By Liz Gordon-Hancock
Bluffton Farmers Market is the place to be on Saturday mornings in town. According to the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce, our town "boasts the best farmers market in northwest Ohio."

In celebration of our small but mighty farmers market, the Icon will be featuring a market vendor each week over the course of the summer.

This week's feature vendor is Bountiful Blooms.

Julie King's Bountiful Blooms stall is hard to miss with it's eye-catching blossoms in all the colors of the rainbow.

The bouquets are made up of zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, snapdragons, lisianthus, scabious, gomphrena, celosia, golden rod, to name but a few. Each bouquet comes with a mason jar, in either quart or pint size.

"The flowers are picked the day before, so they are fresh for the market," said King. According to her, the blooms will last at least a week.

King starts all her plants from seed in March in her greenhouse. Then once the weather warms up (which turned out to be June this year), she transplants them outdoors. She planted over 4,000 plants this year, not counting the sunflowers.

This is King's full-time, summer job. "I love to be outdoors." said King. This is her third year selling at Bluffton's market, and she also sells at Lima and Findlay markets.

Bountiful Blooms is based out of Elida. If you're interested in doing a bulk order, call King at 419-302-5270.

Bountiful Blooms will be at Saturday markets until it frosts.

About the Bluffton Farmer’s Market
This story is part of a summer series on Bluffton Farmers Market vendors. The market is open each Saturday through the end of October from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Citizens National Bank parking lot, 102 S. Main St. For vendor information, contact Greg Probst, market director, at [email protected].