Do you know where those flowers come from? The ones in other-worldly colors wrapped in cellophane and heaped in colorful chaos at the supermarket? Chances are they were grown in Columbia, where they were drenched in an anti-fungal agent before being packaged and hopscotched from refrigerated containers on ships or planes to trucks before arriving at florists and chain supermarkets throughout the U.S.
According to the California Cut Flower Commission, nearly 80 percent of all cut flowers sold in the United States are imported from South American countries. Columbia is the biggest exporter, followed by Ecuador, Mexico, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Kenya, Thailand, Guatemala, Peru and India.
It’s no wonder flowers have become just one more inexpensive produce item offered at the supermarket. American florists also have been ordering their products from the array of options provided by countries with ideal weather and cheap labor.
While some commercial flower growers sell only to florists, others sell at farmers markets and supermarkets. Many flower farmers offer design services and can design an entire wedding from fresh flowers they grew and harvested themselves.
Why Go Local?
There are several reasons to consider a florist who purchases at least some of her flowers from local American growers. Buying locally-grown is a win-win situation, ensuring freshness while injecting just enough variety in each individual blossom. Think about the typical bouquet of roses—they’re pretty much identical—grown and bred for uniformity, which isn’t the case with local field grown flowers. A little diversity in a clutch of dahlias, for example, makes a bouquet much more interesting.
Growing Your Own
Becki Conner has been growing fresh cut flowers since 2008. “When we first started we grew everything under the sun,” said the LaPorte, Indiana resident. “Now we concentrate on Hydrangeas and Dahlias.”
The name Conner chose says it all: Green Trail Dahlias, Hydrangeas and Specialty Cut Flowers, indicating the selection of blossoms whose delicate structure makes them difficult to ship.
Conner understands the lure that relatively inexpensive roses grown in South America have for brides that don’t have time for the DIY route. It’s just simpler to go to a florist. But little by little, even traditional, longtime florists are changing the mix and purchasing flowers from local growers like Conner.
“You have to convince them (commercial florists) that you know how to handle the flowers,” Conner says. “The most critical thing is timing the cut of the flowers; we like to cut them when they’re 75 percent open.”
Conner plants around 5,000 Dahlia tubers, spacing the plantings out so she will have them in bloom from July through October, depending on the weather. In May and June she offers a selection of peonies. “People who come to me want something special,” she says. “If they’re spending money they want the money to stay here.”
There are other reasons people are looking locally for flowers, and in Conner’s mind, one of them is New York Times’ bestseller Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. Author Amy Stewart’s 2007 book shines a light on the process involved in getting imported flowers, most of which are from South America, to market.
Debra Prinzing is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and leading advocate for American grown flowers. She is the producer of slowflowers.com, the online directory to American flower farms, and florists, shops and studios that source domestic and local flowers.
“Like with food and menu choices at weddings, many couples want their flowers to reflect season, place and character of their special day,” explained Prinzing. “Flowers grown in your own region express that.”
Going Local is a Unique Experience
There has to be a certain amount of trust on the part of the bride when working with fresh flowers. Prinzing explains that designers might show color selections, or a portfolio of different styles—lush and loose, rustic or formal—but they can’t guarantee, for instance, that on May 15th, a specific variety of peony will be available. Florists who design with fresh, local flowers are at the mercy of the weather.
More and more, though, floral designers who grow their own flowers are sourcing blossoms from other growers. Some are offering custom growing for clients. It’s more common with experienced flower growers who are confident they can provide a particular variety of Zinnia, for example, for a wedding the following year.
Emily Watson, owner of Wood Violet Floral Design in Milwaukee, WI says a bouquet made with fresh cut local flowers is absolutely a different product than you would get from a traditional florist. She adds, “People need to be a little more flexible in their expectations when dealing with locally grown product for a variety of reasons.”
Watson grows some of the flowers she uses in designs, but outsources many of them from other growers in Wisconsin during the peak growing season. (May-October). She likes to pick stems traditional florists can’t, like beebalm, seed pods, or even hops. Some flowers—like garden roses or hydrangeas—she will order from growers on the west coast. During the winter months, her palette of flowers comes from California, the South, and Canada.
Watson’s farm isn’t set up for visitors and, on a day to day basis, doesn’t usually reflect the best selection. “If it’s a salable bloom it’s already been harvested and is in my cooler or has been sold,” she explained.
Buying blooms from as many as seven different growers gives Watson an even larger selection to work with. Potential clients meet with Watson in her studio to go through a portfolio of creations to find the style they like that fits with the timing of their event.
Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Columbus, OH has a list of flowers potentially available for each month of the season posted on their website. May and September offer the biggest variety, with the potential for more than 25 different flowers each month from which to choose.
In addition to using their organically-grown flowers for their own wedding design work, Bliss Haven Farms in Noblesville, IN sells by appointment to DIYers, and to local florists.
Buckeye Blooms in Elida, OH is a mother-daughter team of growers-florists known for their lush, non-traditional, organic designs.
Black Dog Flower Farm in southwest Michigan grows a wide variety of flowers and offers floral design work. 9165 Date Road, Baroda, Michigan 49101-9391, phone (269) 465-4870 or e-mail blackdogfarms@hotmail.com.
Whether you are looking for a specific flower not found at a typical florist or would love the idea of picking your own flowers and making your own arrangements, there is a grower out there, hopefully nearby.
Ten Sources and One Great Resource:
10. Wood Violet Floral Design, Milwaukee, WI
Slow Flowers, an online directory to American flower farms and florists, shops and studios that source domestic and local flowers.