If you’ve been following me for a while, you may know that I’m a huge advocate of feedback. It’s so valuable to help create trust with your customers and build a successful business. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see that I include polls, questions, and other interactive posts in my story frequently. Why? Because I love hearing my followers' opinions, questions, and thoughts.

My tailgate slowly opened to reveal the goods inside. I felt like I was hustling gold chains in NYC except it wasn’t gold chains. I had tulips that resembled limp spaghetti noodles with a bulb dangling from the bottom. The florist, her staff and the bank tellers from across the parking lot were rummaging through my stash and building piles to buy.

Starting a flower farm is exciting. Most new growers pour their energy into seeds, soil, and field plans. But here’s what often gets overlooked: marketing should begin long before your first bouquet is ready to sell.

If you’re months away from harvest, you might think it’s too early to start promoting your flower business. It’s not.

In fact, pre-launch marketing can determine whether you’ll have customers lined up ready to buy or whether you’ll be scrambling to find buyers once your flowers bloom.

Most growers have it completely backward. They grow a gazillion different flowers but rely on just one or two ways to sell them—usually mixed bouquets. What if you flipped the script? What if, instead of juggling dozens of flower varieties, you grew just one powerhouse flower and had a multitude of ways to generate revenue from it?

That’s the magic of dahlias. These stunning blooms aren’t just another pretty face in the field; they’re one of the most versatile and profitable flowers you can grow. From their first sprout to their final bloom (and even beyond), every stage of the dahlia lifecycle offers opportunities to make money.

Dahlia tubers. The blooms are the queen of the late-summer garden and the tubers are a critical income stream for flower farmers in the dead of winter when their field is dormant. But as you log hour after hour planting, digging, washing, dividing and storing, you start to wonder…is all the time and effort worth it?

So you’re ready to jump head first into growing your own cut flowers and you’ve reached the most exciting part so far: deciding which flowers to grow. But when choosing seeds, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed by the options and just choose the flowers you think are the prettiest. It’s also easy to feel like you need everything — especially when you’re a beginner. 

But what’s more important than having a wide variety of flowers is having types that are are easy to grow, produce a high yield and are still beautiful.

Can we start breaking the unspoken rule we inherited from our grandparents and start talking about making money? I think it’s beyond time to expose the underground world of numbers, sales and profit and utilize this data to show what is possible.

Now that I got that off my chest, let’s get into what this article is all about - how I generated over $250k in sales in one year from my flower farm, Muddy Acres Flower Farm. And did I mention that I had just one (incredible) very part-time employee?

Choosing the right location for your cut flower field is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a grower. Poor site selection can lead to drainage issues, wind damage, irrigation challenges, and lower yields. Whether you're starting a backyard cutting garden or planning a small flower farm, these six factors will help you choose a site that supports healthy plants and strong production.

I’ll never forget the fall day when I was so excited to dig up the 80+ dahlia tubers I’d grown during my first year of flower farming. I watched all the pros do it on social media and I couldn’t wait to see how many extra tubers my originals had grown. Instead, when I dug up my first one, it weighed over 10 pounds—it took two hands to hold! There was no tuber to be seen because it was completely covered in a massive clump of clay. 

I immediately decided that I was never dealing with that again. Cue the great build. In just over two seasons, I built 66 raised beds. 

Many flower farmers struggle with imposter syndrome. You see the “right” way to grow flowers everywhere… soil tests, amendments, strict spacing, succession charts and start wondering if you’re doing it wrong.

If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re qualified to teach, share, or even call yourself a flower farmer, this is for you.

When I was ready to buy my first low tunnel hoops, it was a mystery. I couldn’t find them anywhere. Where were growers getting these horseshoe shaped tubes? Johnny’s didn’t have them and I couldn’t find any resources from Floret, so where did these hoops come from?

And then I realized… I had to make my own low tunnel hoops. And come to find out, it’s actually pretty easy.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you exactly how to make low tunnel hoops using a hoop bender and electrical conduit. These DIY garden hoops are perfect for raised beds, row cover, and protecting cut flowers from frost and pests.

When it comes to planning your cut flower field, consider zinnias as one of your staples. While they aren’t showstoppers like dahlias and ranunculus, they have earned their place in every garden. Zinnias have so many incredible benefits that make them a great choice for any flower farmer. From simplicity and productivity to a rainbow of beautiful color varieties.