Techniques To Make Cool Money From Flower Business:

     Growing Flowers For Profit
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For Market – How to Start a Flower Growing Business
Growing For Market – How to Start a
Flower Growing Business
By Craig Wallin
If you enjoy gardening, and want to turn your

gardening hobby into extra income, think about
growing flowers for profit. Flowers are among the
most profitable plants, producing one of the highest
returns of any specialty crop. You can get started
with very little – just enough for seeds and supplies,
and most new flower growers make money in the
first year.
Many flower growers have found the Saturday
farmer’s market to be the best place to get top dollar
for their flowers. One grower sells her cut flowers,
like lilies, cosmos, statice, zinnias, snapdragons and
daisies, and finds the demand so great she sells out
before noon. She thinks flowers are the perfect
seasonal crop because they are easy to grow, produce
quickly and supply an income all season long.
Some flower growers like to specialize in cut flowers
that have larger showy blossoms, such as hydrangeas
and sunflowers, that can bring as much as $5 for a
single stem. It’s not uncommon for a grower to sell
over a thousand stems in a single day at the farmer’s
market. As one grower said,”For those who love
being in the garden and watching their flowers grow,
there is nothing quite like this business.”
Because flowers can be grown in a tiny backyard or
on a larger acreage, it’s an ideal part-time business
for those in need of a flexible schedule, such as stay-
at-home moms, retirees or anyone who has another
job.
Dried flowers, also called “everlastings” because they
last so long when dried, are a perfect flower crop for
a backyard flower grower. If you are growing for
profit, everlastings can be even better than cut
flowers as you can make as much as $8 per square
foot. Most everlastings, such as celosia, statice and
straw flowers, are very easy to grow and easy to air
dry. Growers find the best markets for dried flowers
are craft shops, antique shops and selling dried
flower arrangements to flower shops and restaurants.
An antique shop owner had dozens of cut glass vases
that just would not sell. She added a small bouquet of
dried flowers to each vase, and sold them all for four
times the price within a month! Most restaurants
can’t afford to put fresh cut flowers on tables every
day, but find that dried flowers brighten up the table
just as well, and can be replaced once a month. Dried
flower growers will often re-do the bouquets at
several restaurants every month. Another popular
dried flower, gypsophilia, or baby’s breath, is widely
used as a filler in floral arrangements. Most retail
florists prefer to buy from local growers whenever
possible.
Perhaps the best “niche” flower business is
subscription sales. One California flower grower has
perfected it, and now just works one day a week on
her unique niche. Every flower is pre-sold, and her
unique business takes in around a half-million dollars
every year. She says there is room for a similar floral
subscription business in almost every town, large or
small.
She delivers fresh-cut flower bouquets to offices and
homes in her community on Mondays. Just like a
paper route, customers buy a subscription by the
month, paying from $15 to $150 each week,
depending on how many bouquets they order. One of
her regular customers says, “Flowers cheer the office
up. They are colorful, alive, and you don’t have to
dust them!”
Woody ornamentals are another flower grower’s
niche. “Woodies” are trees and shrubs that grow back
each year after cutting, and are popular with florists,
who use them to fill out bouquets. Woodies can be
everyday plants, like forsythia and lilac, or
uncommon varieties like corkscrew willow.
Since they are perennials, once you’ve planted them,
they require little work other than cutting the
branches at harvest time. Woodies have become such
profitable plants, some growers are choosing to
specialize in popular varieties, such as curly willow,
red osier dogwood, golden ninebark and holly. A
bonus with woodies is the extended season, which
can extend cutting time from February through
November.
Whether you live in Alabama or North Dakota,
growing flowers can provide a good income to
anyone who loves to garden and can spare a few
hours each week. It’s also a clean, green business that
can be good for the planet. To learn more, read
Growing Flowers for Profit.