By Carolina Lees
For most established growers, the easiest place to start selling flowers will be mixed bouquets and single stem/small bunch retail sales. These are the flowers you can sell to your existing customers and they are easy to incorporate into farmers market, CSA, and grocery sales. But there are lots of other outlets out there, including florists, weddings and events, business subscriptions, value added products, and wholesalers.
Pricing
Pricing is hard. Coming from the world of vegetables, the price points on flowers seem high. But it’s important to not undersell your flowers. A common complaint I’ve heard from flower growers is that vegetable growers bring flowers to market and sell them so cheaply that the flower growers can’t compete.
Flowers are more expensive to grow than vegetables. They take longer, are fussy to handle, and challenging to transport. And how many vegetable growers are underselling themselves already? Many of us price our vegetables based on what the market will bear, not on giving ourselves a truly sustainable profit margin. Flowers give us an opportunity to charge what we’re really worth.
Track your costs and time. Do some research. See what people are charging at nearby farmers markets, CSAs, grocery stores, and florists. If there is a wholesale coop or market near you, visit it and see what’s being sold and for how much. If you plan to sell to florists, you should be especially sensitive about pricing. Your wholesale prices should be lower than your retail prices, and your customers may not appreciate you undercutting their expertise.
In an effort to make flowers more profitable without drastically changing my pricing, I’m trying to control the size of retail bouquets and the types of blooms I include. Going forward, I plan to expand on value added products like wreaths, flower crowns, and special orders, and market fancier blooms to higher paying customers.
The author’s flowers on display in her purchased display stand. All photos courtesy of the author.
Mixed bouquets
Nothing makes your farmers market stand pop like a luscious display of flower bouquets. Mixed bouquets are one of the best sellers at farmers markets and to grocery stores, and they are the most common offering for flower CSAs.
Mixed bouquets require you to have a variety of blooms and greenery at any given time. They are made up of several elements: focal flowers like dahlias or sunflowers are showy blooms that create a focal point for the bouquet. Filler flowers are smaller blooms, often in sprays, umbels, or clusters, that add volume, color, and texture. Ammi, Queen Anne’s lace, dill and statice are a few examples. Greenery forms a base of contrast and volume; some of my favorites are raspberry leaves, herbs, and dusty miller.
Most bouquets have accent flowers (like cosmos, strawflower, or gomphrena) to add color and variety. Spikes or line flowers (snapdragons, larkspur) add shape and interest. Airy elements like ornamental grasses or nigella add movement and loft. When planning for mixed bouquets, a rule of thumb is to plant half focus flowers and half fillers and greenery.
To assemble bouquets, lay out loose bunches of blooms along a table and move down the line, arranging bouquets in your hand. At the end, trim the stems using pruners or a stem chopper (I got mine from Johnny’s), wrap the bouquet, and set it down.
When 4 or 5 are completed, load them together into a bucket with a couple inches of clean water and move them into the cooler. Floret Farm has a great video tutorial on making mixed bouquets at floretflowers.com.
Making bouquets can be a time sink if you don’t have an efficient system, and it’s easy to cut into your profit margin by adding too many blooms. Many growers create “recipes” for the week’s bouquets, specifying the number of each type of bloom to use. This makes the bouquets efficient, controllable, and easier to hand off to staff.
Wrapping bouquets protects them and makes them easier to transport and handle. It gives them a professional, finished look and allows customers to differentiate individual bouquets when they are displayed en masse.
I prefer kraft paper wraps, which come in premade sleeves, square sheets, or a roll. Plastic sleeves are cheaper and allow the customer to better see what’s in the bouquet, but are not compostable. Paper wraps are available from Johnny’s or in bulk from A-Roo. I label the sleeves with colored dots to distinguish bouquet sizes and price points. Adding a stamp or sticker with your farm logo is good marketing.
When the author opened her flower CSA, she found herself limited by a lack of good photos to entice people into signing up. So she hired a professional photographer to do a shoot of her CSA and market bouquets for future marketing purposes. Good images are essential when you are selling something so visual, so she’s hoping these photos will pay for themselves in increased subscriptions this year. Photo by Trav Williams of Broken Banjo Photography.
Retail
I sell multiple bouquet sizes at my stand. Small bouquets are just a few stems of sunflowers, dahlias, or sweet peas, sometimes with a filler flower or grass added in for texture. Medium and large bouquets have a wider mix of blooms and colors and generally longer stems. Many growers sell flowers by the stem, which works especially well for larger blooms like sunflowers or amaranth. Some growers have a “flower bar” where customers create their own arrangements.
I always hear that bright colors sell best at farmers markets, but I’ve found that everyone is attracted to different flowers. I try to have a variety of blooms and color schemes to appeal to different customers. Some people like a particular kind of flower, others love yellow or hate purple. Often, my least favorite bouquet is the first to sell.
Flowers are tricky to transport. They can’t be stacked and need to be handled carefully. If buckets are too full, they will slosh water onto the bouquets and into your vehicle. I have found that short buckets or florist buckets filled with 4-6 wrapped bouquets and a 2-3 inches of water are the easiest to move around. Since flowers are top heavy, it helps to wedge them in next to each other or between bins (careful there’s nothing too high that will fall on them!). We usually load them last and squeeze them into gaps between our bins and the back of the truck.
Put some thought into how you’ll display them at market. The first year I brought vases and mason jars to put around the stand, but it’s nice to have a taller bucket for long stems. Last year I upgraded to a prefab display from Harris Seeds that holds 9 black plastic vases in 3 rows; it’s compact, easy to transport, and looks good.
Many growers display their flowers in buckets on the ground or elevated on a crate; black buckets give a more refined look and provide better contrast to the flowers. Black buckets can be bought at florists’ suppliers, ordered from Johnny’s, or often can be found for free at grocery stores around big flower holidays.
When a customer purchases a bouquet, I offer to wrap the stems with damp paper and a plastic bag. I recommend that they trim the stems before putting them in a clean vase and that they recut the stems every couple of days and remove spent blooms. Some growers provide packets of flower food or have a card with suggestions for extending vase life.
Mixed bouquets aren’t the only option for retail sales. There are lots of value-added options with flowers if you have the time and inclination. Some growers sell premade mason jar arrangements, usually in pints.
Late season sales of wreaths, swags, and holiday decorations are a good money maker when other crops are thinning out. Flower crowns may be a good seller, depending on your market. I have one friend who sells “Burning Intentions,” bundles of dried flower and greenery scraps to burn in ritual at the new year.
A cute label or nice packaging goes a long way with flowers, especially value-added products. With vegetables, people are primarily buying them to eat. Nice packaging helps, but ultimately most people are thinking about how it’s going to taste. Flowers are often an impulse buy or a gift. The more appealing you can make them, the more quickly they will move off the stand.
A bouquet in a kraft paper wrap. Photo by Trav Williams of Broken Banjo Photography.
CSA
Flowers are a great add on for your CSA. We offered a weekly bouquet option for the first time last year, and it was a big hit. Members told me that “they just bring me so much joy!”
Unlike farmers market flowers, CSA flowers are marketed sight unseen. When I opened sign up for our flower CSA, I found myself limited by a lack of good photos to entice people into signing up. So last summer I hired a professional photographer to do a shoot of our CSA and market bouquets for future marketing purposes. Good images are essential when you are selling something so visual, and I’m hoping those photos will pay for themselves in increased subscriptions this year.
My CSA bouquets are a higher price point than my market bouquets, but otherwise similar. I make them larger and include any special blooms I have. I include a range of everything we grow over the season, with a mix of long-lasting flowers and ephemeral beauties. Most members remove flowers as they fade and perceive the bouquets to be long lasting.
Pickup is simple, we leave a bucket out by the vegetable shares and flower members select their favorite bouquet. Other members get home delivery; they either leave out a vase or we wrap the stem ends with damp paper and a plastic bag.
Lots of growers offer biweekly or monthly options. Some offer a range of bouquet sizes or higher-end arrangements. Other growers offer U-pick flowers, sometimes included in the cost of CSA membership and others for an additional cost.
We started with a ten-week flower share, and later added more members for a half season (five weeks) at a higher weekly cost than the up-front subscribers. In the future I’ll offer a shorter share along with full season subscriptions; It was popular and would make a great gift.
Giving flowers is a long tradition and brings joy to both the giver and receiver. Gift shares could be a good source of revenue at some of the traditional spring flower holidays, especially Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Some growers automatically include a printable PDF gift card when members sign up to encourage gifts and make it easy.
Another potential subscription model is business subscriptions. Restaurants, hotels, spas, and shops often use fresh flowers to create ambience. Convince them to support a local grower and put your flowers on display! You could market the same bouquet subscription you use for individuals; you can do a more involved arrangement and include a vase that you collect each week, or you can sell bulk buckets to restaurants to arrange their own table flowers.
This wreath is an example of one of the author’s value-added products, which are especially valuable at the end of the season when other products are thinning out.
Selling to florists
Selling to florists is much like selling to chefs. Florists can be consistent, high volume customers who appreciate quality and unique blooms. They are also likely to have higher demands about consistency, quality, and service, since their business depends on your flowers.
Also like chefs, not all florists are a good fit for a local farm. Look for florists who are enthusiastic about seasonal flowers and flexible in their design approach. Late winter/early spring is a good time to go around, introduce yourself to florists, and ask about their needs and interests. If you have any blooms ready, bring a sample bunch or two so they can handle your product in person.
Florists might do retail flowers (e.g. flowers for an anniversary), events (weddings, etc.), or both. Their seasonal demand fluctuates, increasing around major holidays and peak wedding season. In many parts of the country, spring, fall, and the winter holidays are the busiest seasons for florists, with summer and winter being the slowest.
Florists may want different blooms and a different color palate than you grow for mixed bouquets. Trends change, but weddings usually demand whites, pastels, or muted color palates as opposed to the brighter colors popular at farmers markets. Wedding florists in particular look for fancy and unique blooms but should know their value and be prepared to pay a fair price. Talk to other flower growers in your area to find out what is in demand and where there are gaps in local production.
Wholesale flowers are typically sold by the “grower’s bunch,” averaging ten stems, but fancier flowers may be priced by the stem. Bunches are most often wrapped for protection. If you can, visit a local wholesaler to see how flowers are packaged and sold: this is what florists are accustomed to and it will make your flowers appear more professional. While florists will generally expect to buy full bunches, some may appreciate the option to buy smaller quantities or odd stems if they have a particular project.
It can be difficult to compete with wholesale prices of mass produced flowers. Most local flower growers find success marketing items that are more perishable or difficult to ship, or specialty varieties of common flowers. Some examples are dahlias, sweet peas, and lisianthus. When marketing to florists and wholesalers, quality will really pay. If your flowers are harvested at the ideal stage and handled well, they should last longer and create less shrinkage for the end user, making them a better value.
It takes time and consistency to build professional relationships, and it’s important to be confident in your quality. When working with florists, make sure you are able to make reasonable predictions about availability and quantity. Be prepared to make weekly availability lists with wholesale pricing and to follow through on orders. Be realistic: most florists would prefer to hear “no” up front than get shorted on an order three days before a wedding.
Consider delivery logistics. It’s common to distribute a list, take orders, and deliver buckets of blooms with a prepared invoice on a regular weekly schedule. Wedding florists will usually want delivery mid-week for weekend weddings. Some florists respond well to weekly visits where they can select from buckets of blooms, especially while they are getting to know your product. Others may enjoy coming to the farm to pick up their orders and seeing the fields in bloom.
Wholesale
Most cities have some kind of large wholesale flower market where florists and other businesses shop for botanicals. In many cities, flower growers are teaming up to form coops for farm direct wholesale. Any of these organizations will take a cut of sales, but they expose your product to a huge volume of customers and save a lot of the expense of marketing.
If you want to sell your blooms wholesale, visit one of these wholesale markets. Talk to the buyers or other growers and find out where the needs are. Different coops have different structures for bringing in new growers and regulating their supply. But this could be a good way to grow just a few blooms in a larger quantity for a steady market.
Read about one such co-op, the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative (SWGMC), in the articles “Co-op helps small growers thrive in a big market,” in the March 2018 GFM and “Crop coordination helps farms reach big markets through co-op,” in the May 2019 GFM.
You may also want to look into sales to grocery stores. Grocery store floral departments have been on the rise for the last couple of decades, steadily increasing their market share of national floral sales. Many stores create bouquets on site or sell flowers by the stem and may be interested in grower’s bunches of individual blooms.
Mixed bouquets are a popular item in groceries. If you want to sell mixed bouquets to grocery stores, consider getting bar code stickers to put on your bouquets. Many stores won’t buy them without it. You can order unique bar code stickers online. For more on that, read “Selling flowers to supermarkets,” from the Jan 2016 GFM.
There are endless ways to sell your cut flowers, use your imagination! Weddings are a huge opportunity, and I’ll be writing more about selling bulk flowers for DIY weddings in a future issue of GFM. There are dozens of value-added flower products: wreaths, flower crowns, holiday decorations, garlands, the list goes on.
Many growers host flower design workshops where participants cut their own flowers and then arrange them with guidance from the farmer. You can market for holidays and special events like prom or encourage others’ creativity with bulk blooms to arrange themselves. I personally love the creative freedom I find in flowers and love sharing that with others. I hope you do too.
Carolina Lees started Corvus Landing Farm in 2010 at the Oregon coast. She and her crew farm two acres of vegetables, providing for the small communities surrounding the farm through farmers markets and a 60-member CSA.