My name is Wendy Jessen. I grew up in Austin, MN. I have always dabbled in growing one thing or another usually cucumbers and marigolds and petunias. My husband and I use to own a plumbing company in Northfield, MN. Where I helped with whatever needed to be done. I worked in the office, ordered materials and even did service work. We closed the business back in 2021 and sold our home and warehouse/ shop and moved up near Mille Lacs Lake . We chose to move to our “cabin” witch happens to be a 2.5 acre farm with a barn and old house. My husband chose to retire and so rather than continuing plumbing I chose to follow my passion. At first I had no idea what my purpose was going to be and then I happen to see a show called Growing Floret. That is what I have wanted to do grow flowers dahlias particularly. I decided to find out all I could about dahlias. I got some tubers for free in 2018 I grew them and I was successful with storing them. The next year I actually paid some money for some. I thought wow do I dare pay $65.00 for 5 flowers? I did and now $65.00 is just 2 tubers anymore. I joined the American Dahlia Society and the Mn Dahlia Society. I volunteered for a farmer who was growing dahlias to harvest the tubers. I learned as much as I could in the winter months. Ordered the books and read them. I have been increasing my stock each year. I was planning on growing only show stock but realized some growers don’t discriminate between recognized dahlias and others. So I grow all types. I love showing dahlias and seeing the look on peoples faces when they see the gorgeous blooms.
How I started with growing dahlias:
I started growing dahlias by accident. I found some free tubers in a bag by the hardware store in 2019. I stuck them into the ground and they were pretty purple flowers. I was intrigued by them. I had grown gladiolas and knew that those bulbs needed to be stored in the winter so I knew I was going to dig up the dahlias. To my surprise in the fall there was not the 1 tuber I planted there was a clump of them. I googled dahlias and read and watched as much information as I could find. My Facebook feed was so negative back then I decided to lighten it up and found all kinds of dahlia groups. The community was so knowable and the flowers were gorgeous. That was the beginning of my journey. When I want to learn something I dive right in. I found a dahlia farmer that was an hour south of me and I asked if they could use some help. I volunteered and got a ton of knowledge from them. I joined the MN Dahlia Society and the American Dahlia Society. I ordered multiple books and read them cover to cover. I experimented with taking cuttings and succeeded . Now I show dahlias too.
Birth of Firefly Acres / Firefly Dahlias
Last year I succeeded in wintering about 2000 tubers and I thought what better way to yes buy more tubers, then to sell them and let others enjoy the beauty. So when building my website I needed a domain name and a business name. I chose MN Dahlias well my husband said I like Firefly better and actually I did too. So Firefly – Acres was born. I built a website and joined the local farmers market I even donated tubers to the hospital auxiliary for their spring plant sale. They told me they brought in $325 and $195 was from my tubers. I’m so happy they sold them all. And the money went to good things.
Future plans:
I’m planning on offering cut flowers locally the summer of 2024. I have been scouring the dahlia sales to purchase unicorns so I will be able to share them with other enthusiasts in the future. I’m planning on doing some hybridizing.