Tammy and Clark Norman started small about six years ago, when they began selling their fresh cut flowers. The name — Rodwell Roots Flower Farm — might have raised some eyebrows as it was more of a backyard-to-front yard operation. The owners grew the flowers in the backyard and sold them in the front yard of their home in a little neighborhood on Mebane Oaks Road.
“It’s not what you would consider a farm,” Tammy said. “It doesn’t have fields and fields of flowers. We live on an acre and a half but most of it is wooded. We just had a few small garden beds and started selling in the front yard.”
While there may be some debate about what should be considered a farm, what was undeniable was the quality, and stop-you-in-your-tracks beauty of the flowers being grown and collected at Rodwell Roots.
“After our first year, we expanded slightly and grew on a neighbor’s 40-acre property, but we still just had a small plot,” she continued. “The next year we doubled in size at that plot and started selling at the Elon Farmers Market.”
As their small business continued taking root, the husband and wife team jumped at an opportunity to further expand their flower growing operations by leasing a quarter-acre of a previously underused area at Dinner Bell Farms in Snow Camp.
“You can fit a lot of flowers in a tiny space,” Tammy said. “We grow pretty intensively, so as soon as the bed is done, we take it out and plant something else in its place.”
Along with setting up at the Elon Farmers Market, Rodwell Roots sells its stunning bouquets at the Mebane Makers Market on the first Saturday of each month, and more regularly at the town’s farmers markets. But the markets aren’t the only methods with which the Normans grow their business.
“Farmers markets are certainly a key part of our revenue,” Tammy said. “Last year, we started working with a local wholesaler out of Winston Salem, who works primarily with local flower farms and connecting them with flower designers. They’re kind of like a clearinghouse for locally grown flowers. We sell to them once a week so that that’s been great. It’s a different kind of flower. What you sell at market is not necessarily what a floral designer might be interested in. There is a little bit of overlap, but it’s definitely two different markets. And then flower subscriptions.”
The flower subscriptions is a concept similar to that of community supported agriculture, or CSAs. The consumer — or subscriber — invests in the farm before the product (in this case flowers) is actually even available.
“We consider our subscription members a part of our team because they purchased the subscriptions normally in the fall, which is when we have a lot of expense coming up for the following year,” Tammy said. “That’s when all the bulbs come in and seeds for the next year and supplies and that kind of thing. It helps us offset those costs by the subscribers involved in investing.”
Rodwell Roots started out with a small number of subscribers, with three different subscriptions available throughout the year, including spring, late spring, and early summer. The success of the bouquet subscription has been a mixed blessing of increased revenue and a complex program to manage between two people.
Before launching herself into the business of blooms, Tammy was an event planner. She had always had an appreciation for flowers and an interest in gardening. She and her husband began following the plight of other flower farmers across the country when local flower programs started to take off.
‘“It used to be that there were a lot of flower farms in the United States and then in the early ’90s Most of them moved to Central America,” she said. “Now, about 80 percent of the flowers sold in the United States are actually imported from other places. They come in on planes, they’re not particularly great for the environment. There’s a big global footprint and we wanted to do things a little bit differently. Sustainability is one of the key parts of our operation. It’s important to us. We’re happy to see that the local farmers market is really starting to take off. There’s more and more local flower growers just in Alamance County, so that’s a good thing.”
With the steady growth of their cut flower business, the Normans said they will seriously consider adding to its staff to help with the administrative duties, seed sowing, planting, bed prep, and weeding.
While it’s hard to imagine getting tired of being constantly surrounded by beauty in nearly limitless variety, Tammy said it can get a little monotonous.
“But as soon as they’re gone you miss them right away,” she said. “You can’t wait to get started the next year. We look to grow different varieties that we haven’t grown before or a different color palette or just something new and different. It’s just fascinating, especially when you’re starting something from a seed and see how small it is and how just giving it that little bit of attention, it takes off and becomes something beautiful. It’s really powerful. Flowers are so powerful. Just seeing how people respond when they get that bouquet or they pick it up to give to someone. We’ve been a part of people’s celebration of life when someone passes away, or the birth of a baby, or graduation, or weddings. It’s really kind of special to know that you’re a part of those those big moments in life.”
