When starting a flower farm you don’t want to challenge yourself any more than you have to. Start with good quality flowers that will sell for a good price but are productive and easy to grow. So pick the best flowers to grow for sale.
So a good flower to start with is:
Sunflower
Sunflowers can be direct seeded in the garden as soon as the soil is warm, usually towards the end of May. They don’t require specialized soil or lots of water. They come in many varieties that do not grow as tall as sunflowers in the past Since you are not growing them for the seeds or oil you can grown the varieties that do not have large heads. These days the flowerlast longer and is more colourful.
Sunflowers want to be somewhere in the garden that gets full sun. As previously stated they don’trequire “great” soil or lots fo water. Just water well at planting and when they begin to flower.
The type of sunflower you want is medium sized. Pick something that isn’t your traditional large yellow sunflower grown for seeds and sunflower oil. If you want multiplejheads try the many kinds of false sunflowers.
Yellow Spider False Sunflower – Brecks
Bert Sunflower – Veseys
Red Sun Sunflower – McKenzie
Lemon Pixie – Sunfower Selections
Zinnia
Zinnnias are annuals so they have to be reseeded. You can grow single, semi double or double flowers. Terse are multiple shapes -beehive, button and cactus. They need 6 – 8 hours of full sun and good air circulation. They like soil rich in organic matter, well drained with pH around 6.5. Zinnias can be started indoors but do not plant them in the garden until a ll threat of frost is past. For regular supply plant a new row of seeds every week. They need regular watering and should be thinned to 6 inches apart. Don’t be afraid to thin and deadhead to get consistent bloom across the crop. Flowering takes 60-70 days so don’t be impatient. There are so many varieties to choose from.
Benares Giant – Veseys
State Fair Mix – Burpee
Double Zahara Salmon – Burpee
Rudbeckia
Rudbeckia (black eyed Susan) is a a perennial flower, with erect stems, deeply lobed coarse leaves. The plants clump and produce “colonies”. This plant prefers full sun, ore than 6 hours. Some shade is fine. Moist well drained soil is preferred but less water will suffice once the plant is established.
This is another plant where the grower must not be afraid to thin and deadhead for consistent flowers through the season. It can take u to 2 years to grow a sizeable plant so Rudbeckia makes a great backbone plant for your flower farm. Propagation by division gives you the opportunity to enlarge your production of flowers and prevent overcrowding. Rudbeckia also comes in a multitude of colours to choose from.
Goldsttum Rudbeckia – Veseys
Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia – Veseys
Amarillo Gold Rudbeckia – Swallowtail garden seeds.
Cherokee Sunset – Rare Seeds
Planning your garden layout
When planning your Flower Farm one of the first considerations is location. Many of the flowers, if not all, will need full sun. That is 6 – 8 hours per day. Water should be readily available even though flowers like sunflowers do not require daily watering. Be sure to plant the tallest flowers at the back. It is important to read the specifications for each of the flowers and the specific variety to know where to plant in your garden. Generally speaking that means the sunflowers in the back.
You may require stakes for the taller single stalk flowers – sunflowers and gladiolus – to keep them from toppling over.
Many cut flowers can be directly sown in the garden after the risk of frost is gone and the soil was warm. In order to give you a head start on the season, however, starting seeds indoors allows you to plant seedlings. Investing in grow lights might be a good idea. With these you can start seeds 6 – 8 weeks before the last expected frost. You can buy seedlings from your local greenhouse as well but this will raise your cost and might be prohibitive.
Conclusion
Starting with one or all three of these flowers will give any aspiring flower farmer a good start. Sunflower, Zinnia and Rudbeckia are easy to grow and produce quality flowers in abundance with consistent but uncomplicated care. They may be the best flowers to grow for sale.
This site offers a comprehensive list of the best flowers to grow for profit, including information on the ideal growing conditions, pricing, and market demand. The website also provides helpful tips on how to maximize profits, such as choosing the right time to sell and creating attractive arrangements. One question that comes to mind is whether these flowers are suitable for beginner growers or require more advanced skills. Another question is whether the website provides information on the potential risks and challenges of growing these flowers. Overall, I think this website is an excellent resource for anyone interested in flower farming and can help beginners get started on the right track.
Thanks John. I hoped to pick easy flowers for people to start with. Anyone who wants this can do it.
Hi, Deede, thank you for this easy guide to starting a flower garden, which may later become a business. I loved your selections and also advice on how one should avoid in order to succeed in this venture. You have recommended types plants for flower production, which also have varieties,that produce different shades of colors. If one grows for home beauty the three types enriched with the various shades of color makes the garden really good. I have always thought on venturing into flower growing but I did not know the best way to start. You have really helped me in this and I now know where to start from. Once again thank you for this post.
Thanks for the comment. I’m hoping to expand our farming products with flowers. It does sound like a beautiful place to be.