"Do all the good you can. By all the means
you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times
you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."
-- John Wesley
"The secret of
life is this: When you hear the sound of the cannons, walk toward them."~~Marcel
France
"As C.S. Lewis
observed, courage is 'not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every
virtue at the testing point.'" --
Fitzhenry, 1993, p. 111
British Customer Takes First Prize with His Van Dyke Zinnias!
We always wonder where the seeds will go when we package them
each season. I know they are grown in many places in America and all over
the world, but it's really fun to hear the stories of where they turned up and
how they are enjoyed by others, or in this case, honored with a First Prize
ribbon at an English Fruit, Flower, Vegetable & Craft Show! David
has grown our Zinnias for a couple of years now, and we were delighted when he
wrote to tell us about his First Prize Beauties! All I can say is, "David,
we couldn't have done any better ourselves! Thanks for sending us the photo!"
He promises more; so stay tuned!
Dear Sharon
Just a quick picture to show you how well your Zinnias did in our local flower
show. They were very much appreciated, and admired by all! Thank you very much,
will put together some more pictures later. I would be honored for you to use
the picture on the website! Please let me know when you've posted it so that I
can check the site. All my gardening friends will be very envious!
David Percival,
England Sept. 2004
December 2004, this from David:
Hi Sharon
Thought you might like to see a picture of a cushion which a good friend of
mine, who I give your flowers to, made for my birthday present. As I'm sure
you'll agree it is very unique and much admired by everyone.
At least I can rest my head on it during the long winter and be reminded of
the lovely zinnias!!
Hope the weather is not too cold and regards to everyone on the farm.
Best wishes and seasons greetings!
David
"Rain and
sun are to the flower as praise and encouragement are to the human spirit."
-- Unknown
One of our customers is a trading company in China, supplier to one of the
many flowering gardens on the Mainland. Mr. Du has been a customer for
about 3 years now. At first, they purchased Sunflowers, as this was the
theme of the garden's recreational site. During 2003, they bought all
the sunflowers grown at Redbud Farms. Today, they are gradually
introducing our many zinnia types for the enjoyment of the Chinese people and
other visitors to the gardens. We are very proud of our presence in that
part of the world so far from our Midwest Michigan farm!
Pls refer to the pics of your flower in bloom in our gardon.
b. rgds
j. du
Delaware, Ohio Couple Grow Van Dyke Zinnias for Daughter's
Wedding
Dear Ms. Baller:
We thought you would like to see how your seeds seem to love our
cutting garden in time for our daughter's wedding in three weeks. We have cut
them and they last several days in freshly watered vases.
Very Truly Yours,
Frank and Martha
Delaware, Ohio 8/26/04
Spotlight's on Redbud Farms!
Dear Friends of Redbud Farms, Family, Favorite Vendors &
Contractors, Colleagues, and Past Fond Acquaintances:
Take at good look at this red cactus zinnia because it's
famous! I hope you will forgive my exuberance, but we were very proud
to learn that this Zinnia from Redbud Farms grows at Tufton Farm, run by
the Monticello Foundation, associated with the great
garden of Thomas Jefferson, one of my favorite American presidents. Gip & I
are still a million dollars shy of being a millionaire from our work at the
Farm, but this kind of news is sometimes better than the actual sale itself.
Please see below! Blessings be, -Sharon
Customer
E-Mail, September 2004:
Subject: looking for just one zinnia
Hi -
On a visit to the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Monticello
recently I saw one gorgeous red cactus-flowered zinnia. The folks there said
they had gotten it from the Eudora Welty house. Susan, garden restoration
consultant for the Eudora Welty house, tells me she got it from you. Looking at
your website, I don't see any option for buying just one variety - is that
possible. Without a name, I don't know if you would know which variety she had -
or perhaps there's only one red cactus type in your collections. This was not a
pinkish or orangey red, nor particularly dark, but really RED.
Thanks for your help.
The Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic
Plants is a separate site, called Tufton Farm, run by the Monticello
foundation, but not open for public tours as Monticello is. It's the farm
where the Monticello foundation gardeners maintain a collection of plants with
historic significance, many from Jefferson's period but many from later on as
well. There were no zinnias anything like that in Jefferson's day [big red
cactus zinnia.] The zinnias he know would have been the same ones I grow
at Bartram's Garden, the historic site where I work here in Philadelphia - the
little species zinnias [most probably the Bonita series or z.angustifolia.]
The Center has a web site through which they sell seeds - which are the ones
sold in the Monticello gift shop. Go to
www.monticello.org to see the little
species zinnias they sell, which are the ones actually planted in Thomas
Jefferson's flower gardens at Monticello.
Blessings,
Nancy
" l look forward to your
newsletter and love your Zinnias. l have never planted from seeds, before, so
l ended up with about 600, 6" seedlings. l am amazed, as are all of the
people l gave the six-hundred, 6" seedlings. On my next order, l will devote
more of my garden to the Zinnia. l have about 80 plants and today was my
first dead-heading. l let them go a little long; they're so beautiful. l
know better, but l had a dozen people that wanted to see them, so a little
tardy. ln less than a week, l will probably have over 100 blooms, as each
plant is loaded with buds. Thanks and enjoy my picture." --Bob from
Melbourne, FL
Subscribe or Unsubscribe HERE to our
*News Beams
* from
the Farm!
From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish
short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the
American heartland. Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias,
learn how to make a stunning
bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here. Let us know
if you would like to receive them.
We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load
times. As we approach another winter, I hope
you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things
we love most here. Thanks for being a
customer! -Sharon Baller, President
"To see life's
passages through the eyes of your heart is to know that all is happening exactly
as it was meant to." -- Flavia Weedn
