Sunflower Farm is located at 767 Derby Milford Road, Orange, Connecticut; it is owned and operated by my husband, Ernie and myself, Sabrina Santoro.

Sunflower Farm was started shortly after our first child, Ernie, was born. Ernie Sr. became a stay at home dad, and may actually be the very first Mr. Mom! For a while the farm remained nameless, and we sold a few cut flowers, dahlias and such, until one day Ernie was out shopping with our daughter, born two years after her brother, and he purchased some beautiful cut sunflowers for her. He told me then that was his favorite flower, and said to me, "I bet I can grow these."

And so it began. We started out with a small garden of sunflowers, which we sold fresh cut. Then it grew into a large garden, with over 25 different varieties, which we sold fresh cut. The Ernie started growing certain varieties in pots; giant yellow, giant red, and all kinds of multi-bloom dwarf patio plants. Up until a couple of years ago, we were still doing the fresh cut garden.

Ernie and his sunflowers have been seen on the front pages of local newspapers, in Connecticut Magazine, Off the Beaten Path, and as far away as Wisconsin in the Christian Science Monitor.
The potted plants became so popular, that we needed more room for them, so we aren‚t doing the fresh cut bouquets anymore. As years went by, Ernie expanded and began selling numerous other kinds of plants and we soon found out that Ernie has the greenest thumb on the planet, as his plants are beyond gorgeous and people come from all over the state to purchase them.

At the present time we sell hundreds of varieties of perennials, dwarf sunflowers, giant sunflowers, annuals, and the most gorgeous, huge, perfect mums you have ever seen.

We have numerous butterfly and hummingbird friendly perennials for those of you who, like myself, find peace and joy while tending to a garden full of these beautiful creatures.

In the fall, we also sell the usual fall items such as cornstalks, hay, pumpkins and those gorgeous mums, but also have a special item, air brushed pumpkins. I do the air brushing, and early in the season I do take special orders, but after October 1st it's strictly items available "off the shelf", but there are dozens of character faces to choose from. All our painted pumpkins are guaranteed until Halloween, and are gladly replaced if they rot before the holiday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these pumpkins, we have customers that come in the spring and tell us things such as that their "Tweety" lasted until April!!

I have also began a line of home made soaps, which are made from local goat's milk and all natural products, and also salt scrubs and the like, so check back with us frequently for new items.