Sweet Hill Flowers Micro Farm a Mighty Success
by RYAN MILEJCZAK
When it’s time to buy flowers, most people simply head to our local grocery store or florist. But what they don’t realize is that the flowers in that local supermarket are far from fresh; in fact, they often come all the way from South America. This means that these flowers are often weeks old by the time they make it to U.S. customers. So what do you do if you want the freshest flowers around?
Enter Sweet Hill Flowers. Founded and operated single-handedly by mother of three Evelyn Weitz, Sweet Hill Flowers doesn’t just provide amazing flower arrangements with locally grown flowers, they grow the flowers themselves right here in Polk County!
As Weitz tells it, the story begins back in 2018 when she resigned from her job as a director for a preschool.
“I was extremely stressed, so I decided to resign from that and be a stay-at-home mom for a season, and around the same time I found out we were expecting our third child,” Weitz recounts.
“I was getting a bit stir crazy and just needed a creative outlet, and that’s when a friend invited me to a workshop about specialty cut flowers. I was blown away after that workshop.”
Soon, Weitz discovered the local flowers movement, which prioritizes using and growing flowers from your local community. Before long, Weitz took a class about flower farming, and the dream that would become Sweet Hill Flowers began to form. In 2020, she officially founded Sweet Hill Flowers in Polk City, running the business from her home, where she uses the first floor as a studio for arraignments.
When it comes into arranging, Weitz puts her heart and soul into every arrangement.
“When I’m arranging for someone, I make sure to consider the moment and the feeling that I’m creating, because flowers really convey an emotion without words,” she explains. “Sweet Hill is here for those important moments from birth to marriage to funerals and everything in between. I put my heart into the arrangements for that purpose, and I try to consider the individual and the event to understand what will really make it special for the client.”
Of course, as a farmer-florist, Weitz does more than just arrangements; she also grows most of the flowers she uses herself on an eighth of an acre on her property she calls a “micro flower farm.” There, she grows a variety of flowers each season, including warm season flowers like cosmos, bronze amaranth, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias, and cool season flowers like snapdragons and lisianthus.
“I kind of call it a glamorized garden instead of a farm,” Weitz says with a laugh. “But there’s still plenty of room to grow.”
Weitz says she grows thousands of flowers every season, “at least 10 different types and several varieties,” all of which go into her arrangements.
No matter what she’s growing, Weitz’s flowers are some of the freshest available here in Central Florida.
“We have the freshest flowers you can get, guaranteed to last longer than something you pick up from the grocery store. And they’re unique flowers that most florists couldn’t get a hold of. We have a really great variety going on,” says Weitz.
In growing her flowers, Weitz prioritizes sustainable, natural practices.
“We really focus on the soil, and for us, soil health is number one,” Weitz explains. “We do everything with a conscious mind of what is going to help or harm our environment and try to make decisions based on that. So that means we use things like drip irrigation, composting, crop rotations, and beneficial insects instead of pesticides. We’ve also started experimenting with no till growing, where we disturb the soil as little as possible to preserve the microbiome and nutrition of the soil, as well as avoid releasing excess carbon into the environment.”
This no till method involves covering the soil with cardboard or similar materials to kill or suppress weeds, rather than tilling. The method also means simply cutting last season’s flowers at the base rather than pulling them up. In contrast with traditional methods, which flip the soil in each bed every season, no-till growing prevents soil erosion and ensures rich, healthy soil with minimal environmental impact.
Since founding Sweet Hill, Weitz has had to contend with a number of challenges.
“When it comes to growing, our environment is very challenging here in Florida due to the heat and humidity. It really helps all the bugs and diseases flourish. And of course the economy is a bit of a challenge, people don’t have as much disposable income as they used to.”
Despite these challenges, Sweet Hill has been a major success for Weitz.
“I think even just being able to grow anything is a huge success,” she says. “Each flower is unique, with unique timing for when to start seeds and such, so it can be a real challenge. And being able to sell wholesale and meet the standards of designers, which requires picking healthy flowers at the perfect stage. I’m really proud that I can cut flowers the day before I give them to a client so that they’re at their freshest, meaning they’re beautiful and long lasting.”
But perhaps the biggest success for Weitz is getting to do something she loves.
“I love being outside, even when it’s hot and miserable, so getting to be in nature is amazing. I love reflecting on our world’s mysteries and the beauty of it all. I just love being submerged in that all the time. Plus I love to be creative in different ways, but with children, it can be challenging to find time for creative outlets. This allows me to be able to do both, and I’m really grateful for that.”
To learn more, visit www.sweethillflowers.com.
