“I always say: I’m wild about weather and passionate about plants!” exclaims Frank Ferragine, resident gardening guru and weather specialist at Toronto’s Citytv. Most people know him as Frankie Flowers—and gardening is in his blood. Growing up around his family’s business, Bradford Greenhouses in Bradford, Ont., Ferragine got his hands dirty more often than not. “I’ve been working for the business ever since I was a little boy. I always joke that my after school program and my Sunday school was the family business,” says Ferragine.
In 1995, Ferragine began giving gardening tips on The New VR (now called A) in Barrie, Ont. Shortly after, he became that station’s weekend weather specialist and general assignment reporter. His break at Citytv came when he was asked to audition for a maternity-leave position covering the weather. He is now a weekday morning staple on Citytv's Breakfast Television as a weather and gardening specialist, and appears regularly on CityLine. He’s also a contributing writer for Canadian Living magazine and has twice earned the title of Ontario’s Gardening Broadcaster of the Year by Landscape Ontario. Not bad for someone who majored in economics and political science while attending York University in Toronto, and who originally planned on becoming a lawyer.
With a hectic schedule that most of us would balk at and a workday that starts at 2:30 a.m., Ferragine, 37, looks forward to his weekends off. Most are spent with his wife, Laurie, and their two boys, three-year-old Gavin and 11-month-old Matheson. Ferragine also still puts in time at the family greenhouse when he can. “What’s nice about the family business is that I can bring my children with me,” he says, adding that his oldest son loves spending the day at the greenhouse, too.
Although he’s often called a gardening expert, Ferragine readily admits to not being perfect. “Every good gardener makes a colossal failure, pretty much every year. I usually kill a plant, a couple of plants, every year,” he says. “That’s part of the learning process.” With plans to release a book in 2011, Ferragine will be divulging even more of his gardening know-how. Describing it as a training guide for gardeners that will be organized by the seasons, he hopes to inspire neophytes. “I always compare gardening to cooking; it’s all about gaining confidence. Start small. Start with Kraft Dinner and then evolve over time.”
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