Flower growers started the season feeling nervous that the economic recession would cut hard into their sales. But, as it turns out, the situation hasn’t been as bad as many people feared. By adjusting prices, adding markets, and finding new customers, all of the long-term growers contacted for this article were able to say that they are surviving the downturn and looking forward to a better year next year.

Their experiences this year also suggest that there are some big changes under way in the floral business. Traditional florists appear to be the hardest hit by the recession. But the local food movement has extended to local flowers, providing new opportunities for many growers. “Green” weddings are especially popular, although flower budgets are often more modest than in the past.
Here are some comments from growers around the United States about what they are seeing in their flower businesses this year:

Portsmouth, New Hampshire
“Sales overall are a little bit down — a little bit, not a lot,” said Carolyn Ramsbotham of Ramsbotham’s Riverview Farm, who sells at three farmers markets and through a flower subscription on the farm. “I changed my packaging to offer more single stems and smaller bunches. Some growers sell lisianthus eight stems for $12; I’m selling three stems for $5. It’s more labor, but I’m selling them. I’ve also noticed a lot of people coming to market for parties and weddings, so I think the florists are probably suffering. Some florists are coming to market to buy from me because their customers want local flowers.”

Amherst, Massachusetts
Missy Bahret of Old Friends Farm, says the flower side of their organic farm is humming along nicely. “I just reviewed the numbers and we are quite close to last year at this time, and yet we scaled back slightly (in varieties and quantity) for this year, so I’d say we are doing pretty well. Our weddings are up in frequency, but down in amounts spent. I think this is very reflective of the ecomony. Certainly the green wedding idea is gaining momentum. That’s a hard one to break, too, since once a future bride has been to another green wedding, she likely would feel quite awkward amongst her friends going the non-green route for her own event. Ahh, peer pressure at its best! “Farmers markets are right on last year’s track, only noticing some of our shell-out-the-cash for flowers customers holding back a bit, but the smaller purchasers are plentiful. Florists are complaining that its a ghost town in their stores, except the store that mainly caters to the hospital. Our florist sales have certainly been down, though they seem more receptive to coming out to the farm to get stuff in a pinch, which has been something we have wanted them to get into doing – to help form the connection and get them to see all the flowers that they have no idea of the name of when we tell them on the phone.

“Stores have been up in sales, of small, simple bouquets. Our Whole Foods accounts have been okay, too. Though they complain that the flower business has been down, they have featured us at good times, and placed big orders to keep up with the demand from the feature.

Our wholesalers (that sell at the Boston Flower Exchange wholesale) haven’t been ordering as much this year. That’s okay with me becasue we really don’t get compensated fairly for those orders, just a lot of nice feedback on the quality, but that doesn’t pay the bills! They still don’t seem to care that it is Certified Organic; we had thought that they would start having interest in that. “We have noticed a few comments from customers like ‘Can’t afford the massage every week, so I treat myself to flowers instead!’ and ‘Flowers in our house make us feel like things aren’t so bad.’ Yahoo! Go flowers!”

Washington, D.C.
“Everything is slower and sales are off,” said Bob Wollam of Wollam Gardens in Jeffersonton, Virginia. “Florist sales are particularly low. And of my farmers markets, two are holding to last year’s sales and four are struggling — they’re off 30 to 40 percent. But my total sales are actually up about 10 percent because I’ve been selling to a few Whole Foods stores and I’m doing a lot more work with brides who are coming to the farm. Local flowers have really caught on.”
Bob, who grows 8 acres of flowers, sells to 14 florists in the metropolitan Washington area, though one went out of business this summer. “I think florists are really in trouble,” he said. “The only florists I know who are surviving okay are doing event work.”

Southern Tennessee
Karen Yasui of Petalland in Tullahoma, TN, said: “The largest part of my business is selling to retail florists and sales were very slow in the middle of the summer. It is picking up a little now. I knew this would be a slow year, so I didn’t try to get too ambitious, but it was very discouraging to put so many nice flowers on the compost in July. About the only change I will make in what I’m doing is to continue to diversify my customer base. I am applying for a florist license so that it is legal for me to sell some potted plants. Also I have rented a booth in an antique mall to use as a retail outlet for dried flower arrangements.”

Newport News, Virginia
“Sales are up 16% over last year at this time overall,” said Lisa Zieglier of The Gardener’s Workshop. “We move our flowers through bouquet subscriptions (30 a week), a garden share program, two farmers markets, and directly to florists.

“I do see a difference in demand and purchase follow-through at the two markets we attend. One is a mid-week morning market that has a more upscale professional crowd; here the ladies seem more willing to purchase flowers for themselves. At our Saturday market, there is more of a younger, middle-class crowd, and it is as though this group feels they shouldn’t be purchasing flowers for themselves. Some of this may be frugality, but more of it I think is that they are uncomfortable buying flowers for themselves. We have just stumbled onto this idea and are working on some simple short one liner signs to display each week that might give the customer the idea that it’s not only “OK” to buy flowers, but it is the right thing to do for your family and home.”

Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Betsy Hitt of Peregrine Farm in Graham, NC, said: “I thought about planting less this year because of the economy but decided that I could just stop cutting if it turned out I couldn’t sell everything. Really, it’s been fine. Our local economy is pretty unusual because of the universities in the area. I kind of think that the downturn in the economy has been offset by the new fashionable view of local agriculture.  For us, farmers market has been great.”

Bloomington, Indiana
Linda Chapman of Harvest Moon Farm in Spencer, Indiana, sells at farmers markets and does weddings. At market, she said, “We began to offer a ‘medium sized’ bouquet ($10-11)this year to bridge the economic gap between our large bouquets ($12-14) and small ones($6-7). It’s really helped our sales.  Actually, our market sales are way up, now that the weather and production has stabilized (after cold, rainy weather early in the season). We’ve been selling up to $300 more product at each of our three weekly markets compared to last year. As for weddings, this is where I’m seeing the recession in play — VERY budget-minded brides. Average wedding budgets in the past were from $600 to $1,400. This year, the average is more like $350-750. I am getting more inquiries for wedding flowers — brides hoping farm flowers are cheaper than florists. Nevertheless, we have about 35-40 wedding orders this year, comparable to last year.”

Western Michigan
“As flower farmers growing and selling at farmers markets in Michigan, we were affected by the downturn in the economy for several years before the current recession. Many jobs throughout our state are closely connected to the automotive industry,” said Jim and Patricia Banner of Banner Flower Farm in Allegan, Michigan.  “Currently, we participate in three farmers markets on Saturdays, and one on Wednesday. At our main market which is located in a metropolitan area, business is down approximately 40%. Our second market is in a community along the shores of Lake Michigan. This is a growers-only market. While Wednesday sales are down 25% this season, Saturday sales are proving to be steady. Our third market is a new market in an area with tremendous potential. This is also a growers-only market. The organizers of this market are visibly present, and tremendous promoters of “Eat Local Food. Buy Local Flowers.” This market is held under three large tents. Plans are in order to build a new pavilion next season. We think this market will exceed our metropolitan market within a year.”

Fayetteville, Arkansas
“You wouldn’t know there was a recession,” said Janet Bachmann of Riverbend Gardens, who sells at the Fayetteville Farmers Market. “People buy flowers. I haven’t noticed any decrease in demand at all.”

Boulder, Colorado
“We’re getting hammered at the farmers market,” said Chet Anderson of the Fresh Herb Company. “Just flowers, we’re off 35 percent. People who used to buy two are buying just one and prices of bouquets have had to come down.”
Chet also sells sunflowers and bouquets to Whole Foods Market’s Rocky Mountain region, which includes 30 stores in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas and Missouri. “Whole Foods is a pretty good customer,” he said. “They say they’ve downsized their departments and they’re down 20 percent,  but we can’t keep up with them.”
Despite the disappointing farmers market sales, Chet is feeling good about the flower farm. He cut back on expenses, buying in fewer lily bulbs and hiring fewer employees, so the bottom line hasn’t been hurt too badly. And he has used the summer to revamp his perennial fields. “I’m dividing the peonies for the first time ever, so it’s a chance to change the spacing and do things differently,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to start fresh. I love this business, and I’ve got plans to really hit it again hard next year.”

Austin, Texas
Frank and Pamela Arnosky have been selling to supermarkets almost exclusively this summer, reducing their retail business because production has been limited by heat and drought. “We’re selling every flower we can cut,” Frank said. “Our business is equal to or a little better than last year. Last time we looked at Quicken, sales were up 17 percent over last year. Each of our stores is selling less than last year, but we’ve picked up more stores.”

Ogden, Utah
Tom Wikstrom of Happy Trowels Farm says it’s been a tough year, but not catastrophic. “My florist route sales are down around 25% from last year, and there are lots more checks bouncing. I had to pick up a few more clients to help the bottom line. Farmers market sales are down about the same, no large sales and I cannot sell bouquets larger than $10, when in the past I was able to sell larger ones up to $25. Wedding sales at farmers market have all but dried up, though I am surprised at this, as we are so much cheaper than florists.  So, off about a quarter, which is pretty much the norm from what folks tell me. Working harder for less is the m.o. around these parts. No big deal, yet.”

Blackfoot, Idaho
Ralph Thurston of Bindweed Farm said: “We were initially quite worried when the season began, but sales are basically even with last year We had an extremely cold spring that limited our May and June sales, so it is possible that had we had the product, we would be ahead. Some clients are having a hard time, some report that walk-in sales are down but bride business and event business are still the same. We have had a few clients writing bad checks (though making them good) — unusual for us — so they must be working on a little narrower margin than normal. We’re actually going to expand a bit next year, thinking that if you plan on the past you’ll be left behind — you just have to go ahead as you would have anyway. You have to have product to sell it; if you don’t have it, you WILL be in a recession of your own making.”

Lynn Byczynski is the editor and publisher of Growing for Market and a cut flower grower in Lawrence, Kansas. She sells to one florist and one bouquet maker, and her sales, year to date, are up 2.5 percent from last year. Lynn also is the author of The Flower Farmer, a guide to growing and selling cut flowers, available for $28 plus $5 shipping from GFM at 800-307-8949 or www.growingformarket.com.