Cuts Of Color

Cuts of Color is owned and operated by Rita Anders of Weimar, Texas. Rita began growing greenhouse tomatoes in 1979 when her grandfather retired and wanted her to take over the family business. When she took over the business, she started out with a 4,800 sq. foot greenhouse only growing tomatoes. Within a matter of 5 years, the business expanded to 20,000 sq. feet and in 1990, grew another 12,000 sq. feet. Growing tomatoes was the sole crop until 2005 when Rita decided to downsize and diversify in order to grow other crops and flowers. During this time, Rita decided to expand her business to grow beautiful flowers along with several vegetable varieties, and various herbs. The decision for doing this was based on the ever rising costs of fuel. This is how Cuts of Color came about. To this day, Rita believes her decision to grow flowers and herbs in addition to growing tomatoes, was the most rewarding experience of her agricultural career. Rita truly enjoys growing her crops and making bouquets and finds customer satisfaction is her top priority. To date, Cuts of Color consists of 26,000 sq. foot of greenhouses in addition to two acres in outside flower beds. Cuts of Color also practices sustainable agriculture using organic growing methods whenever possible. You may purchase flowers from Cuts Of Color at Central Market in Houston on the corner of Weslayan and Westheimer. Fresh flowers are delivered most Tuesdays and Fridays of each week. Cuts of Color is located in Weimar, TX, which is located an hour west of Houston, on IH 10. From our family to yours, farm visits are always welcome, but a phone call ahead is always best. Availability of crops and flowers vary with the seasons and are subject to forces of mother nature, insects and deer. Texas-grown blooms delight brides, chefs and hostessesBy: Debra Prinzing Rita Anders, a granddaughter of tomato farmers, who says she has the "gardening gene," has paired her knack for growing vegetables with natural artistic talent to create a thriving cut flower farm in Weimar, halfway between Austin and Houston in Colorado County, Texas. Rita took over her grandparents' tomato greenhouses in 1980 when she was a young mother, and since then, she's raised many types of edible plants. But this vivacious Texas native is at her best when she's up to her shoulders in luscious, fragrant blooms. At Cuts of Color, flowers and floral ingredients comprise 70 percent of Rita's product mix. She produces hundreds of varieties of annuals, perennials, bulbs, vines, grasses, and herbs in three acres of growing fields and in 24,000-square-feet of greenhouses. Her prolific floral enterprise thrives because there's something beautiful to harvest every month of the year. In 2005, prompted in part by the rising price of fuel to heat her greenhouses, Rita began diversifying her farm with cut flowers -- and she has been greatly rewarded by the response. "I wanted to grow something that I loved - and growing flowers just seemed so romantic to me," she says. Rita researched the industry, joined the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG), a national trade group, and poured through the pages of Lynn Byczynski's book "The Flower Farmer," which featured the story of Texas Specialty Cut Flowers, a successful family farm in Hill Country. Rita began sowing seeds of Texas favorites like sunflowers, cockscomb and zinnias. "I didn't plant rows of flowers, I planted entire gardens," she recalls. The floral side of her business took off when a neighbor encouraged Rita to sell her bouquets at his farm egg stall at the Urban Harvest Farmers' Market in Houston. The first week, Rita brought 30 bouquets, along with baskets of lettuce greens and just-picked tomatoes. "People who came for my vegetables bought flowers and the flower customers bought vegetables - the more I had, the more they wanted." Cuts of Color was a popular stall at the farmers' market for seven years. "Every Saturday, I got up at 4 a.m.,