John Poston’s Tulip Garden Makes Independent Living Possible for Adults with Disabilities

John Poston’s goal is to provide a life-changing opportunity for the residents of Daymark Living. Poston Gardens provides people scholarships for residents of Daymark Living and awareness that adults with IDD are capable of being productive members of their community. John says “They just need an opportunity.”

For John, Michael’s future was always on his mind. “I was thinking why can’t Michael live like his siblings. Looking out there, there was no place for him to live an active, healthy lifestyle,” John said.

John visited Keukenhof Park in Holland in May 2018, also known as the Garden of England. The garden first opened to the public in 1950 and was deemed an instant hit with 200,000 visitors in its first year alone. He decided to recreate the tulip garden in Waxahachie.

John realized that he did not know anything about tulips, but decided that he could figure it out. He flew to Holland and met with farmers and exporters. While there, he said “he developed relationships needed to pull this off.”

When John returned to Waxahachie, he met a local farming family, the Tammingas, who happened to be natives of the Netherlands. Tamminga’s son, Luke, and Thijs van Zaal, who lives in Holland but loves the mission, took over the planting of the bulbs and the farming.

In December 2019. John and his teams began planting the bulbs for the spring season. Over 100,000 bulbs were planted on the top field, which is called the triangle. On the bottom field, which is called the nursery. over 500,000 tulip bulbs were planted.

Also planted in the middle of the nursery section, is a large patch of yellow tulips in the shape of the state of Texas.

There are early, mid and late blooming bulbs and thousands of varieties. Poston Gardens planted 36 different varieties for the 2020 season.

To help support Daymark Living’s mission of helping those with intellectual disabilities thrive, residents have the opportunity to work at Poston Gardens which serves as the for-profit arm of The Poston Gardens Foundation.

With each tulip sale, a percentage of profits will go towards The Poston Gardens Foundation scholarships to assist future residents with the financial costs of living at Daymark Living.

Last year, Poston Gardens raised $600,000 to improve the lives of people with IDD. This year’s goal is to raise more than $1 million for scholarships. The garden had 20,000 visitors last year!

John said that he couldn’t have picked a better city than Waxahachie to build Poston Gardens and Daymark Living. He has nothing but praise for the leadership and citizens of the community. They have embraced both Daymark Living and Poston Gardens,” said John.

Poston is thrilled how the city of Waxahachie has embraced Poston Farms. He had visited two other tulip festivals in the United States and said “I know that we can build a great tulip attraction right here in Waxahachie.”

Poston Gardens is the perfect spot to capture those special moments. We spotted Kristy Tomlinson of Thirteen Sixty Photography photographing her daughter picking some tulips.

Take advantage of free admissions for kids (15 and under) until March 22.

Kristy was also photographing a Maypearl student with her horse.

We spotted Trang Vo of Grand Prairie photographing her beautiful family.

Happy Birthday to Kosha Jayaswal who traveled from Orlando to celebrate her 32nd birthday with the Chakraborty family & Jayswal family. 

Kosha surrounded by her family at Poston Gardens.

Bottom row: Niral, Sourav, Gauri, Ishaan & Jayshri

Top Row: Neha, Kosha Dipti, Hitesh & Nikita

Come enjoy the beauty in the wide open spaces, and support a social entrepreneurship that makes the Daymark Living community possible. Poston Gardens is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.