In 2023 when Gabrielle Galiatsatos decided to expand her flower-growing hobby to better serve the community, she told her neighbor Michelle Neidermeyer, part owner of Lost Acres Vineyard with her husband Kevin Riggott, about her “crazy idea.” Neidermeyer enthusiastically offered the use of a segment of the Vineyard property and within a week, wood was delivered for the raised beds and a massive tulip bulb order was placed.
Galiatsatos discovered early on that people love to visit “pick-your-own” facilities, so in the spring of 2024, customers were able to happily select their own tulips at The Bloom Store on Lost Acres Road. As the season goes on, Galiatsatos offers peonies and dahlias. To be clear, this is not a typical florist shop. No custom pieces are made for celebrations or funerals. It is strictly a pick-your-own, priced by the stem, open only through the growing season enterprise. Galiatsatos does offer “do it yourself” buckets, and grows a few incidental flowers such as zinnias and snapdragons that customers might want to use as fillers when designing their own bouquet. During the season, Galiatsatos also offers a weekly CSA.
So, where did the “crazy idea” come from? It started back in the pandemic, when, to bring joy into her own house during those down times, Galiatsatos would cut flowers from her yard for the kitchen and family room. The result was so positive, she knew she needed to expand her garden so she could spread this joy around the community. “I bought a rototiller, and we purchased the small plot for sale next door, and the rest is history,” she notes.
Flower-growing is not Galiatsatos’s only occupation. With a master’s degree in education and an advanced graduate degree in educational leadership, she has been an elementary school teacher, an assistant principal, and now an administrator in local school systems. It might seem like adding another career onto the education one would be a bit much. For Galiatsatos, it’s just an extension of the business ethic in which she was raised working in her dad’s pizzeria in New Hartford.
The season for self-picking lasts for eight to 10 weeks beginning in mid-August. That time frame works perfectly for Blooms of Lost Acres to be a part of Granby’s popular Open Farms Day, which is Sept. 6 this year. After you have checked out the other vendors at Lost Acres Vineyard, wander on over to the flower garden and pick yourself some beauty to take home.