Yes, you’re a grower. And of course you would rather sell flowers to wholesalers than buy from them. But there are occasions when it makes sense to buy flowers. Maybe bad weather destroys a variety you promised for a wedding. Maybe you have lilies in fall, but need filler to make them into Thanksgiving bouquets. Or perhaps your farm market just needs florals early in the season, before your own flowers are blooming.

For whatever reason, many flower growers buy in flowers periodically. No one is particularly happy to do it, because local flowers are so obviously superior in freshness, variety, and sustainability. But if your own farm’s viability depends on buying flowers to meet commitments or extend your season, it’s smart to know your options. And it’s a good idea to establish relationships with wholesalers at a slow time of year — like right now. If you wait until December, and then try to buy flowers for a Christmas market, you might discover slim pickings because every other flower buyer in the country placed his or her orders back in July. The same is true with Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Florists and supermarket floral departments plan half a year in advance for the big floral holidays. If you want to buy good flowers, you should think ahead and make sure the wholesaler knows you when the time comes to buy.

The first thing you need before you buy anywhere is a sales tax number, also known as a resale number. If you don’t already have a sales tax number, you’ll have to apply for one from your state taxing agency. Having a sales tax number allows you to buy products for resale without paying the sales tax yourself. And many wholesalers won’t sell to you without one, because they want to be sure you’re not just a consumer looking for a good price. But applying for a sales tax number also will trigger all kinds of reporting requirements to your state. At some point in the life of your business, you’re going to get on the government’s radar anyway, so you might as well do it now.

There are many places to buy flowers wholesale these days:  internet stores that offer flowers direct from the growers; brick-and-mortar wholesalers; and the giant warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club and Costco.

The green option
Sustainability is a big issue for most local growers, so there is a natural resistance to buying flowers flown in from the other side of the world, especially if they were grown with loads of pesticides under abysmal working conditions. One company that is trying to address some of those problems in the cut flower industry is Organic Bouquet, a web-based flower store that offers certified-organic and sustainable flowers. Organic Bouquet has recently started a wholesale division offering those same flowers to resellers at prices comparable to other internet wholesalers. Selection is getting better every day. In early October, Organic Bouquet Wholesale was offering roses, alstroemeria, hypericum, calla lily, bupleurum, flowering kale, lisianthus, asters, agapanthus, amarylis, larkspur, delphinium, gerberas, and hydrangea. A few varieties are certified organic. Other flowers are certified fair trade and sustainable under various programs. VeriFlora Certified Sustainably Grown program identifies several “elements of sustainability” its growers must meet, including sustainable crop production, resource conservation and energy efficiency, ecosystem protection, fair labor practices, community benefits, and quality product.

Organic Bouquet Wholesale has a shipping facility in Miami for flowers imported from South America. For a customer ordering a few boxes, it ships FedEx Overnight at a cost of $35 per box. Larger shipments can go by air cargo, which means the buyer has to pick them up at the airport.

Examples of recent prices: 55 cents per stem for gerberas shipped 90 per box; and 28 cents per stem for alstroemeria shipped 200 per box. Add the $35 per box shipping charge, and the alstroemeria cost 45 cents a stem, the gerberas 94 cents a stem.

You can register as a buyer any time, which will make ordering easy in the future. One precaution about Organic Bouquet and most other internet floral suppliers: You have to order a week to 10 days before you want the flowers. That’s because they don’t keep much inventory, but instead send your order directly to the farm where the flowers are grown. To learn more, visit the web site www.organicbouquetwholesale.com.

VeriFlora flowers are also available from a few other shippers, listed at the program’s web site, www.veriflora.com.

Because we supply flowers to a natural foods store, which wants floral product all year, we have been debating the relative merits of growing flowers in a heated greenhouse versus buying them from Organic Bouquet Wholesale. We need an energy economist to figure it out for sure, but we suspect that, given that planes full of flowers are flying up from Ecuador anyway, it’s more energy-efficient to buy imported flowers than to heat our greenhouse all winter.
   
Visiting the wholesaler
Every city of any size has at least one floral wholesaler and many have several to choose among. Some of the bigger wholesalers have numerous branches regionally and even nationally. Even if you don’t expect to buy flowers, you should go visit these places and buy supplies such as vases and floral preservatives. Then you’ll be in their database when you want to go in and buy flowers.

The big advantage to buying from a real floral wholesale store is that you can walk into the cooler and pick out the bunches of flowers that you want. The other benefit is that many of the flowers are grown in the United States, so are presumably less likely to be coated with pesticides, as imports often are. Before you go into the cooler, ask for the price list, because the prices aren’t posted and you don’t want to have to ask about every variety that catches your eye. I would never recommend ordering flowers by phone and then picking them up from the wholesaler. I have seen some really poor quality flowers in wholesalers’ coolers. In general, flowers in the wholesale chain are not going to be as fresh and vibrant as your own flowers, so don’t expect that. But do check to see if their stems are turgid and the water they’re in is clean. Give the bunch a little shake to see if petals fall off.

The wholesaler will probably take the flowers you have chosen and put them in a box for you to take home. If you have a long ride or aren’t going home right away, bring your own buckets, fill them with water there, and transport the flowers wet. If you order frequently enough, and you’re on the route, the wholesaler may be willing to deliver to your door.

Wholesale clubs
Sam’s Club and Costco both offer bulk floral items. Some stores have significant floral sections with really cheap prices. Both sell bulk items online. I didn’t find any claims to sustainability on either of these sites. Prices and quantities varied quite a bit from one site to another, especially when shipping is added. Alstroemeria were cheaper from Organic Bouquet than from either Sam’s Club or Costco. Gerberas were cheaper at Sam’s Club than at either of the other two. If you need only one or two items, it probably pays to shop around.

Other internet sites
Be careful with other so-called “bulk floral” sites. The pricing is better than retail, but not by much. Many of these sites, such as Growers Box and Flowerbud, are selling to brides and people throwing parties, and their “wholesale prices” are twice what a true wholesaler would charge you. Many of the other “grower-shippers” you find online will ship only to established wholesalers, so you may have to order through a wholesaler if there is a particular flower you want. A good place to look at available flowers is the web site of the California Cut Flower Commission, www.ccfc.org.