our story

In 1993, Ellen Beberman and Richard Brandt bought some land in Vermontville, NY. Sunwarm Gardens is an outgrowth of Rich and Ellen's vision of life in the Adirondack mountains. After clearing land, building a passive solar home, and raising a family together, Ellen turned the kitchen garden into a market garden, selling vegetables at several farmers markets that she spearheaded and managed.

 

Seeing a gap in local markets and having a lifelong love for flowers, Ellen shifted the market garden entirely over to cut flower production in 2018. Cool, sunny summers allow us to keep finicky spring flowers blooming well into the summer months, with warmth loving flowers coming in the second half of the season. Our main season runs from mid-May through early October - the other months are devoted to cleaning up, repairing, and regrouping for the following season.

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Our one acre farm includes a greenhouse, an unheated hoophouse with drip irrigation, and permanent beds for intensive production. About 70% of our flowers are started on the farm by seed; the remainder are grown from plugs (seedlings) purchased from specialty flower growers.The addition of a walk-in cooler in 2019 imrpoved post-harvest conditioning, greatly extending the longevity of our cut flowers. Ellen is the main grower for the farm; Rich works on infrastructure and machinery. 

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Approximately half of our sales come from our customers who sign up for weekly bouquets delivered in the Tri-lakes area. We sell mixed bouquets at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market, at the Hex & Hop farm store in Saranac Lake, and through online orders. Weddings, events and sales to local florists make up the rest of our sales. 

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We are  members of the Tri-Lakes Regional Farmers Coop, the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers,and NY State Grown & Certified. 100% of what we sell is grown or foraged by us.

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