Best Tips for Operating a Roadside Flower Stand
Operating a roadside flower stand can be a simple yet rewarding endeavor to add to your floral repertoire. If you're a beginner farmer or designer, this could be a welcome way to dip into the industry while serving your community. Or perhaps you're an experienced member of the floral industry looking to diversify your revenue stream. Starting a roadside flower stand could also be for you!
Sourcing Flowers for Your Roadside Flower Stand
If you lack in flowers but not in desire, roadside wildflowers are for you! Pretty much wherever you live, the roadsides are brimming with beauties that you don’t even need to put time and resources into cultivating—God did the work for you! (Just make sure you aren’t trespassing when you’re collecting, and that you have permission to go on any private property!) A list of some wildflower favorites in our area (Northern Wisconsin zone 3) are:
Cattails
Phlox
Black-eyed Susan
Queen Anne's Lace
Yarrow
Tansy
Wild Bergamot
New England Aster
Spotted Knapweed
Creeping Bell Flower
Woodland Sunflower
Purple Loosestrife
Goldenrod
Velvetleaf (for seed pods)
And don’t forget all the amazing grasses that add such an exciting element to bouquets!
Learn to grow your own flowers for markets, events, and roadside flower stands with our Team Flower online flower growing classes!
Annuals
If you plan to grow your own florals for your roadside flower stand, here is a partial list of some favorite annuals that will churn out an abundance of flowers all summer long (and some even after a few light frosts!).
Sunflowers
Zinnias
Dalias
Snapdragons
Strawflower
Calendulas
Baby's breath
Perennials
If you’re growing your own flowers, having some perennials will give you a good source of filler and focal flowers to fill in the gaps when your annuals have yet to bloom or have finished blooming. Here are a few of my favorites:
Lilacs
Peonies
Lilies (not Day lilies)
Hosta
Coneflower
Sedum
Iris
Russian Sage
Bleeding Hearts
Evening Primrose
Bee Balm
Bulbs
If you can, plant some bulbs, as many are the first to pop up through the thawing ground in spring! After a long winter, people are just aching to drown their faces in a bundle of fresh-picked flowers. So here is a list of favorites that will be great for early spring flowers, some summer and one for forced winter-flowering too:
Daffodils (go with the specialty kind if you can)
Tulips
Grape Hyacinths
Alliums
Gladiolas
Amaryllis
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Your Roadside Flower Stand Set-Up
When it comes to your flower stand, you can be as straightforward or as unique as you want depending upon the time and resources you have to put into it. A picnic table and umbrella will do, or there are plenty of unique ideas online you can gather inspiration from.
But do not let the lack of a “wow-factor” get in your way of sharing your flowers! People are coming for your flowers, not for your stand. Whatever type of set-up you decide to go with, be sure it includes these few main things:
Have some shade covering. You don’t want all your time and effort wasted with your flowers wilting away in the heat. Whether it’s an umbrella, a canopy/tent, a permanent roof structure, or a tree, your customers (and flowers) will thank you for it!
Provide simple instructions as to how your flower stand works. Also, be sure to express your appreciation for their interest in being one of your customers.
And of course, you'll need a secure money box. You can make one, or you can purchase one that you can attach to a solid surface, so no one is tempted to carry it away. Make sure you have a spare key in your purse, on your car key chain, or another secure place apart from where your primary key is.
When Should You Operate Your Roadside Flower Stand?
If you have a full-time job or only enough flowers to make a couple of bouquets a week, no worries! You don’t need to have a set schedule for your flower stand. Rather, go with the flow and operate when you can. Life happens, so if one day a week is what works for you, that’s fine!
If you decide to set your flowers out during the week, try during the early to mid-afternoon when most people are going home from work. After a long day, most people would love coming back to a bouquet! Or if you live in town, you might not have a specific busy time when most people stop and instead have a steady flow all day. Test it out and see.
Words of Advice
Putting up a sign ahead of your stand alerts people that are heading your way so that they do not need to slam on their brakes when they get there.
Provide baggies and binders for those that would rather not take your jar and have to remember to bring it back later.
The best piece of advice that I can give you is to operate on donations! Do not have a set price for your bouquets, and here are my reasons why:
Most people do not have exact change with them, and some will feel like they cannot buy your flowers because of that, so you might lose customers.
It gives you the flexibility to make different sizes of bouquets to sell. Ultimately most people are more generous than you think. If you put a $5 price tag on them, that is what you’ll get when people often give you a $20 bill instead! What a blessing when you have put your heart into what you do to share with others! They appreciate it and want to make sure they are helping you to continue offering beauty to your part of the world.
If you do decide to operate on donations, be sure to specify a limit of one bouquet for smaller contributions.
Final Thoughts
I hope after reading this, you will feel the urge to share God's beauty with others, knowing you don't have to be a florist, avid gardener, or have a fancy stand to do so! The flowers are beautiful in themselves, and that is all most people want!
Helpful Resources
Floret Farm (one-of-a-kind finds for seeds, bulbs, and tubers—and in 2020 they will start selling their own seed line)
Johnny's Seeds (time-saving tools, hoop house benders, landscape fabric, flower buckets, kraft paper sleeves, and of course, seeds).
Delightful Dahlias (100s of dahlia tuber varieties at great prices and excellent packaging)
Rare Seeds (heirloom seed varieties with free shipping and a complimentary seed packet with every order)
Blooming Bulb (they offer peony bare roots at amazing prices and 3+ eyes!).
Green Grove Supply (seed-starting and greenhouse supplies)
