Sowing Beauty

Sowing Beauty

The growth of local flower farming

Words by Natalie Geehr | Photos by Topograph

Driving through the Central Valley, you’re probably familiar with the miles of vineyards and acres of orchards providing much of our beautiful region’s agricultural output. Fruit and nut crops may be the Valley’s top products, but if you know where to look, a smaller industry is taking root in the nooks and crannies of our booming ag land. Small scale flower farming has been gaining popularity nationwide thanks to generous farmer teachers like Erin Benzakein and Lisa Mason Zeigler providing accessible education via online courses. Even the number of small-scale flower farms in the Central Valley has increased exponentially since 2020. Generally defined as a flower farm on a quarter-acre or less, these tiny but mighty operations can produce hundreds of bunches of blooms over a growing season. From the narcissus, tulips, and early spring bulbs in February to the late chrysanthemums and dahlias that stretch into December, flower farmers in the Valley can produce nearly year-round (even without a greenhouse).

Though small scale flower farms are highly productive on a square-foot basis in comparison to fruit or nut crops, these farmers are competing for market share against the larger scale operations of imported flowers. According to American Grown Flowers, only about 22% of the flowers sold in the United States are grown here, and an even smaller percentage are sourced within a 200-mile radius of the end consumer.

Columbia alone accounts for nearly 70% of imported flowers in the U.S. each day, which are typically the ones you’ll see in grocery stores at rock-bottom prices. South American growing operations are not under the same restrictions as U.S. grown, meaning that many of these operations do not pay workers fair wages, drain their water sources at an unsustainable rate, and douse their flowers in insecticides proven to cause health problems for both the workers and florists who work with them day after day.

Luckily with local flower farms making a comeback, consumers and florists alike have more options to source healthier flowers that support the local economy (and are jaw droppingly gorgeous, of course!). Whether you find a weekend warrior turning their yard into a blooming paradise like Golden Season Flower Co. in Visalia, or a Clovis classic like Wynnie’s Flower Farm slinging bouquets at a Friday night farmer’s market, there are wonderful local growers to visit or buy flowers from this season. Florists are welcome to shop wholesale from a joint effort between local growers via the San Joaquin Flower Collective, which offers wholesale flowers from nine local growers for pickup or delivery, anywhere from Fresno down to Visalia.

Growing cut flowers requires months of planning ahead—starting the seeds, preparing the soil, planting the small plants out, and then…a lot of waiting for them to grow and bloom! I love the whole process, and I’ve learned a lot of patience along the way.

Visit a Flower Farm

Plan a trip today to see a farm in person or sign up for a floral subscription today!

FLOWER FARMS NEAR US:

• Bloemen Flower Farm (Visalia)

• Blooms on Lincoln Ave (Fresno)

• Colline Flower Farm (San Luis Obispo)

• Foliage Flower Farm (Fresno)

• Freckled Flower Farm (Fresno)

• Golden Season Flower Farm (Visalia)

• January and June Blooms (Clovis)

• Solace Lavender Farm (Fresno)

• Sweet Girl Farms (Reedley)

• Sweet Thistle Flower Farm (Clovis)

• Sweet Acres Flower Farm (Fresno)

• Wynnie’s Flower Farm (Clovis)

• Yosemite Flower Farm (Yosemite)