Gertrude’s Garden, locally owned by Julie Cado and her family, is located right behind their home in Gluckstadt. What started out as a small hobby is now a full-fledged business.
“We did our smaller garden a couple of years ago, and then in October of this year we started the raised beds for the actual flower and veggie garden,” said Julie Cado, owner of Gertrude’s Garden. “My grandmother was always a big gardener. My husband and I started a small inner garden and soon we didn’t have enough room for all the flowers that I wanted to grow, so we just gradually kept growing more and more flowers and it evolved into this on its own.”
Cado said the freshness and unique variety of the flowers grown and sold at the garden is what will attract customers.
“People will be interested in these flowers because they’re fresh and grown here locally and a lot of people enjoy supporting a local business,” she said. “I like to grow things you don’t usually see or can’t get anywhere else at places like the grocery store. We have stuff like Celosia and Amaris, and we grow from seeds to get those varieties you usually can’t find.”
Cado noted that the flowers sold are for all sorts of occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, and even birthday parties at affordable prices.
“When we do popups like the flower bar, most things are a dollar a stem or a dollar a bundle. Everything is a dollar,” she said. “People can spend as little or as much as they want. Arrangements in a vase start from $30 and up, and we’re also selling by the bucket in case people want to make their own arrangements at home.”
Georgia Parker, Juile Cado’s daughter and co-owner of Gertrude’s Garden, enjoys the garden because it’s a good outlet for her and the rest of her family to work and be together.
“I’m a stay-at-home mom and I had a baby 10 months ago, so this is a good way for me to spend time with my mom,” Parker said. “She does most of the garden work and then we come together for the business side of things.”
Parker said the garden is on its first official season.
“My mom started this last October, but right around May is when we first started for real,” she said. “It was just a hobby at first but it grew into more of a business. She grows everything and I help with the events and business side of things.”
Parker said the garden offers a large variety of flowers that can survive the summer heat.
“Right now our main type of flower is a zinnia since they can take the Mississippi heat and you see a lot of people around here growing them,” she said. “We also grow things like Dahlias, Celosia, and Snapdragon. But as the weather changes you have to make sure to change the beds and what grows. We’re working on stuff like Eucalyptus, too.”
Parker noted that managing the garden has been a ton of fun and hopes the season will last until October and that they’ll also be growing pumpkins for the fall.
“It’s been a ton of fun. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but people absolutely love it,” she said. “That’s the main thing. Flowers bring people joy, especially since people want an excuse to get out of the house. People want to come see the garden and see what it’s all about. It’s a lot of fun to do.”
Gertrude’s Garden has three different bouquet sizes: $8, $15, and $25, along with arrangements that go from little ones up to a $65 arrangement that comes with a vase.
“I love getting to spend time with mom and she gets to spend time with my child,” Parker said. “It’s very helpful to have something for me to do while being a stay-at-home mom.”
David Cado, the husband of Julie Cado and co-owner of Gertrude’s Garden, noted that the watering system is completely automated.
“We’ve installed an in-ground watering and fertilizer system that’s automated, so every zone gets watered at a certain time,” Cado said. “That way we can increase the time slot or decrease it depending on that season and the weather.”
According to Cado, this is season is the first time he and his family has tried planting the flowers in boxes.
“We’re doing boxes this year. We tried it with rows last year but the weather was so bad that it washed everything out,” he said. “With boxes, we can control our soil much better. We use a combination of Gin Trash and Canadian Pete for our flower beds and that’s worked out really well for both veggies and flowers.”
Gertrude’s Garden is located at 346 Gluckstadt Road, and more information can be found about the garden on Facebook and Instagram at Gertrude’s Garden MS. For information through email, send a message gertrudesgardenms@gmail.com.
