Call Of The Flowers

by Mary Jasch

Can an investment banker run an old¬fashioned flower farm? Can he soft¬pedal his hours in dirt and flowers where once there were hardscape and towers?

Eliot Wadsworth, CEO of White Flower Farm and plant lover, says yes and he has proved it ever since he bought the farm in 1975.

When Wadsworth was newly married he was constantly on the road. He wanted a more normal life and to be his own boss. He gardened very little then, living in Manhattan. "You can't do much gardening in the city but have a few vegetables," he says. "You can't garden very much unless you have a settled life. I went into it more as a lifestyle rather than a deep commitment to horticulture."

Now he's an active gardener at his Brookline, Massachusetts home. "By the standards of most amateurs, I'm reasonably competent and informed. By the standards of people at White Flower Farm, I'm just above the village idiot."

A true gardener and entrepreneur, Wadsworth likes to bring his work home. "I do trials of bulbs and perennials and fruit trees. My favorites vary by the week. Right now in Brookline, I'm running trials on delphiniums that have produced visual images that are astounding." He also has a vegetable garden.

Wadsworth is not one to sit back and reap reward. He's actively involved with the workings of the farm and spends weekends there. He writes the catalogs and is on the Product Selection Committee. "I'm the owner, so I get to do what I want."

The daily theme is how to always take better care of plants and customers. "In an odd way, this is a business where the joy is not striving after some abstract goal. What's terrific is every day is different and we do stuff every day that we love."

To Wadsworth, the magical part of the business is constantly looking at new plants. "What I used to do was an endless pursuit of the next bigger transaction. It's a very different kind of business and it suits me just fine."

He views himself as the current incumbent, and the staff and customers as the real owners. "An old guy started it who was a writer and he had it for 26 years, now I've had it for 27 years. I feel I don't really own it. I'm just taking care of it as my energy allows. This is not about money in the conventional way."


** Photo courtesy of White Flower Farm

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published June 01, 2003