ARNOLD – If the sun is shining bright and the breeze is blowing into the community of Arnold from the northwest just right, you might just catch the smell of beautiful flowers in the air thanks to Dahlia Valley Ranch. The Arnold Economic Development Corporation celebrated the unique business’s expansion with a ribbon cutting on Friday (September 13).
Lisa Nelson told KCNI/KBBN she is in her fourth growing season and that the new self serve shopping location in town felt like a need the community had in addition to being a supplier of fresh flowers to florists across central Nebraska.
“The shop is a grab-n-go, self serve concept where you come in, you grab what you need whether it be a fresh bouquet or sola wood flowers and you just drop a payment in a box or use Venmo and you’re good to go,” explained Nelson.
The self serve location in the lower section of Hotel Custer has been successful so far, Nelson said. She loves having people come to see the flowers on the plant too, though.
“Back at the farm are the ‘Sip and Snips’ that we have every Saturday night through the growing season. It will go until frost, but we do it Saturdays from 7 PM to 9 PM which is kind of the golden hour where the sun is going down, it’s that peaceful time where you go out, you cut your flowers and you can just tool around the rows and have a great time,” Nelson said.
Lisa thanked her husband Eric and the community for their great support at the ribbon cutting. She hopes to expand on the Saturday Sip and Snip events with chef-cooked full dinners next year, and this fall pumpkins are planned.
When asked if she was the chef, Nelson laughed, “Uh, no. I will outsource that one. I can grow flowers, but no, I’ll leave the chef to somebody else.”
View our full conversation with Lisa as well as pictures of some flowers on the ranch below:
