Cassiah Morrissette, founder of Uplifting Roots Flower Farm, never considered herself a gardener, but something changed when she and her fiancee, Dylan Wilkinson, moved to their home on Bennington Road in Francestown a few years ago.
“I wasn’t planning to do this at all. When I hit 40, the love for gardening just kicked in. It’s therapeutic; starting something small and having it turn into big, beautiful flowers. It’s just amazing,” Morrissette said. “My parents both had an extreme love for gardening, and my dad had this huge, terraced garden. I think maybe I’m turning into my dad.”
Morrissette’s itch to garden began when she started planting around a stump in the front lawn of her new home.
“The lawn just had a big stump on it; it was very sloped, and it didn’t look great, so I just started putting in dahlias,” Morrissette said. “Then I put in more and more, and pretty soon, this is what we have. It’s kind of our whole front lawn now.”
Cassiah Morrissette’s table at a local fair. Credit: COURTESY CASSIAH MORRISSETTE
Morrissette started getting serious about dahlias after a fellow gardener in Francestown offered a free bag of tubers on social media.
“I had ordered a few tubers to store over the winter and then a woman on Pleasant Pond Road was giving some tubers away, and she gave me a bag of about 10,” Morrissette said. “People sell tubers to each other from all over the country. I just received some from Washington State. I can’t get enough of them; there are just so many different kinds.”
Morrissette now has over 300 dahlia plants. She recently tagged and identified each one by number for winter storage.
“I label each one by number, then I take a picture of each flower so I know what it is,” she said. “Then I store them in plastic tubs until it’s time to replant in the spring.”
Cassiah Morrissette with recent bouquets. Credit: JESSECA TIMMONS/Ledger-Transcript
Morrissette started selling simple flower arrangements in Mason jars from her driveway last August just to see what would happen, and was delighted when people started to buy them.
“At first, no one stopped, but then one day there were four gone in one day, and it really started to pick up, and I said, wow, I better make some more,” Morrissette said.
As her garden grew, people began to stop by and ask for tours. Morrissette began offering pick-your-own garden tours on social media, and started selling flower arrangements at craft fairs and farmers’ markets.
“I have been doing little garden tours for people, letting them walk through and pick their favorite flowers,” Morrissette said.
Cassiah Morrissette at Uplifting Roots Flower Farm in Francestown Credit: JESSECA TIMMONS/Ledger-Transcript
Morissette’s front yard, which has eastern and southern exposure, is now terraced on three levels.
“They need at least six hours of sun and we definitely get that,” she said.
To create the dahlia beds, Morrissette and Wilkinson had to dig out and terrace the entire lawn.
“Digging the beds out was really hard. We kept hitting rocks. Now the rocks are out and I’m hoping we won’t find any more. It took me quite a while to get everything in the ground last spring; it’s a lot of work, ” Morrissette said. “Digging plants up in the fall is pretty tricky as well. Your knees hurt for sure. I stopped going to the gym. I figured the bending and moving and digging and all the getting up and down from the ground, all the lifting and getting around in here is enough of a workout.”
Morissette also created raised beds for gladiolas, but they did not take off as she had hoped.
“I’ll have to figure out what’s going on with them,” she said.
Cassiah Morrissette has transformed her Bennington Road front yard into professional grade dahlia beds. Credit: COURTESY CASSIAH MORRISSETTE
Morrissette said along with the blossoms, she loves the butterflies and hummingbirds which are attracted to her garden.
“Everything I have attracts pollinators. I have butterfly bush and ‘hummingbird bush’ (bee balm), and we have had hummingbirds all over the place. The bees love to sleep in the petals of the dahlias, because there is plenty of room between them,” Morrissette said. “It’s really cute to come out in the morning and find them sleeping.”
Morissette said she has learned a lot by trial and error. While her parents are avid gardeners, she says they never grew dahlias.
“My mom kept saying ‘Get on the garden pages!’ So I did, and there are a lot of social media groups for people who grow dahlias, and everyone shares information and trades from all across the country,” Morrissette said.
According to Morrissette, the biggest challenge of growing dahlias is controlling pests, including insects and voles.
“The pests are really frustrating. You have a big, beautiful flower, and then you can’t use it, because something has been eating it,” she said.
Morrissette uses organic neem oil to control insects.
A favorite pink dahlia. Credit: JESSECA TIMMONS/Ledger-Transcript
Morrissette said the weather conditions this past summer and fall were challenging, with the wet, cold spring causing her plants to mold, and the dry fall straining her well and limiting how much she could water.
“The foliage started getting burnt from the extreme heat. Normally, these plants would be a lot bushier and have a lot more foliage,” she said. “Then with the drought, for a while I could only water for a little bit, and then I would have to wait for the well to fill up again, but we’re lucky because we have a lot of water draining off the mountain. The lack of water has definitely affected the plants. Some of my plants are just flowering now for the first time because of the drought. I started them in March in my garage and they have not even flowered yet. It’s so crazy to think that, I am like, please open so I can see what you are before you freeze.”
Recent high winds also affected the plants, knocking the large blossoms off the fragile stems.
“Normally, they would have a lot more foliage and have thicker stems and be bushier,” Morrissette said. “They multiply like crazy. Sometimes I will look in there and there are 10 more tubers than what I started with. You don’t even really need to buy more. “
Wilkinson recently installed an irrigation system for the dahlia beds, saving Morrissette hours of watering.
A late October bouquet at Uplifting Roots Flower Farm. Credit: JESSECA TIMMONS/Ledger-Transcript
“It’s just so beautiful out here. I never minded the time,” Morisssette said. “But my fiancee started to wonder if I was ever going to come back in the house.”
Morrissette, who also has a full-time job, is excited to keep on growing and expanding her business.
“Every year you learn something, and you improve on it next year, and you just keep learning,” she said.
Uplifting Roots Flower Farm is located at 731 Bennington Road, Francestown.
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