Why we think a flower farm in every neighbourhood is a good thing

You drive through your neighbourhood with two flat white coffees for you and a friend meeting in the park for a walk and talk. It's a sunny day, and you can't wait to catch up with her.

You see someone down the street setting up a chalkboard with a hand-painted sign: "Fresh Flowers - bunches picked today". That's your local flower grower setting up their farm gate shop.

You pull over and look at the burst of colour inside the flower stall. You're greeted by buckets of tulips. Or are they peonies?

It really doesn’t matter, these flowers look and smell amazing. You can't resist. So you grab a bunch for your friend and drop the cash into the honesty box.

Then as you pull away, you wave at the flower grower who you notice is back in her garden picking more flowers.

How would the world change if purchasing flowers was always so convenient and charming?

There's a world where you can buy fresh flowers right where they're grown. Your world might be a suburb, village or rural community. This is a world where locals buy from people they know.

This may sound idyllic, but it's not a fantasy.

Locally grown flowers are popping up for sale in neighbourhoods everywhere as florally minded people turn into entrepreneurs.

Take Karen, for instance. In a village on the edge of Dartmoor, an artist, self-confessed cat lady has a cottage garden bursting with flowers. She wheels out the cutest flower shed to sell flowers to her neighbours.

Or consider Elly, a stay-at-home mum who transformed her front lawn into a cut flower patch after studying horticulture in her spare time. She supplies flowers to a local wedding stylist and sells bunches of flowers from her garden gate. Elly also shares her knowledge and tips about gardening on Instagram, encouraging others to start gardening and arranging flowers.

There are just two examples of countless individuals who are following their flower growing dreams.

These are flower farmers who are redefining what a local flower is.

After growing her own cut flowers during one of the Covid pandemic lockdowns, Nicola started giving them away. She then started a business to help other people sow, grow, and give away cut flowers too.

Leigh is a dried floral designer with a thriving business selling custom designs and collections of dried florals at local craft galleries. She recently expanded her business by selling flowers grown by her friend Gaylene from her garden gate on Friday mornings.

Perched on top of a hill Jacqui has a flower farm, it’s a labour of love alongside her full-time job, family and a menagerie of animals to look after. Jacqui delivers her bright bouquets to her customers throughout the region as she travels for her job.

All these flower businesses started from a passion for flowers, a perfect way to earn extra money and bring flowers to people in their local community.

Here at the FBA, we have an ambition for every neighbourhood to have their own local flower farm or cutting garden; a place where locals can buy flowers where they are grown. To create a level of intimacy and authenticity to the flower world lost with mass-produced flowers.

The thought of more tiny flower sellers popping up is a shocking idea to some people.

Especially to existing flower business owners who fear that more flower sellers are bad for business. Yet, not all flower businesses are created equally.

A local flower shop does not mean the flowers they sell are local.

Most flowers sold in the world are mass-produced and travel long distances. In the process they lose their charm, scent and true natural beauty. Flowers sold close to where they are grown are fresher, have more character and kinder to the planet.

It’s only by having community-based flower farms and cutting gardens can we offer customers better flowers that are grown naturally. Making the flower industry better means having more flower business of all shapes and sizes.

There are at least three flower farms in my town. I have customers that will only buy from me, and others that are more promiscuous with their flower buying and support all three.

Together we are growing the overall demand for local flowers selling direct and by supplying local florists who would otherwise have to buy-in flowers from elsewhere.

Much like local food producers and farm shops, local floral businesses are artisanal and serve a specific customer who cares about where their flowers come from. These are flower farmers who take the business of flowers seriously, respecting there is a wider flower world whilst respectfully doing their own thing.

Creating a thriving boutique flower business isn’t as easy as people think. Like any business that offers poor quality and low prices, it will struggle to survive for long.

This is why the FBA exists, to build strong community-based flower businesses that increase overall demand for locally grown flowers. We favour a grassroots approach with local flower farms serving their local community and collaborating with other growers to supply flowers on a larger scale.

It’s why:

• we created the NZ Flower Collective online directory so that New Zealanders can find local flower farms easily

• Flowers for the Farm in the UK exists to promote growers of British flowers

• Slow Flowers Society is on a mission to promote local flower growers in the USA and Canada

• Floret Flower-Florist Collective was set up to support the global seasonal flower movement.

Across the world the local flower movement is about creating businesses where beauty, sustainability, and community are intertwined.

Just this week there have been two great examples here in New Zealand of Flower Farmers telling their stories about starting their community-based flower farms.

Marisa Vodanovich, Urban Flower Farmlet, Auckland, New Zealand

Gemma McDougall, ātaahua Blooms Flower Farm, Manawatu, New Zealand

If you want to step up to the challenge of starting or building your own seasonal flower business selling what you grow locally, then you’re in the right place. We’re here to help you turn your own flower dreams into being part of a bigger force for environmentally-conscious community-based businesses.

The strategies, toolkits and mentoring we offer in the FBA is specifically designed to help you get clarity in your business quicker, grow quality flowers that will be in high demand and sell flowers to your community with ease.

Yet, it’s the chance to build your business in the company of other floral business owners that makes the most difference. We’re all learning together and building stronger businesses as a result.

If you want to know more about how you can be part of the FBA community, do sign up to learn more about our year-round membership that will put you at the heart of a community of flower growers where flowers mean business.

Leave a comment below and tell us about your ambitions to serve your own community with your own flower business.

Happy flowering.

Written by: Julie Treanor: Owner of The Pickery and Co-creator of The Floral Business Activator

Follow Julie on Instagram @thepickery

SIGN UP TO BE PART OF THE FLORAL BUSINESS ACTIVATOR YEAR-ROUND.

Our membership programme is open to new members in May 2024. Sign up to get on the waitlist and be the first to know all the details about joining.

LINKS TO PEOPLE AND PLACES MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE

Karen Burgess - Dartmoor Flower Shed

Elly Keen - Daydream Green

Nicola Bird - The Floral Project

Jacqui Whelan - Hill Road Blooms

Leigh Westley - Magenta Blooms

NZ Flower Collective online directory

Flowers for the Farm in the UK

Slow Flowers Society

Floret Flower-Florist Collective