When Rosalina Thomas, proprietor of Wheeler House Flowers, entered the specialty cut-flower business seven years ago, she embraced her lifelong love of gardening. “My first career was with big tech and media organizations, and I spent a lot of time at a desk or on an airplane,” she notes. “I love that my flower business uses just as much brain as brawn and keeps me active. Additionally, it gives me immense joy to see my end product—gorgeous blooms—bring such happiness to so many people in our community.” Recently, Thomas started offering seasonal flower subscriptions through her website. Available for pick up in Fairfield, weekly arrangements include a variety of blooms— such as tulips, poppies, narcissus, ranunculus, peonies, dahlias, roses, roselillies and heirloom zinnias—depending on the time of year.
Rosalina Thomas harvests flowers from her garden.
Thomas uses use organza bags to protect blossoms from hungry insects.
A dahlia bud glistens with morning dew.
A cream Cafe au Lait dahlia.
A burgundy Diva dahlia.
Roselilies are grown under hoops with insect netting to protect them from deer and insects.
How long have you lived in Fairfield?
We moved to Fairfield from Tribeca more than 10 years ago. Our loft was part of an 1800s warehouse building, and we always loved the strong, classic bones of antique structures. When we found the Wheeler Mansion, it checked off all the boxes—walking distance to schools, town, train and the beach, plus the charm and architecture of an 1800s Italianate Victorian.
What inspired your love of gardening?
Gardening and farming are in my blood. My father’s family owned rice farms in the Philippines, and he would return home from medical school to help at harvest time. He and I would spend hours on the weekend during the spring and summer tending to his flowering pots, shrubs and hanging flower baskets surrounding his pool patio. When my kids were toddlers, they loved helping him water and deadhead plants, and those are some of my happiest memories of him before he succumbed to cancer. What’s funny is that when my Filipino cousins and I connected on social media, we noticed that we all loved posting photos of our flowers, fruit and veggies in the garden—it’s definitely a genetic trait!
Does your family help out?
My husband and I have two girls, now 12 and 15. Every November, the entire family helps me plant thousands of tulips as my birthday gift. My husband has taken over the rehabilitation and care of the climbing roses along our ancient iron fence, and they are now thriving.
What was your inspiration for the business?
When we moved here, there was a jungle of a garden in the back of the property. I initially grew the typical fruit and veggie garden. It was a lot of work and very frustrating as we ate a fraction of what was being produced. After devouring Erin Benzakein’s seminal book, Cut Flower Garden, I decided to dedicate half of the garden to flowers. Two seasons later, I told my family that there were a lot of great local fruit and veggie farms around that we should support, and presto, the rest of the garden succumbed to my flower obsession.
Not long after that, I met a woman at a holiday cocktail party and showed her photos of my dahlias. She said, “Wow, I will totally buy those flowers!” and I replied, “I will totally sell you these flowers!” She turned out to be Sarah O’Brien of Fresh Flower Bar, and we’ve had a fantastic friendship and business relationship ever since. That was really the launch of Wheeler House Flowers as a commercial entity, and I now sell flowers to specialty grocery markets, private clients and floral designers.
Who buys your arrangements?
Our clients include specialty markets and shops such as The Pantry (Fairfield), Greiser’s Coffee & Market (Easton); businesses such as Camoro Salon (Southport) and the Delamar; and private individuals throughout Fairfield County. Realtors and designers love giving our flowers as client gifts, and we also have customers who gift flower subscriptions for friends and family.
Is your garden organic?
We are committed to growing organically and recently stopped using all pesticides, including organic ones such as Neem. It’s been fascinating seeing our little patch of the ecosystem rebalance as we focus on soil health to grow more resilient plants and support natural predators in the garden such as birds, green lacewings, praying mantis and, of course, ladybugs.
Premium novelty tulip bulbs prepared for indoor forcing.
Dolce Vita Italian ranunculus corms in pastel colors.
Ranunculus corms in a mesh bag before soaking. “We pre-sprout the corms by soaking them in their bags in buckets of water for several hours and then plant to overwinter,” says Thomas.
What’s your favorite aspect of gardening?
I love the many life lessons imbued in this work. As much as I try to mitigate risk, Mother Nature is in control, and I always go into a season knowing that something isn’t going to go to plan despite my best efforts. Ultimately, I need to be flexible and creative at solving problems as they come up— whether it is swapping in a different variety of tulip because of a crop failure or starting over with new seeds because I forgot to water. Beginner gardeners should take heart: I’ve probably killed more plants than I’ve successfully raised!
What’s a recommendation for aspiring gardeners?
For beginner gardeners, I would recommend focusing on bulbs (tulips and daffodils) and summer annuals such as cosmos, zinnias and sunflowers. They tend to be easy to start and forgiving! One may be surprised to discover the joy and satisfaction in the process as much as the result.
