Summerville, IN! Her farm stand is open today so if you’re in the area, stop by and show her some love ❤️

19/03/2024

Hi flower farmer friends! Today I started the following cut flower seeds for Zone 6A:

Dusty Miller
Statice
Mohogany Splendor
Love In a Puff
Forget Me Nots - Trialing (sowed a small batch)
China Aster, King Size Apricot- Trialing (sowed a small batch)

Currently growing on the farm:
Aliums - Globemaster, Purple Sensation
Hellebores
Tulips
Daffodils
Ranunculus
Anemones
Columbine
Peonies
Lady’s Mantle
Stock
Lupines
Ninebark

Fertilized & pruned:
Hydrangeas
Roses

East Central Indiana Flower Farmers

08/03/2024

I’d like to preface this post by encouraging everyone to get a positive insect or soil borne pathogen identification from your local extension office before spraying or adding anything to your plants and soil.

One of the many challenges that all farmers face is insect pressure. I’ll be honest, I was lured into flower farming by seeing beautiful photos of flowers not photos of spider mites, Japanese and cucumber beetles among others 🤣. In fact, I felt like I spent more time addressing insect issues than enjoying the flowers. Well, I’ve learned a lot since then and I thought I would share what my plan is this year to be better prepared.

There are many ways you can safely tackle these pests but my preferred method is letting nature take care of nature. When I first started flower farming, I really didn’t have much insect pressure and used host plants to help but as my farm grew, the birds and host plants were just not keeping up. Then came the organic sprays which needed to be applied after every rain and the insects became resistant to them and it just literally became a pain to haul around a backpack sprayer every week not to mention the added expense of different organic sprays to fool them. Add to this having to place organza bags to each bloom to protect them from getting eaten 😩. Then, there are the dreaded Japanese beetles 😡

Last summer, my issue was thrips & cucumber beetles. This year I’m going to try beneficial insects by the millions. Specifically, nematodes. It’s cheaper, safer, and hopefully save me the most valuable resource…my time. As for the Japanese beetles, I applied the powder form of milky spore to our soil last spring and it helped tremendously! It greatly reduced our Japanese beetle pressure. So we will repeat it again this year with the granular form. Milky spore is organic and can be safely applied to your lawn without harming our family, fur babies & other beneficial insects. Once applied, the spores will remain active in the soil for up to 20 years!! If you’d like to learn more about these products, visit https://www.arbico-organics.com.

I hope this post was helpful and maybe urge new flower farmers to include a pest and contingency plan when planning your season.

27/01/2024

Hi Everyone!! The 2024 growing season has begun and I thought I’d drop in and give a quick update! Although my business is seasonal, flower farming is a year round job! Especially when you grow a lot of your own flowers to design with and sell.

For me, in Zone 6A, I’m starting the following flowers from mid-late January:

Ranunculus - Pictured below
Anemones
Snapdragons
Stock
Verbascum

I’ve opted to order Lisianthus plugs this year. While I have grown them successfully from seeds, they just take way too long to grow from seed & take up valuable real estate in my grow room.

I’m super excited for the season! I will be opening up my website soon for Mother’s Day Pre-Orders, Bouquet Subscriptions and A La carte weddings/events including prom & graduation florals! New this year…I will be offering local delivery for a small fee 🤗. I hope you all are staying warm & having a great start to the year!

25/09/2023

Hi flower friends! I wanted to give you all a quick update! The autumn equinox has arrived which means my growing season has ended until Spring 2024. This is the time of the year when I begin clearing out my beds and begin planting “cool” season hardy annuals that will bloom next Spring.

Thank you to everyone that helped make my first year in business a huge success! I really couldn’t have done it without you ❤️. Whether it was purchasing flowers, taking the time to write amazing reviews, or offering encouragement when I was hot and miserable outside cutting flowers, you all helped me stay motivated and wanting to continue on this journey.

In the coming weeks, I will have some specialty tulip and daffodil bulbs for sale so keep an eye out for another update 👀. These aren’t the more common ones found at the big box stores. Also, if there are any services or feedback (good or bad) you’d like to share, please leave them in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!!

23/09/2023

It’s always fun to create arrangements and bouquets for people but it’s extra special when your daughter asks you to make her a succulent corsage and matching ring for her first homecoming dance ❤️

22/09/2023

https://www.facebook.com/veronicashiddengarden

Bouquet

01/09/2023

Proud moment for me. Fast forward to 8:18 and watch through 10:08. This YouTube channel has almost 2 million subscribers so needless to say I was flattered after all of the submissions she probably had 🤗

https://fb.watch/mMVdjqPgt_/?startTimeMs=3000&mibextid=znr7mo

30/08/2023

Dahlias and Zinnias for the win this season 🥇

16/08/2023

I returned to my brother & sister in law’s air bnb this past weekend and planted over 110 grasses of which over half I grew from seeds. With his mid century modern home, I thought a rock garden theme was perfect. He wanted landscaping with big impact but affordable & low maintenance. The 2 front rows are blue fescue grass and I started these from seeds back in January. The back 2 rows were purchased as 4” starts from Gilbert H. Wild & Son that I grew on in my backyard until we were ready to plant.

Both grasses are pest free and very low maintenance and he saved a lot of money on the plants. They also don’t spread or clump like most other grasses. Also, by planting them so close, they will crowd out weeds. After they’re established, they will require very little irrigation. Planted in mass, these grasses create a very striking and beautiful transformation AND they aren’t even full grown yet!!

I still need to lay the irrigation & landscape fabric but I’m sooo happy with the progress thus far! 🤗 The decorative rock and landscape lighting will be the perfect bow to add to this beautiful garden bed.

Thank you W/purpose and Mahja Zeon for trusting me with this project!

's Hidden Garden, LLC

10/08/2023

Finally after 3 seasons of trying, this beauty bloomed! Until now, I’ve only been able to see the Café Au Lait dahlia in pictures. I’m over the moon proud of myself for not giving up! 🤸🏽‍♀️🌸🌺🌸

09/08/2023

Thank you Laura Deluca Realtor/Broker for the opportunity to create a beautiful bouquet for your clients closing on their new home tomorrow 🤗🏡. Congratulations to you and the new homeowners 🎉🥂

07/08/2023