What is a “pick your own” model or “pick-your-own farm,” and does it make sense for your flower farming operations?

For ages, farms have opened their gates up to allow customers to pick their own strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, pumpkins, lavender, and apples.

Now flowers are making their way to the party!

Foodies, gardeners, and wine enthusiasts have been seeking unique experiences, whether on vacation in wine country, a family vacation to Northern Michigan during cherry season, or a flower farm where you can pick a bucket of dahlias at sunrise.

Your flowers can be a part of someone’s best memories!

Is a Pick Your Own flower farm model right for you?

You know the story. People enjoy getting to feel close to where their food or flowers come from. It makes for a beautiful moment for a young family or a chance to reconnect with nature.

Customers love every chance they can get to connect with local farms, and pick-your-owns are often a profitable event for flower farmers since they don't have to harvest the flowers.

In Colorado at our farm, SHEGROWS has offered a Sunrise Pick Your Own event three times per season, one in August, September, and October, respectively.

Customers buy premium tickets online, come to the farm at sunrise, are given a sunrise tour, then handed a bucket of water & snips.

But is a pick-your-own (PYO) event or operation right for your farm?

Here are five things to consider when deciding if you want to open your gates up to customers to pick their own flowers:

1. Do you have the right insurance?

2. Do you have public facilities, like bathrooms?

3. What is your flower availability like?

4. What price point should you sell your event or PYO flowers at?

5. What type of event will work best for your target clients?

Insurance: Do you have the right kind?

The number one thing you must think about is insurance.

When you invite the public onto your property, it is good practice to have insurance to protect you personally and protect your business from liability.

Working farms have equipment, tools, and tractors around the property that could be dangerous to the public. Before you offer a Pick Your Own farm event, make sure you talk with your insurance agent to ensure you are adequately protected.

Bathrooms: Do you have guest access?

If you open your farm up to the public for a Pick Your Own event, bathrooms are an essential amenity.

They can be as simple as a clean port-o-potty. Some farms already have these on-site for their crew members, but if you don't, you might be getting asked for a restroom, and the last thing you want to do is have strangers come into your private residence.

If you'd rather not invest in building a bathroom for guests, look into renting a port-a-john for the dates you'll be hosting members of your community.

Flower availability: What will be ready to pick?

Do you have enough flowers? Will you allow people to pick from anywhere on your flower farm, or are there off-limit areas?

Before you start inviting people to cut their own flowers, decide how you will save the already pre-sold flowers—whether they are pre-sold to florists, your CSA, or a wedding.

You can harvest what you need before the event or plant an area specifically for customers to pick from. Whatever you decide, make sure you plan this before you hand people snips!

Price point: What should you charge for Pick Your Own events?

Some farms, like pumpkin patches or raspberry farms, are open every day during the high season. These are often referred to as U-Pick farms. They are informal, rustic, and geared to family experiences at a cheap price point.

Some flower farms have started opening their gates up every weekend for U-Picks. But there are other ways to offer similar experiences at a higher price point.

At SHEGROWS, we call our event a Pick Your Own, and it is modeled after a garden in England that we fell in love with! It is a higher price point—$150/ticket—and is designed more for the garden enthusiast.

We host three PYO events each season, and it always sells out and has even become an annual outing for many customers. It is important to set your price point for your ideal customer.

Type of event: Elegant or relaxed?

It's a crisp September morning, a fiddler is walking the farm, and the head gardener is leading the tour.

The event is wrapped up with tea and pastries, and customers head home with a bucket of freshly cut blooms and a new appreciation for flower farming and flower arranging.

Pick Your Own events can be re-envisioned into an elegant experience for flower enthusiasts, or they can be as simple as a U-Pick sign on the side of the road during late summer and a self-serve stand filled with snips and a box for money.

Customers bring their own buckets and pick dahlias on the weekends. Consider what type of experience you enjoy and what type of experience you can bring to life for your customers.

Agritourism is alive and well, and with the swell of interest in flowers, there is room at the party for flower farmers!

Creating a Pick Your Own business model that reflects your farm and your community can be a profitable program when done right.

Customers are often highly engaged and open to purchasing other items like farm store goods, workshops, and Flower CSAs. Opening your gate builds community and puts the culture back into agriculture.