Summer wedding bouquet
Risk and the edge of trends
Claire, Plantpassion
When thinking about what you are planning to grow in the future, you need to be thinking about your attitudes and future plans.
This is the equivalent of when you have a meeting with a financial planner, and they want to know whether you want to keep your inheritance money in gold and bonds, or if you want to take the riskier option of "gambling " on stocks and shares.
If you are a very large growing concern, then you a highly unlikely to be growing anything without orders already in the book. This is why the large UK growers, particularly in Lincolnshire, grow flowers that are loved by the Supermarkets. The Tulips, Stocks, Asters, Lilies, Gladioli and Narcissus will already be pre-booked, and so the commercial growers can supply hundreds of thousands of stems, at little profit per stem, because they know that they already have orders for a large amount.
However this means that the supermarket flowers are very slow moving trends. They are likely to have exactly the same product and the same varieties and colours each year. Because they are talking about millions of stems of flowers each year, they can't take the risk with something new and untried. A smaller business can actually be more nimble, and that means we can take some risks.
If we are selling in tens and hundreds of stems, rather than in hundreds of thousands, then it is easier for us to find new varieties to test. We can see if our customers like them, and we can encourage them to like them by manipulating social media algorithms and showing them off to their best advantage. This is where you need to think carefully about how risk averse, or how keen to push the edge of trends you are. Growing lots of new varieties is riskier, however it may bring higher rewards if new products can sell for higher prices, or if it means that you are seen as a market leader.
How much is enough?
My one Acre main flower field
When you think of "Farming" most people think of Acres of fields. Mostly because our farming for food tends to now be of monoculture fields at giant sizes. Larger fields will need machinery to do the harvesting, or teams of pickers that all need to be concentrated in an area at one time.
However flower farming doesn't need to be on a huge scale to be productive and profitable.
All 3 of us farm our flowers on less than 2 acres of productive ground.
We use beds that are a lot smaller than full fields of crops, and we can produce a huge number of stems from them.
Our bed sizes are between 4 and 10 square meters.
So when you're planning your plants, you need to be thinking in terms of
• How many plants per square metre (Go back to Carol's information in Module 2 Planning Quantities)
Who are your customers and so what type of crops will you be growing (Go back to Claire's information in Module 2, What do they want to buy)
What is your balance of priorities with regards to how often you can harvest (Go back to Paula's information in Module 2 Getting the balance right)
In Module 7 We are going to look in detail about keeping records, so you'll have numbers from your own soil and conditions, but to give you an idea.
A 10 metre bed of Achillea (90-100 plants) can give 400 stems of flowers per week for 4 weeks over July and August. If then cut back hard it will have a second flush producing 30-50 stems a week for 3 weeks in September/ October.
A 10 metre overwintered bed of Ammi Visnaga can give 300 stems of flowers per week for 3 weeks in late June and July. A 10metre spring sown bed of Ammi Visnaga can give a 150 stems, slightly shorter for 3 weeks in September.
If you are unable to harvest every day, then you'll also need crops that don't spoil if you don't pick them immediately. These are our best and most productive crops that don't have to be picked every day of the week.
Carol : Achillea, Astrantia, Daucus, Eucalyptus, Nepeta
Paula : Rosemary, Privet, Roses, Lupins, Senecio
Claire : Mint, Astrantia, Rosemary, Stachys, Hydrangea Annabelle, Dusty miller
Which markets are worth chasing?
This often comes down to personal preference, your needs for your business, and your attitude to risk.
Are you someone that loves fashion, styling, new ideas, cutting edge trends? Or would you prefer to see what others have done, and then follow through?
If you think back to Carol's description of the 4 year cycle, you also need to be able to hold your nerve, and try again if something hasn't been quite as successful as you think.
Here's Carol's take on one of her new trial crops from last year:
I had seen lots of posts of lovely soft and unusual shades of carnations all over Instagram. They are super reliable flowers and great for vase life, and even lasting really well out of water. So I looked and looked for different colours, that weren’t the standard very clear colours you usually get in the wholesalers. I sourced some seed from Floret and other US suppliers, and grew yellow, purples, red striped as well as soft blush pinks, white and cream. Most of them didn’t look much like the photos on the suppliers websites. I gave two beds in the polytunnel to them. And I couldn’t sell them. I added them into mixed buckets for florists, but the following week they would say ‘no carnations, please’. I used a few, and I sold a few, but nowhere near enough to justify the effort and space I gave to them. I had sent some spare plants to Paula to try too. She grew them and says her florists in Scotland loved them! Especially the yellow and the red striped ones. Grr!
So, do I grow them again next year? I was thinking I wouldn’t....but Paula says her florists are quite ‘fashion forward’, have a lot of foreign and non- Scottish brides who travel to get married in Scotland. Maybe they will become more fashionable this year? I do supply City centre florists in Manchester and Liverpool, but they will only want the flowers their brides want. But they do some parties and events too. Maybe I was just a bit ahead of the curve for my customers. Maybe they will want them this year? I haven’t decided whether to grow them again yet, but I probably will, but maybe just one bed....
Whichever market you want to be working with, you are going to need to plan how you will let them know what you are growing.
Social media is great for this, but growing comes down to what you love. We've discussed before that if you don't like a plant, you are unlikely to give it the care and nurture that it needs to thrive, and if it is your least favourite colour or style, it will also be the last one that you go to pick each morning, - or will be the bed you leave until "the end of the week"
It comes back to your Ideal customer again. - Who do you like working with?
How to find actual varieties to grow?
We've talked lots about planning, but this is the really good bit, you can now research how all the market information, your attitude to risk and your trendiness translate into the actual plants that you'll grow, and how many of them. We could give you a list of varieties that are good to grow as cut flowers, and lots of books and beginner courses do just that. However,the danger is that we recommend plants that are no good for the markets you are supplying, and we all end up growing the same plants. So there’s no easy list at this point, just advice on where to look and encouragement to look carefully at what you’re ordering to make sure it fits your criteria!
So where will you find your information?
Seed and bulb catalogues: It's in the seed companies best interests to provide you with photos and descriptions to tempt you. Please note, just because we recommend these magazines for research, it doesn't mean that they are the best companies for you to buy your seeds from.
Plants of Distinction
Sarah Raven
Thompson and Morgan
Moles Seeds
Kings Seeds
Chiltern Seeds
J Parkers
Peter Nyssen
Bloms Bulbs
Johnny’s Seeds
Geoseed
Seedaholic
Online websites:
Gardeners World
Sarah Raven
The British flowers book blog
Floret
Books
Grow your own cut flowers - Sarah Raven
The British Flowers Book - Claire Brown, Emma Davies, Vanessa Birley
The Flower Farmers Year- Georgie Newbery
The Flower Book: Natural flower arrangements for your home - Rachel Siegfried
The Cut flower patch : Grow your own cut flowers all year round - Louise Curley
Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden : Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms - Erin Benzakin
Lots of natural or garden style Floral Design books
Groups and forums
UK members association - Flowers from the Farm
US & Canada members association - ASCFG
Flower Farmers FB forum
lots and lots of hobby and cut flowers and florists forums / groups on facebook