From the Fields: Abi Dirske, Stanislaus County flower farmer

April 8, 2026

Photo/Lori Eanes

By Abi Dirske
Stanislaus County flower farmer

This week is the first week of flowers for us. It’s earlier than usual. We usually get roses toward the end of April. They’re starting a few weeks early this year. It’s perfect timing because we have a wedding we’re supplying flowers for this weekend.

Since it’s earlier than usual, we didn’t take orders for this time of year because we didn’t think we’d have them. Toward the middle to end of April, it’ll start picking up, and Mother’s Day is usually the real kickoff. My guess is we’ll have a busier spring than we anticipated.

My guess is the rain we’re getting right now probably isn’t going to be super helpful as far as diseases go, so we’ll have to keep an eye on that. Roses are very disease prone. We get powdery mildew and rust, but if you stay on top of it, it doesn’t affect us.

Roses go in flushes, and typically a flush lasts about two to three weeks, depending on the variety. Then they take about six weeks, depending on the time of year, to regrow for the next flush.

With flowers coming early this year, we’re not sure what Mother’s Day will look like. If we have a big event, we will disbud the garden or cut it back to line it up with a flush. Typically six to seven weeks before an event, we go through and reset everything.

We have about 1,800 shrubs and a variety of different colors. We grow them mostly for weddings or other events and sell wholesale to florists and designers. We have a lot of whites and blush pinks, which are popular wedding colors, and more muted colors.

Neutrals are popular right now—like Coco Loco, which is a coffee color, and Honey Dijon, which is a mustard color. We also have peaches and other tones. We don’t grow a lot of red roses, which is a question we get a lot.

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Reprint with credit to California Farm Bureau. For image use, email agalert@cfbf.com