Blooming Success Selling Fresh Cut Flowers
The popularity of flowers is continuing to grow and there’s no end in sight. You can turn your backyard nursery into profitable plants in no time. Seriously, it’s really quite easy. Soon you can be making really good money, all from fresh cut flowers. Flower growers make good money. How much? On average, flower growers are making $20 to $30 an hour. You can easily make several hundred dollars in no time. And there are a lot of potential sales out there. Just think about where you see flowers: parks, backyards, shopping centers, offices, restaurants, hospitals and many, many more places. These flowers have to come from somewhere.
When starting out, choose a few flowers. Start small and let your business grow naturally. Here are a few popular fresh cut flowers: Ageratum – Two cultivars, “Blue Horizon” and “Florist’s White,” are particularly popular for market growers. Consolida Ambigua is a productive plant in your garden, and is widely used by florists. Helianthus Annuus is also known as a “sunflower,” and continues to be popular. Achillea can produce hundreds of flowers over a couple years. Gypsophilia Paniculata is a widely-used filler in floral arrangements.
So what’s going to make you a top seller? Having really healthy plants. Take good care of your plants to see that they grow up looking beautiful and healthy. Only use organic materials, such as organic fertilizers. These help the plants grow at a steady and less-stressed rate than chemical fertilizers. Be sure to add some mulch to your garden to avoid weeds. Also, stop wind damage by planting tall shrubs to provide a windbreak. And don’t forget about those pesky pests. Use insecticidal soaps, Neem or “sticky traps” to help stop this treat. Take care of your soil, and you’ll see your plants turn out the way you want them to.
Also, grow what people want! Listen to your customers. If you can grow what people want, then they’ll continually turn to you for their flower-growing needs. Growing healthy plants and the plants that people want will make you the go-to flower grower in your town. So where can you sell your profitable plants? Farmers’ markets – These continue to be popular events that draw big crowds eager to find the top local growers. Set up a stand or booth and get selling. Mail-order sales – Place an ad in the classifieds or in gardening catalogs. Keep running the ad, and soon people will recognize it, and you’ll be the one they call. Fundraisers – People are more than willing to spend a little money if they know part of it is going to a good cause. Sell your flowers at a fundraiser, and donate some of the profits to a local charity or other good cause. It makes your flower-growing business look good, while also putting some money in your pocket.