So You Want to Be a Flower Farmer: Advice From Real-Life Farmer Pros (Part 1)
Maybe you’ve felt the nudge to grow your own flowers for floral design. Or perhaps you’ve had a quiet dream of being a flower farmer, and now you’re wondering if farming is for you.
The romantic pictures of floral farmers on Instagram with arms full of blooms are inspiring and poetic, but there’s so much more to flower farming than meets the eye.
However, don’t let your land-limitations or growing history hold you back. Flower farming can take many forms: a full-time career, a part-time job paired with floral design, or micro-farming to supplement the supply of local designers (or your own). The possibilities are almost endless!
We surveyed our amazing Team Flower Members—and flower farmers, farmer-florists, and micro-farmers alike responded with amazing, actionable wisdom they’ve earned through their hard work in the field. We’ve compiled their responses in a two-part article to help you get a sneak-peek into what it’s like working to grow your own precious blooms.
Here in Part 1, you’ll hear about what led them to growing their own flowers, how you can know if working with flowers is a good fit for you, and the unique benefits a floral career offers. And check out Want to Be a Flower Farmer? Advice From the Pros (Part 2) for more wisdom straight from the farmers themselves. Let’s dive in!
Q: What led you to work with flowers?
I am an organic farmer, and flowers are greatly beneficial to have around to attract butterflies and bees as well as other pollinators. Growing and cutting flowers is an amazing gift from the earth to our indoor spaces. — Jane Brelvi, Farmer and Florist Designer, @janeasoarus
I have always been drawn to pretty flowers. . . . I have a long line of farmers and flower lovers in my family. After a successful career in the optical business, I have returned to the farm and have rekindled my love of flowers. I have been growing part-time and during my maternity leaves for 10 years. I quit my off-farm job in April 2018 to be a full-time flower farmer. — Janis Harris, Farmer at Harris Flower Farm, @harrisflowerfarm
I denied the call of flowers for a long time. I grew up running through fields of daffodils and hothouses of lilies in Northern California, and I was always making bouquets for friends and teachers all the way through high school. However, in college, I was determined that my education and career would not include flowers of any kind. But I still found myself enrolled in horticulture and floriculture classes. And thank goodness I did! I am an agriculture teacher by trade, and my first job was teaching floral design and managing the greenhouse for a high school. After I left that job, I missed being surrounded by flowers. From there, my studio business started. Fast forward seven years, and I am still an agriculture teacher, specializing in forestry and natural resources, and my studio has expanded into a small micro flower farm as well. As my business and farm started growing, I discovered a deep familial connection with the horticulture and floral design industries. I truly feel that chlorophyll runs through my veins, and I feel such a sense of peace and belonging in the design classroom, studio, and farm. I finally embraced who I was, and it has made all the difference. — Jalisca Thomason, Floral Designer and Micro-Farmer at Rustic Roots Floral Design, @rusticrootsfloraldesign
I had always raised a small garden ever since I was a child. I attempted growing all kinds of things. In middle school, I tried keeping a banana tree and a pineapple bush alive in my house during the cold Alaskan winter—they didn't make it. As much as I wanted to start a farm, vegetables just didn't bring in enough money on small acreage. I finally stumbled upon growing peonies commercially and how they were proving to be very successful in Alaska. I had only ever seen peonies once before that I could remember: in my wedding bouquet on June 16, 2006. We planted our first peony roots in September 2014. — Martha Lojewski, Farmer at Alaska Peony Cooperative, @alaskapeonycooperative
My passion [for flowers] developed soon after finishing my veterinary degree and needing to do something other than being in the books, so I found gardening, and I was hooked. I now religiously listen to the Slow Flowers Podcast and Team Flower Podcast. My partner and I have also now started our micro flower farm where we grow daffodils, tulips, ranunculi, sunflowers, and roses. We sell at local farmers markets. We're still in the experimental phase of growing different annuals, but it's so exciting. Every day, I love going out into the field to see what is growing and do a 'happy dance' when I find a bloom. — Ashlea McFadden, Farmer at Yellow House Flower Farm, @yellowhouseflowerfarm
My Dad was a high school horticulture teacher and an apple farmer, and his love of gardening and farming inspired me to search for a way I could provide for my community. I chose growing flowers because I was drawn to the emotional connection people have with blooms. — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
I actually started my journey in this flower world with handmade paper flowers. . . . I would make paper flowers for weddings and was fortunate to have started at a time when alternate bouquets were the trend. As the trend slowed, I became inspired to use home-grown flowers from my ample garden with my paper flowers. I then discovered Erin from Floret Flowers who made home-grown flowers so exquisite and relatable that I promptly turned half of my veggie garden into a cut-flower patch, and so my journey as a farmer-florist began. Over the years, the flower patch has gotten bigger and bigger, and I hope in the next five years to become a flower farm that florists seek out for good quality, old-fashioned, organic flowers. — Lisel Vonhoff, Farmer-Florist at Belle Bouquets, @bellebouquets
Q: How can someone know if flowers are a good fit for them?
What would you tell someone who is wondering if they should work in flowers?
I think you need to see the underbelly of the industry. It is not playing with flowers all day. It is not sunshine and petals every day. You need to see what happens when your crop fails after too much rain, and you need to work a wedding where half the flowers were frozen the day before the wedding. If you can handle the bad, you will flourish under the rest. — Jalisca Thomason, Floral Designer and Micro-Farmer at Rustic Roots Floral Design, @rusticrootsfloraldesign
Is one of your greatest quality traits endurance? You can’t flower farm without fortitude and the ability to see success as a journey. Weather happens. Floral designers bail or balk. Insects show up when least expected. Crops outright fail for mysterious reasons that are hard to fathom. I only know flower farming. And farming is farming. It’s physically demanding and sometimes emotionally draining. I cried into my gloved hands last spring when a late snow and ice storm threatened my entire first succession crop of snapdragons and stock flowers. I shook my head and planted more trays that afternoon to compensate. Endurance withstands disappointments and setback. I think every flower farmers mantra is, “I’ll do better next year.” Some people can only see what’s in front of them—and that’s okay. Flower farmers need to be able to peek around the corner and say, “Success is THAT direction, I’m pretty sure—let’s head there and see what we see on the way.” — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
Make sure it is something you love. Florists, farmers, and farmer-florists need to be creative and innovative to move the whole industry forward. Collaboration between each part of the industry is essential to bring the best flowers to the customer. — Janis Harris, Farmer at Harris Flower Farm, @harrisflowerfarm
Just go for it! Have a go and, before you know it, you will be hooked. All the hard work of farming is worth it when you have a crop bloom. — Ashlea McFadden, Farmer at Yellow House Flower Farm, @yellowhouseflowerfarm
Are you physically fit enough to lift, squat, bend over repetitively? Does nature inspire you in a general sense? Are you able to devote time and energy to grow a business? — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
Q: What does a career in floristry offer you that your previous work/career did not?
Growing flowers commercially allows us to have a perfect balance of family time and work. I am able to attend all of my kids' school events and stay home with them on sick days or snow days—and it allows them to grow up outside on a beautiful piece of land in the most amazing state. Summers are spent catching frogs, building tree swings, and learning to change the oil on the generator. They see that patience, hard work, and research pays off in the end. We live off-grid in the wilderness, so they are learning how to care for the land, respect the space of dangerous wild animals, find ways to accomplish modern-day tasks without modern-day conveniences, and, most importantly, they don't have screens in front of them all day. — Martha Lojewski, Farmer at Alaska Peony Cooperative, @alaskapeonycooperative
Floristry gives me the opportunity to use the creative side of my brain. It gives me the freedom to enjoy the outdoors and live off the land. — Ashlea McFadden, Farmer at Yellow House Flower Farm, @yellowhouseflowerfarm
[Working with flowers] offers me the ability to be outside and use my growing talents. I also love the creative aspect of bouquet-making and that I‘m out in the community as a farmers’ market vendor. — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
[Floristry] offers me creative freedom, the chance to unwind and create something beautiful. My husband can always tell when I have worked with flowers as I come back relaxed and full of enthusiasm! And I have also learnt self-confidence, which many might not associate with flowers. There are some amazing and talented florists around the world—and thanks to social media we get to connect with them, but we can also easily compare. Working with flowers has taught me to be confident in what I have to offer. I have a style unique to me, and I enjoy learning, tweaking, and improving that style over the jobs I work on as a florist, and it is humbling to see that style appreciated and sought after by my clients. — Lisel Vonhoff, Farmer-Florist at Belle Bouquets, @bellebouquets
Q: How has working in flowers been good for you?
It gets me up in the morning; when I know I am going to harvest and arrange materials, I’m excited and jump out of bed. — Jane Brelvi, Farmer and Florist Designer, @janeasoarus
It is corny, but flowers make me happy. Even when the work is hard—when I am over-tired, sweaty, and achy—a beautiful bucket of blooms makes it all better. — Janis Harris, Farmer at Harris Flower Farm, @harrisflowerfarm
Working in flowers brings me peace and a sense of purpose. I take pride in providing a service and a product that is unique and beautiful. I do my best thinking in the garden and get both intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction every time I look up from a flower bed. — Jalisca Thomason, Floral Designer and Micro-Farmer at Rustic Roots Floral Design, @rusticrootsfloraldesign
When it comes down to it, working with flowers has been perfect for our family. We are so passionate about it. We love it (well, most of it—I don't enjoy the cold, rainy fall clean-up days), and it is the type of upbringing we want for our children. It has fit our lifestyle perfectly, and we can't imagine doing anything else because we are so incredibly happy as flower farmers. — Martha Lojewski, Farmer at Alaska Peony Cooperative, @alaskapeonycooperative
I used to suffer from insomnia. During the height of the growing season, I collapse into bed and sleep like a rock. That’s just a tangible example of how being a flower farmer has provided me with a health benefit. Emotionally and spiritually, I feel like I am using my time and talents for a worthy career that gives to others. — Kaley Deffinbaugh, Farmer at Long Table Farms, @longtablefarms
So there you have it: real-life wisdom from flower farmers across the globe! Check out Want to Be a Flower Farmer? Advice From the Pros (Part 2) to hear from farmers about how working with flowers can be good for you, the ways a floral career can be difficult, and the most surprising things about working in the floral industry.
Are you a flower grower who has some lovely words of wisdom to add to the conversation? Want to keep the conversation going? Join the Team Flower Community to connect with other members, ask questions (like what to plant in your growing zone, how to price homegrown blooms, and more!), as well as learn and grow with the support of floral pros from all over the world.
We’re waiting for you!
