COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Southern Colorado's hot, dry summer is shrinking bloom windows and forcing a local flower farm to rethink how it operates, but the gates are still open.
At Venetucci Farm, Nikki McComsey runs Gather Mountain Blooms, a flower operation that hosts a popular seasonal event called U-Pick-Em.
This summer, weeks of 90-degree temperatures have compressed the time flowers stay in bloom, pushing McComsey to adjust nearly every part of her process.
"Rather than getting three weeks of bloom time, it will shrink down to two weeks of bloom time," said McComsey.
To keep the fields full, McComsey plants in waves so that as one crop fades, another is ready. But the heat has made even that strategy difficult to execute.
"There's a little bit more of a gap than we usually have from like June into July where we didn't have very many flowers. The heat is just pushing them so hard and stressing them really hard right now," said McComsey.
The farm's crew has also adjusted its schedule, now starting work before sunrise to stay safe in the heat.
"Make sure that our crew of people who are out here working can be safe and... get out of the heat," said McComsey.
Unlike many Colorado farms that depend on snowmelt, Gather Mountain Blooms relies on groundwater.
"If we didn't have access to the groundwater that we have with the water rights here, we wouldn't have flowers," said McComsey.
McComsey's connection to flowers goes back to 2020.
"Flowers to me started during a hard time in my life," said McComsey.
Six years later, that personal connection drives her commitment to the farm and to the community experience it offers.
"Just making memories with people with their friends, their family and pass down those memories to other generations," said McComsey.
Despite the challenges, the farm remains open. Visitors can pick zinnias now, with Sunflower Days in August, Dahlia Days in September and Pumpkin Fest in October. This weekend, the farm is open Friday and Saturday morning from 8 a.m. to noon.
McComsey said the work is hard, but the love for local agriculture keeps farmers going.
"I think you see people doing it because they love it. They do it because they believe in local agriculture... they're willing to stick through it, but it's hard," said McComsey. "I would just say support your local farmer, whoever it is, whether it's us and you come to the farm and you cut your own flowers or you go to the farmer's market and you buy a bouquet of flowers there just support your local farmers."
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