A Flower Farmer’s Favorite Flowers

Have you ever wondered what a flower farmers favorite flowers are? Many factors go into what a flower farmers favorite flower is, not just beauty! While there is something to love about every flower, there are some that are definite stand-outs in my book!

Some of those are ease to grow, ease to harvest, pest resistance, duration they bloom, time of year that they bloom. Read below to find out mine! I will do my best to rank them, but it’s kind of like picking a favorite child!

Ranunculus

I think that these may be my favorite flowers of all time. Not only are they gorgeous, but they’re one of the first flowers to bloom on the farm. If I succession plant, I can keep them blooming for about 8 weeks. They’ve got an incredibly long vase life (sometimes lasting 2 weeks!). They don’t need any external support to keep them upright, so planting and removing the plants at the end of the season is much easier. 

Peonies

Need I say more? Aside from roses, peonies are one of the most recognized flowers among the general public. What they lack in blooming duration (their season is about 4 weeks long) they make up for in beauty and ease to grow. They are not susceptible to many pests. They don’t need external support if you’re farming them because you harvest them prior to the bloom opening so they don’t get too top heavy and floppy. Their blooms are massive and impressive! And if you get a variety like coral charm or coral sunset, the bloom changes color in the vase. It transforms from vibrant coral to pink to peach to buff throughout the 4-7 days you have them in the vase. 

Garden Roses

Did you know there are rose varieties that resemble peonies?! I didn’t until I began farming. Garden roses are full of petals and are shaped in that beautiful cupped form you find peonies shaped in. They bloom for a much longer season than peonies as well. I have roses blooming from May-October here. They are ranked below peonies because they are a much more labor intensive crop even though they are a perennial. They are susceptible to aphids, thrips, cucumber beetles, weevils, and many more so pest management is more labor intensive and costly. What they lack in ease of care, they make up for in beauty and bloom duration.

Dahlias

I love love love dahlias, but they are ranked below ranunculus, peonies, and roses due to the amount of labor they require. Not only do you replant each year as a farmer, but they need external support to keep them upright, they are pest magnets (much like roses), they are prone to diseases which can wipe out your entire crop if not culled upon discovery, they don’t have the longest vase life (4-7 days), and at the end of the season they all need to be dug (in the cold rainy weather oftentimes) and divided to be stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. Even with all of these downsides, I still choose to grow as many as I can fit on my farm. They are incredibly gorgeous! They come in a wide range of sizes (from 2”-12” in diameter), every color but blue and green, and a wide range of bloom shapes!

Zinnias

Back to easy to grow crops! Do you have terrible soil? Plant zinnias. Do you get drought-like conditions in the summer? Plant zinnias. Excessive year? Plant zinnias. A small space so you want as many blooms per plant as possible? Plant zinnias! These easy to grow beauties take little maintenance and come in a wide range of colors and shapes. I will never not grow zinnias. I especially love some of the more newly bred varieties and colors that are softer, more muted hues like blush, apricot, and peach. They’re to die for! 

Sweet Peas

Why doesn’t love a whimsical vining flower that smells divine?!  I love how I can use their vines for some fun whimsy and also their ruffly blooms that are not only beautiful but full of amazing aroma!  What they lack in vase life, they definitely make up for in beauty and scent!

Double tulips

Back to early blooming beauties! Tulips are the second crop to bloom on our farm. So not only are they a welcomed treat after a long winter, the double tulips are incredible! Some of them resemble a peony as well! They are hardy with few pests that bother them (watch out for deer, bunnies, and rodents!). One of the downsides to farming with tulips is they are labor intensive in that you plant new ones every year and only get one bloom per bulb. They also bloom very quickly on a hot sunny day so you risk having hundreds of blooms open before you can harvest them rendering them useless as a farmer (other than beautiful photography). On a sunny day, I run out to harvest 3-5 times in order to get them harvested at just the right stage for my customers. 

Cosmos

Remember all of the benefits of zinnias? Cosmos are very similar! The pollinators are also a huge fan of cosmos! One of the downsides to cosmos is that they bloom so often it can be hard to stay on top of harvesting. I harvest very deep in order to slow down their productivity. Even with harvesting extra long stems, I have to harvest them 3x per week to avoid deadheading tons of blooms. 

Fancy Daffodils

The very first crop to bloom on my farm is the lovely daffodils. I used to think that I didn’t like daffodils because I thought they only came in school bus yellow. However they come in white, apricot and pale yellow too! There are also a multitude of shapes they come in to where some you wouldn’t even recognize as daffodils!

This is far from a comprehensive list of what I grow. And there are many other flowers that I love and will always grow, but in order to keep this post to a manageable length I’ll stop here. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite flowers! I’d love to hear if some of my favorites are yours as well! If you can’t tell, my favorite types are the varieties that have a multitude of petals.

Shelby