One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a flower farmer is what to grow. While your location, space, and growing conditions play a big role, your revenue streams should also inform your choices. The flowers you grow will vary depending on how and where you sell them—and the audience you're selling to. Let’s dive into the key factors to consider when planning your crops.

1. Your Growing Environment

Start by assessing your space and conditions:

Field-grown vs. season extensions: Are you limited to field growing, or do you have a hoop house or greenhouse that extends your season?
Space efficiency: Cut-and-come-again flowers like zinnias or cosmos can be harvested multiple times, making them ideal for maximizing space.

2. Your Revenue Streams

The flowers you grow should align with how and where you’re selling:

Florists: Focus on high-quality blooms with long stems and neutral or pastel colors like blush, cream, or white. Florists typically prefer popular varieties like lisianthus, ranunculus, and dahlias in large quantities for consistency.
Farmer’s Markets: Bright, bold colors attract market customers. Varieties like sunflowers, zinnias, and snapdragons make eye-catching mixed bouquets. Having a variety also helps you stand out!
Subscriptions: Plan for a steady stream of blooms throughout the subscription period. Make sure you have a mix of flowers to support arranging a bouquet (focal flowers, secondary flowers, spikes, filler, airy filler). Think about what colors go together too and when they will be blooming!
U-Pick or Events: Focus on flowers! Guests will love having lots of flowers to pick from and will gravitate less towards filler and small supporting florals.

Zinnias thrive in heat and produce blooms for many weeks! They come in a huge variety of colors and sizes too!

3. Seasonality

What time of year are you selling? Your timeline will determine what to plant.

Spring: Plant bulbs like tulips and daffodils or hardy annuals such as snapdragons and stock.
Summer: Heat-loving annuals like zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers thrive.
Fall: Grow dahlias, chrysanthemums, and ornamental grasses to extend your season.

4. Quantities

Florists: High quantities of fewer varieties work best. Think 50 stems of one type in consistent colors.
Farmer’s Markets: A wider variety of flowers keeps bouquets fresh and unique.
Dried Flowers: Consider growing lots of flowers that dry well, like strawflowers or statice, to extend your revenue into the off-season.

5. Your Budget

How much can you invest in seeds, bulbs, or plugs? Certain flowers, like ranunculus or lisianthus, can be more expensive to grow but offer a higher return, while others, like zinnias or sunflowers, are cost-effective and easy to grow in large quantities and can be a great way to generate revenue with a lower budget.

Zinnias in our uPick Field! The rows of flowers also provide great photo opportunities for guests!

Plan with Purpose

Planning out your flower selection with your planned revenue streams in mind can help you reach your season’s goals more effectively. When looking ahead consider your available growing space, how much time you have to plant and harvest, and what budget you are working with. Think about who you’re selling to and what they are interested in! The more intentional you are with your planning, the more successful your season will be!

Not sure where to start? I would love to chat with you more about what your goals are and what you would like to do on your farm! Drop me a message or reach out on my social media page to get the conversation started!

Let Your Revenue Streams Guide What You Grow