Fresh from the farm
If you’re thinking of using our confetti for your event, we thought you might like to meet the people making it for you!
Ferme Fleurie located in the heart of Provence in the South of France, is a large family-owned flower farm that exports 95 percent of its harvest to Holland. Yep, a big truck comes anywhere from two to seven times a week and carries away massive containers of flowers, all of them measured, clipped, bunched, refrigerated...and ready to be sold at auction. The rest are sold locally through farm markets and florists.
But it’s not just the beautiful flowers that have made locals so attached to Ferme Fleurie....it’s also the adorable owners Marcel and Debbie.
So how is it that this effervescent Englishwoman and her handsome Dutch husband came to be among the largest flower producers in Provence?
Born in a small town near Amsterdam, Marcel and his late wife Julie came down to Provence and established the farm in 1999. Julie lost her battle with cancer in 2013.
The following year, Debbie—a former teacher who comes originally from Whitstable in Kent, England but was living in Istanbul at the time—arrived in Provence to visit friends. Among their guests at dinner one night was the flower farmer who lived just next door. And over that long, laughter-filled meal, Marcel and Debbie connected. They stayed in touch and before too long, Debbie had chucked her life in Turkey, moved to France and moved in. The couple married on the farm in September 2015.
With 14 hectares (34 acres) of land, Ferme Fleurie operates year round. What can't be grown reliably in the ground is raised in one of 28 greenhouses. To help get everything picked, packaged and shipped off on time, Debbie and Marcel have a fantastic team of workers, a group that swells to 40 people in the height of the “short and intense” six-week peony season each spring.
While anemones comprise a large part of their production, it’s the peonies for which the farm is best known: gorgeous fluffy blooms in colours including Sarah Bernhardt, Duchesse de Nemours, Coral Sunset and many more...in both “Simple” and “double” varieties. The farm’s 130,000 stabilized peony bushes will produce roughly one million pretty stems this year. These are the peonies from which your confetti is lovingly made by hand. From the planting to picking to drying to packaging...it’s all done right here on the farm.
Debbie and Marcel also grow lilies, roses, tulips, viburnum, sedum, lavender and more.
“Marcel is Dutch and likes to plant things,” Debbie says with a laugh.
When they’re not crazy busy on the farm, the couple loves to walk with their dogs, participate in local fundraisers and festivals, discover new restaurants, drink great red wine, hang out with their large group of international friends and, of course, to travel. “But no matter where we go,” Deb says, “we’re always happiest at home on the farm.”
Julie Mautner - Resident Blogger






Share:
Follow: