The Flower Press

Growing West: Water, Land, and What Comes Next for Pedaling Petals

Outside her front door and facing the foothills of the Rockies, Heather Hirschi adjusts drip irrigation lines while Tim Diana, her growing partner, broadforks soil in preparation for planting dahlia tubers. The two have been growing flowers together for two years under the Pedaling Petals name — a partnership rooted in friendship, a shared love of specialty dahlias, and a mission that began long before either of them called it a business.

Tim started growing flowers in 2021, delivering bouquets by solar-powered e-bike to local medical centers after seeing firsthand how much flowers could lift someone’s spirits. The deliveries never stopped. Pedaling Petals now donates roughly 3,000 flowers per season to Columbine Health residents, twice a week, by bike. The farm’s stated mission extends beyond the bouquet: making the world better one flower at a time, the operation is built around sustainability — caring for communities, soil health, and plant and insect biodiversity as core values.

This season, however, the conversation keeps returning to water — one of the most pressing conservation and sustainability challenges facing northern Colorado’s agricultural community.

Colorado’s drought has reached historic levels, with snowpack at just 26% of median and Front Range water allocations cut to 50% or less of normal. Research in Frontiers in Plant Science confirms what growers already know — drought shortens stems, reduces flowering, and cuts commercial value significantly. A farmer Tim spoke with recently received five days of ditch water this season where he normally receives 68.

For now, Tim and Heather are fortunate. Their current property has a natural spring — unrestricted, seasonal, and increasingly rare. But the property is changing hands and the search for new land is underway. “We are keenly aware that every drop of water that we use, someone else down the river doesn’t,” Tim said.

Their criteria for what comes next is clear. Location and water. In that order. Everything else follows.

For Pedaling Petals, finding the right next field is not just a business decision. It is the one that determines the future of the operation and its mission.