Cut flowers can be a lucrative product for young farmers, existing produce farms looking to expand their operations, greenhouses extending their offerings after spring planting, or gardeners looking for a side hustle. However, there’s a lot that goes into productive flower farming before you get to pick those bouquets. Here are some steps you should take if you want to get started with cut flowers.

Finding a Market for Your Cut Flowers

Before you order those seeds, it’s important to ensure you have a market for your flowers. These days, there are many methods to consider. You can offer flowers wholesale to a local florist or other vendor, sell bouquets at local markets, offer a bouquet subscription similar to a CSA, or even offer cut-your-own bouquets.

No matter what option you choose, it’s important to realize that you’ll need to spend time advertising, working with people, and ensuring the flowers you do offer are all high quality. While farming seems idyllic and relaxing, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

Building Soil for Cut Flowers

The first step is to get a soil test. They’re easy to do and cheap, and they eliminate all the guesswork that comes with amending soil. Quality is key when growing cut flowers for market, and that starts with nutrient-rich soil. In addition to a soil test and any necessary amendments, it’s also a good idea to add finished compost or aged manure to each bed. It adds nutrients and organic matter to improve soil texture and drainage.

When building beds for cut flowers, especially in the southeast, you’ll probably want to opt for raised or mounded beds unless you have light, sandy soil. Most flower varieties require good drainage, which can be tough in the clay soils prevalent throughout much of the Southeast. Build beds so that you can easily reach across them to weed and harvest, generally no wider than 4 feet across. A pathway around the outside of each bed is also critical for access.

Best Beginner Cut Flowers

There are many options for cut flowers, and you might be tempted to start ordering seeds, bulbs, and perennial plants right away. However, we suggest getting started with some tried and true, easy to grow options as part of your main offerings. Here are four of our beginner favorites.

Zinnias

Zinnias are the workhorses of any flower garden. They offer a vast range of colors, various shapes, fast growth, and continuous flowering. Zinnias are also pretty easy to grow. You don’t need to worry too much about your soil; zinnias aren’t fussy. 

However, zinnias can fall victim to fungal diseases. To keep them producing well, it’s important to clip spent blooms and foliage, space them properly, and harvest regularly. While zinnias will flower all season long, they can slow down or produce blooms with reduced quality after a time, especially if they get a disease. Thankfully, zinnias are excellent candidates for succession planting.

Sunflowers

Sunfowers are a beginner favorite because they germinate and produce quickly. Their large, bright blooms are a great focal point for fresh bouquets, and they offer several shapes and colors.

We divide sunflowers into two categories: single-stem sunflowers and branching sunflowers. Single-stem sunflowers are easy to grow and highly reliable. They produce stunning blooms on large, thick stems. While branching sunflowers have the benefit of producing multiple blooms and extending the harvest, their stems may not be as sturdy and straight as single-stem varieties.

Rudbeckia

Many people think of the classic Black-Eyed Susan, but there are other types of Rudbeckia too, like Prairie Sun with its gold petals and unique green centers. While not as easy to grow as sunflowers or zinnias, rudbeckia still made the beginner list because once you get it going, it’s highly productive. A single plant can offer tons of blooms and you’ll find different varieties that bloom from early summer to late fall.

Cosmos

Cosmos are another easy to grow colorful flower that’s great for beginners. The downside is that their stems aren’t quite as sturdy as zinnias, but they add a whimsical touch to bouquets and are great for succession planting. For early blooms, try our Sensation Mix, which is ready to harvest in just 45 days. 

Other great options 

• Basil 
• Amaranth
• Daffodils
• Snapdragons
• Delphiniums
• Stock
• Asters
• Tulips
• Strawflowers
• Statice
• Dara
• Celosia
• Oregano
• Bells of Ireland

Spacing and Support 

Spacing varies with species, but proper spacing is key to good production. Spacing too widely can decrease your yield and may affect your plants’ growth. Some cut flowers grow nice, straight, long stems when spaced close together. However, spacing too tightly can stunt plant growth or contribute to fungal disease issues because of poor airflow.

To produce quality stems and blooms, most cut flower varieties also need some form of trellis or support. For some flowers like sunflowers or sweet peas, this may mean a tall, upright trellis like you would use for pole beans or even just tall stakes. 

However, for shorter flowers, we also like to provide support to encourage straight stems and reduce lodging. For flowers like cosmos, you can suspend mesh or fencing parallel above the ground when the flowers are small so that they grow up through it.

Irrigating and Fertilizing Cut Flowers

Rainfall isn’t usually adequate for good flower production; cut flowers need consistent moisture to produce well. Most growers will find it easiest to invest in a drip irrigation system to save on labor and water. For most flowers, 2 lines per bed is ideal. The drip lines should emit water next to the plant’s crown but not right on top of it.

When considering fertilizer, consult your soil test and each varsities specific needs. While all flowers perform better with nutrient-rich soil, some, like sunflowers, are heavy feeders and may benefit from additional feeding. For many cut flowers, a slow-release fertilizer in spring will be adequate. 

Succession Planting

To ensure you have good production all season long, succession planting is key. You can stagger your harvest by planting varieties with different days to maturity, like Short Stuff Dwarf Sunflowers, which bloom in 54 days, and Autumn Beauty Sunflowers, which bloom in 70 days. 

You can also sow multiple successions of the same variety. For cut flower gardens, we like to sow 2 to 3 successions of crops like zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers in spring and early summer. Start sowing successions about 2 weeks apart after the initial planting. 

Flowers light up the garden, but they can also brighten your plate! There are many easy to grow, edible flowers that are perfect for adding to your favorite dishes, from cocktails and cupcakes to grilled fish and summer rolls. Here are 13 of our favorite edible flowers, their flavors, and how to enjoy them. 

How to Use Edible Flowers

There are many ways to add edible flowers to your culinary creations. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Freeze flowers in ice cubes to add a pop of color to water and other beverages.
• Decorate cakes, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream and other sweets. 
• Bake them into focaccia for a stunning snack.
• Muddle them in cocktails for a burst of flavor and color. 
• Dry them for herbal tea blends. 
• Garnish salads, fish, meat, and other savory dishes for unique flavor and beauty.
• Add them to candy or lollipops. 
• Wrap them with veggies in summer rolls for a rainbow appetizer. 
• Press them into butter or soft cheeses. 
• Infuse your local honey with them for sweetening teas and cocktails.
• Cook them with one part water and one part sugar before straining for a floral simple syrup.

  

Our Top 13 Edible Flowers

There are many edible flowers, but these are a few of our favorites, their flavor, and what we often use them for. Feel free to experiment! 

Bachelor’s Buttons

Mild, sweet flavor with a hint of spice or notes of cucumber and cloves ideal for topping ice cream, cakes, cocktails, and salads.

Bachelor’s buttons are easy to grow and hold their color well even when dried. You can find blue, deep maroon, pink, or purple bachelor’s buttons. Their mild flavor and fine petals make them ideal for various culinary applications.

Calendula

Tangy, slightly bitter flavor, but the petals work well in small amounts to brighten up cookies, salads, soufflés, and focaccia. 

Sometimes called pot marigold, calendula is a favorite flower among herbalists for its skin-soothing properties, but it’s also edible. The petals are the best part; the base of the flower can be very bitter. Use the petals fresh or dried. 

Marigolds

Citrusy, peppery, or minty flavor depending on the cultivar, makes them ideal for garnishing grilled meats and salads, muddling in vinaigrettes, or candying to add to desserts.

Not all marigolds are edible, so make sure you select an edible variety. French marigolds (Tagetes patula), African marigolds (Tagetes erecta), Mexican mint marigolds (Tagetes lucida), and lemon marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia) are all edible and offer different flavors and colors.

Chamomile

Mild, sweet, honey-like flavor with hints of apple perfect for soothing teas, flavoring cakes, shortbreads, and cupcakes or decorating sweets.

Chamomile is an annual that you should start indoors when working with seed. It needs light to germinate, but it’s fairly easy to grow once it gets going. Harvesting often encourages more blooms.

Violas

Mild, sweet flavor with hints of mint, vanilla, wintergreen or earthy tones perfect for pressing flat on cookies, sugaring, ice cubes, summer rolls, and candies.

Cool-weather violas are usually one of our earliest flowers of the season. You can find perennial and annual viola varieties in various colors. We carry one old-fashioned viola variety, Johnny Jump-Ups, with tricolor blooms of purple, blue, and yellow.

Lavender

Strong floral flavor that’s the classic choice for afternoon tea in cakes, shortbreads, herbal tea blends, or pressed into cheese or butter.

You can start lavender from seed, but it germinates slowly, so be sure to give it plenty of time. The variety we carry, English Munstead, is perennial in zones 5 through 10. Lavender can be tricky to grow. It needs well-drained soil, full sun, and protection from the wind to thrive. 

Nasturtiums

Mild, peppery or watercress-like flavor ideal for butters, cheeses, salads, and summer rolls.

Nasturtiums are easy to grow, trailing annuals that add tons of interest to the garden. The flowers are usually shades of orange, yellow, or red. Like the blooms, the leaves are edible and have a more pronounced pepper flavor. Some cooks also like to pickle immature nasturtium seed heads as a caper substitute.

Roses

Sweet, floral flavor excellent for herbal teas, simple syrups, ice cream, baked goods, cocktails, and ice cubes.

Roses are perennial shrubs that with various growing habits. You can find shrub roses, climbing roses, rambling roses, and even dwarf roses that will grow well in a large container. 

Borage

Mild cucumber flavor perfect for muddling in cocktails, garnishing desserts, adding color to salads, and freezing in ice cubes.

Borage is an easy-to-grow annual herb, well-known for its bright blue, star-shaped flowers. The flowers are tasty and a great way to attract bumblebees. The leaves are also edible and have a distinct cucumber-like flavor. 

Anise-Hyssop

Sweet, minty, black licorice-like flavor ideal for baked goods, cocktails, teas, and salads.

This lovely herb is a member of the mint family native to the north-central United States. Anise-Hyssop is an easy to grow, short-lived perennial that’s great for attracting pollinators. Both the leaves and flowers are edible and may have medicinal properties.

Rosselle

Tart cranberry-like flavor perfect for teas, jam, sauce, syrup, and ice cream.

Historically known as “Florida cranberry” in the 1890s, roselle is a member of the hibiscus family that produces bright red calyxes with incredible flavor. The flowers and leaves are also edible and share the cranberry-like flavor of the calyces. The calyces are an important ingredient in zinger tea. 

Bergamot

A blend of mint and oregano with some citrus notes perfect for salads, teas, dressings, and seasoning fish and meat dishes. 

Bergamot also called monarda or bee balm, is a beautiful perennial that flourishes in zones 4 through 9. It’s great for attracting hummingbirds and may have medicinal properties. Our Lemon Bergamot is a variety native to the Appalachians. 

Zinnias

A somewhat bitter flavor with notes of arugula, peas, or anise that works well as a colorful garnish for drinks, salads, and baked goods. 

Zinnias are among the easiest and most colorful flowers you can grow. They’re annuals that bloom all summer long. Harvesting encourages branching and more blooms. Using the petals instead of the whole flower can eliminate some of the bitterness.