As the micro eco-farming movement continues, flower carts from mini flower farms: backyard to half an acre, are springing up on small town street corners and near busy urban coffee shops. U-pick flower patches and honor-system flower stands are further ways flower lovers are earning income.
For those who prefer being with flowers to being with people, the honor system bouquet stand allows growers to play in their flower patch all day, make beautiful arrangements to set out in the morning, and simply collect the cash from the locked cash box in the evening.
Avoid competing with larger cut flower farms, grow ecologically, no pesticides, herbicides, etc. More and more of the mainstream is becoming concerned about the damage caused by the chemical flower industry. Advertise your sustainable approach with your flowers, letting customers know your flower farm does not harm the environment and is a haven for local birds, bees and butterflies. And, grow popular varieties but with a twist: add unusual flowers types amidst more common varieties with your bouquets, or grow unusual varieties of the familiar favorites. Here are several for starters:
- Dwarf lilacs that bloom off-season. How wonderful to find bouquets of this classic country favorite in fall!
- Be the first to offer new varieties of familiar flowers. Such as newly developed colors of dahlias or cosmos or sunflowers. 'Lemon Queen,' for example, is a unique sunflower with lemon-yellow petals and a chocolate colored center.
- Become known for specializing in something unique, such as old-fashioned heirlooms like 'Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate,' which produces many rope-like hanging flowers on its six-foot tall stems.
More marketing tips:
Give deeper meaning to your flowers and let customers know the flowers' histories. If you grow Mexican Torch sunflowers, let your customers know this is also called, "Golden Flower of the Aztecs.
Extend the season by producing non-perishables from your flowers. This includes drying flowers, selling flower seeds with handmade greeting cards (as described more at the Center for the Micro Eco-Farming Movement, www.MicroEcoFarming.com, or making floral waters. Type up tags for your fresh cut flowers that let buyers know of your other locally grown, handcrafted floral products they can purchase throughout the year.
