Dorothy’s Garden Brings Fresh-Cut Flowers to South Boston Farmers Market

Visitors to the South Boston Farmers Market this summer will find a colorful new addition among the fresh produce and baked goods: Dorothy’s Garden, a small flower farm dedicated to locally grown, organic, pesticide-free bouquets.

Charlotte Walsh found out about the market through her son, Gage, who previously lived in South Boston. He suggested she check it out.

And she is loving it!

The business itself is rooted in family history. Dorothy’s Garden is named after Charlotte’s grandmother, Dorothy, who owned greenhouses and a floral shop in Virginia.

"My grandmother owned greenhouses and had a floral shop in Charlottesville, VA," said Charlotte. "She was a mover and a shaker for the 1930s and she was making it happen, working outside the home."

Although Charlotte never met her grandmother, she believes the family's love of growing flowers has been passed down through generations.

After retiring from owning a specialty running shoe store in Norwood, Charlotte started Dorothy’s Garden five years ago, transforming what had once been a grassy side lot at her home in Islington, MA, into a productive flower farm. Inspired during the pandemic by the growing movement toward locally sourced flowers, she began cultivating blooms from seed, bulb, corm, and tuber.

Today, she grows approximately 900 square feet of flowers, carefully tending each plant herself.

"You really have to pay attention to them," said Charlotte, who also does a subscription flower service. "You have to be present and attentive."

Charlotte believes successful gardening is less about expertise and more about observation and care.

Her bouquets change throughout the season, highlighting whatever is blooming at its peak. Early summer favorites include Nigella, also known as Love in a Mist. "It's this flower that's so delicate and beautiful," she said. "If you look at it closely, it looks like an alien spaceship, like it doesn't even look real."

Later in the season come ranunculus, zinnias, celosia, and eventually dahlias, which Charlotte describes as the stars of autumn.

What sets Dorothy’s Garden apart is freshness. Flowers sold at the market are harvested just a day before customers take them home.

"When I come to the market on Monday, those flowers will have been cut on Sunday morning," Charlotte explained. "So, it's a super fresh product. And they last an incredibly long time.

"You can source your flowers locally. You don't have to have your flowers flown in from Ecuador,” she said, noting that 80 percent of flowers come in from other countries and are not fresh.

Beyond selling bouquets, Charlotte hopes to reconnect people with the joy that flowers can bring to everyday life.

"I really want people to enjoy the flowers," she said. "I just think flowers are becoming less essential to daily life."

She points to studies showing the positive impact flowers can have on mental well-being and encourages people to consider buying local blooms.

For Charlotte, the South Boston Farmers Market provides an opportunity to share that message with a community where many residents may not have gardens of their own.

"I'm just thrilled to be there, because I realized that a lot of people there don't have any green space, they don't have even a square patch of anything to grow anything," she said. "It's so nice to be able to bring somebody outdoors in the form of flowers."

After experiencing her first South Boston market, she believes she has found a great home for Dorothy’s Garden.

"I think it's perfect," Charlotte said.

Dorothy’s Garden can be found every Monday at the South Boston Farmers Market, offering fresh-cut, locally grown bouquets that bring a little piece of nature into the city.

———————

The South Boston Farmers Market runs every Monday through November from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 446 W. Broadway.

The box found in the altar.