A Flower Farmer’s Year

This isn’t the same every year - some years the peonies bloom late, some years the dahlias bloom early, sometimes the sun doesn’t come out for two weeks BUT generally speaking it should give you an idea of how the season will run.

FIRST QUARTER - JANUARY-MARCH

Generally speaking, this is the time of year when a lot of the preparation for the season is done. It’s far enough ahead of the season that we can set a lot of big ideas in motion, but also far enough after the end of the prior season to where we’ve recovered from the previous season.

Note that because we live in a milder zone, we’re able to do a lot of physical work during this time that others with more harsh and wetter winters may not be able to do until far later. We’ll concentrate more on the administrative side of things and things you can do to prep for the season even if your field is covered in snow or is so muddy you can’t eve walk in it.

To follow this schedule the following timeline may prove useful

1. Find your last frost date, and check to see the temperatures for the prior 3-4 months. If not too cold (15 F or more) you can probably follow our timeline. If you are colder (<15 F) you may need to delay seed sowing and planting out.

2. Start your seeds accordingly so that they have at least a month (or even two) prior to planting out into the field. For example, we start Icelandic poppies in January so that by February we have good-sized plugs to plant out. 

3. All of our seeds should be sown by the end of February (around 2 months prior to our last frost date) to get at least one month of growth before being planted out into the field. 

NOTE: We are able to continue to grow out our seedlings outdoors due to our climate and temperatures being relatively mild - we continue to grow them out under a covered porch that is protected by wind and shelter. For some seedlings, we grow them under shop lights in an unheated garage to give them a head start. 

ADDENDUM: And that’s what we’re aiming for - a head start for our seedlings. By giving them an earlier start to allow them to grow a bigger, stockier root system they are more advanced and will establish quicker and grow larger and bloom at exactly the right time (before it gets hot and the days are long and the plants go dormant). 

ADDENDUM TO THE ADDENDUM: We stay dry and warm enough to plant out into the open field by mid February through the end of March. If you cannot plant into your ground, you may want to perform bed preparation to ensure that you can - whether that is incorporating drainage to the soil, prepping and then covering the beds to ensure that they don’t get soggy over the winter, or even growing in raised beds. 

It’s important to note that one of the reasons why we get all of our seeds started early is because in March we start sowing our summer blooming seeds for planting out in early April to get a start on the season. If we didn’t start them, we would be swamped and overwhelmed with too many seedlings! Plus, we have to start thinking about the summer blooms that will then carry us through until the end of October.

JANUARY

4 months from last frost date

• At this point we have planned out our varieties and have ordered most of our seeds and are ready to start them. 

• We are lucky enough to where most of our ground is not frozen nor covered in snow or made muddy by rain and we can work in the soil on the warmer days. This allows us to catch up on any bed prep or soil prep that we did not get accomplished the previous fall. 

• Any seeds that are started (indoors on a heat mat) will either go directly outside to grow in a sheltered area (sweet peas, icelandic poppies, orlaya, larkspur) or will grow indoors under lights (foxgloves, violas, phlox) to get a head start on growth. If the temperatures dip super low (below 15 F) the seedlings will either get supplemental heat or will shelter inside. A heated greenhouse (or large unheated polytunnel)  is optimal for growing large volumes of seedlings, but is not absolutely necessary if you’re growing in smaller quantities

February

3 months from last frost date

• Planting out some of the more hardy annuals (Icelandic poppies, orlaya, sweet peas,  daucus, ammi majus and ammi visnaga, scabiosa, foxgloves) out into their beds (with the cover of floating row cover to protect them).

• If we get a cold spell, we’ll double up on the floating row cover to ensure that they stay nice and warm and snug underneath their covers. We rarely get extreme temperatures (under 15 F) so the majority of our flowers should be OK growing in this way.

• If you get a lot of snow and adverse weather conditions, a plastic low tunnel may be advised to help keep the snow off the seedlings and to trap a bit more heat. Incandescent electric Christmas lights can work in a pinch to generate just enough heat to keep seedlings from freezing. Alternatively, a thick layer of snow can insulate seedlings very well from the cold and allow them to survive very well.

March

2 months from last frost date

• Start checking for the emergence of spring blooming bulbs - narcissus, tulips, hyacinths etc.

• Continue planting out hardy flowers, watching to ensure that any cold snaps don’t negatively impact the plants. All of the hardy, spring-blooming flowers should be planted this month for us to give them at least 60 days of cold, mild weather to establish and grow well. 

• Continue to water and fertilize the plants to ensure they are growing well, as well as removing any weeds that start popping up such as henbit, foxtail and weedy mustards (which start growing larger as we get warmer). The sooner (and smaller) you can find the weeds and eliminate them, the easier your growing will be. 

• We start sowing some seeds for the summer blooms now. Strawflower for example, which will bloom all the way past frost will continue to grow and bloom the entire summer and can be planted out so long as we don’t get a hard freeze. Even the heat-loving blooms of zinnias can be started now and planted out as we get closer to our last frost date. 

• We also will start waking up our dahlias now to plant out into the field. We have slowly been taking cuttings since January to multiply our stock of rare varieties, and these will be planted out after the last frost date.

Second Quarter - April-June

The second quarter is generally a very busy time for most people. We usually tell our friends and family to expect for us to disappear for a couple weeks as we try and cram all our annuals into the ground while also working on harvesting bulbs, spring blooms, cool flowers and early summer blooms.

Our last frost date is April 15th, and that’s the week around which most of our activity is centered. A few weeks beforehand, we are planting out cold-hardy annuals and perennials. We also will plant our dahlia tubers as well - we’re lucky enough to be dry enough to do so in the spring.

As soon as the last frost date hits, we start planting out the tender annuals like zinnias, cosmos, basil, and other items that can’t handle freezing temperatures. Occasionally we’ll get a late frost (so we protect our crops with Agribon from the frost) but generally speaking we’re able to get the farm going at this time.

At the same time, narcissus and tulips will be hitting their stride and ranunculus and anemones are going to be coming into production for many people too. Towards the end of the second quarter you’ll start getting blooms from biennials like digitalis and lunaria and aquilegias as well as cool flowers like sweet peas and scabiosa and bachelor buttons as well as early perennials like achillea and rudbeckias.

April

Last frost date

• Up to the last frost date, plant out cold-hardy transplants like digitalis, echinacea, achillea and dianthus

• If the soil is workable, start planting dahlia tubers. You can accelerate their growth by covering them with low tunnels or Agribon.

• On the last frost date, start planting out tender annuals like zinnias, cosmos, basil to get an early start on the season

• Continue to harvest the last of the spring bulbs like narcissus and tulips, as well as ranunculus and anemones

• The days are getting longer and the weather warmer. Our last frost date is April 15th, by which some of the earliest spring blooming flowers will start blooming. Sporadically at first, but they will eventually start picking up steam as we head towards the end of April. We will lift off our floating row cover at this point to allow the plants to grow in the mild conditions - spring is truly here at this point. 

• It’s important to keep everything watered and fed. As the season heats up, growth will start occurring at an explosive rate, and it’s important that your flowers are allowed to grow unchecked by either drought or lack of nutrients. We will use a water-soluble fertilizer to give all our plants a weekly dousing of nutrients. 

• It’s also important at this point to ensure that your plants are kept well supported as they grow taller and taller. One strong breeze or rainstorm at this point can knock them over, rendering them unusable so it’s important to use some sort of netting or corralling method to keep them upright. Even if you don’t get strong winds, you may have issues with the plants growing so quickly that they end up flopping over or splaying outwards. Although I do love the way some of these stems curl and twist to add whimsy and shape to arrangements, it’s best to keep them tall and straight. 

• Sweet peas are especially unruly as they start growing. We actually grow our sweet peas bushy and short to cut them for their tendrils, but if you are growing them the traditional method you’ll want to go out every few days and ensure that they are growing steadily upwards on their netting or trellis, hooking the tendrils onto the trellis as needed. 

• We will also start planting out our summer blooms. Zinnias especially cannot stay in their trays for very long (2 weeks max in a 72 cell tray), so they go into the ground very quickly. Although they won’t do much in the (relatively) cooler weather of April, they can start getting their root systems established before the heat of the summer, meaning that they will get a good head start and will be much more drought tolerant, larger, and more productive when they start blooming. 

• We’ll also start planting the first of the dahlia tubers. Dahlia tubers take around 90 days to start blooming, so by planting in April the earliest dahlias will start blooming in the middle of July. We will also start taking cuttings of dahlias to continue to plant out later on. 

May

6 months prior to the first frost date

• We now have six months of full-on growing season ahead of us, and most of what we have started from seed and grown out has been planted with the exception of some of the dahlia tubers kept for taking cuttings from. 

• Now comes less of the hustle and bustle that is so characteristic of spring, and now comes more of the marathon of summer - harvesting and deadheading, bunching and sales from the flower farm (in the form of retail flowers or designs or wholesaling of the flowers). Our days will be busy, spent harvesting and processing flowers and designing and getting them into the hands of people who will be appreciating them. And when we are lucky, we’ll get some time to enjoy flowers for ourselves. 

• As the days get hotter, we watch out for a critical temperature - 80 F. This is where many of the spring blooming plants such as ranunculus and sweet peas start going over. Although we do have the advantage of a low-humidity environment that keeps our night temperatures a bit cooler (and allows for the spring blooming flowers to go a while longer) eventually all the spring blooms will become less and less productive, until finally we get to a point where they stop blooming, develop brown leaves and wither away. 

• As certain flowers start going over, it’s a good idea to pull them out of the bed as they start waning in their performance. There’s little to be gained from keeping them in the bed, as they are occupying precious space that other flowers could be planted into there. Careful planning will allow for the seamless succession of flowers into the now-vacated beds - replacing sweet peas with hyacinth runner bean vines, Icelandic poppies with zinnias, ranunculus with cosmos and so on. 

• There are some spring flowers that can cross over into summer production as well. Although most people would do well to pull all the spring flowers since they fizzle out so quickly, if you live in a milder environment (Zone 3a for example) or live in a drier environment like we do (dry Zone 7a) or have good coastal buffering to keep the summers more temperate  (Pacific Northwest, the Bay Area, all of Great Britain and New Zealand) you can extend your spring bloomers further. For example, we can actually see six months of production from our scabiosa - they are not the most productive nor the flower quality as excellent as they are in spring or fall, but they will steadily continue to bloom for us throughout the year and are worth keeping in place (and we plan accordingly). Some of the spring flowers that can bloom for a longer period include scabiosa, bachelor buttons, cerinthe, strawflower, daucus, ammi majus, ammi visnaga and phlox. 

• It’s not easy to pull out flowers - especially if they’re still in the midst of blooming, albeit in an increasingly less productive state - but I assure you that the blooms of summer will be well worth the sacrifice you make in pulling out the spring blooms. Ideally, we would all have a designated spring growing area and a designated summer area that needed no overlap, but that’s not always the case. 

• If you’ve done well in starting your summer blooming flowers ahead of time, you’ll be able to seamlessly step into your summer planting after you remove the spring blooming flowers. 

• Generally speaking, we try to have all our summer annuals into the ground by the end of May (the first successions at least). We are reaching high eighties by the end of May here, which then starts getting into the nineties by early June (or sometimes the end of May on an especially hot year!) so it’s best to get the plants established prior to then. 

• The first of our perennial plantings start blooming, with the peonies and alliums being the stars of the show.

June

5 months prior to first frost date

• June is still nice because the last of the spring flowers are still blooming enough to still earn their place. We’ll say goodbye to the majority of the spring flowers in the first couple weeks to make space for summer bloomers. 

• As the days get warmer, it’s important to keep up with watering. Especially here in our dry and hot environment, we have to sometimes water every couple of days in the heat of summer. It’s best to ensure that your plants get a good, deep soak as opposed to shallow, infrequent waterings that just hit the top of the soil. We actually bury our drip irrigation down below 2-3” to ensure that the moisture is placed right where it can get to the plant roots while also avoiding being lost due to evaporation on the top of the soil. 

• It’s important to get any other infrastructure for summer plants up before they get too large. Dahlias of course require staking or corralling or netting, while others such as amaranthus and cosmos may get unruly or floppy if they are allowed to grow unchecked, so will also require netting or corralling methods while they are still young and on the shorter side. 

• Netting can be very useful to hold plants in place and prevent them from getting the dreaded flop that can occur in gale-force winds and rain. When we use netting, we stake the four corners with metal T-posts or thick wooden dowels to keep it in place. 

• We choose usually not to use netting since it’s an additional hassle (especially when harvesting). Since we’re not aiming to have giant, tall plants with gigantic flowers (relatively speaking) at 5-6’ tall, we tend to have much smaller, manageable plants at around 2-3’ tall. Cosmos for instance are usually these gi

• ant, leggy, unruly plants that flop like crazy in even a slightly strong breeze, but when grown for cut flowers, they get pinched (which makes them more squat and bushy) and then they can start flowering at a much shorter height. This has the added benefit of causing the plant to produce more stems and flowers, albeit with each individual flower being smaller, but which works out perfectly if you’re selling them for mixed bouquets or using in floral design (have you tried working a gigantic 8” dinnerplate dahlia into a low compost centerpiece?)

• The smaller, shorter (but prolific) plants thus need very little in terms of staking here, because they are very bottom-heavy and won’t fall over very easily. They also are planted densely to help support each other (for instance, our zinnias are planted at 6” intervals) and prop each other up during intense winds. 

• Our perennial plantings are starting to bloom and produce at this point as well. We grow a lot of echinacea (purple coneflower) that is beautiful in bloom but also creates amazing thistle-like seed heads after the flowers are done blooming that are equally as useful and impressive in floral design. Other important perennials include roses, yarrow, lilies, sage, and perennial sweet peas that we can tuck into arrangements and use in bouquets.  

• We also are looking towards our fall flowers as well. The majority of our flowers will work well for fall, but we do add in some special materials for fall. Broomcorn for example helps to make our designs look especially autumnal, so we sow some this time of year and with the ground warmed from the sun, the seeds germinate especially quickly and grow vigorously. We also have finished with taking cuttings from our florist mums at this point, and now we will let them grow out for nice long stems that can be harvested in September and October.

Third Quarter - July-September

The third quarter starts off full blast with most of the tender annuals and perennials finally starting to bloom. Zinnias, dahlias, celosia, sunflowers and many other flower farmer staples are at their peak production right now, so harvesting will be the main focus.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed at this point - flower farmer burnout is real - and the heat and pace of the season can wear out even the most seasoned growers. Remember to hydrate, eat, and keep yourself healthy.

July

4 months prior to first frost date

• July is for us the official sign that we have reached the midpoint of the season. Although the solstice was technically last month, we feel it in July. The days are consistently hot, the sun is at its most intense and brightest, and it truly feels like summer. We are still riding the momentum of the prior six months, but it’s time to also start thinking about the winter and next year as well, so we begin planning the next year’s plantings, taking notes on what to improve on and having discussions regarding changes. 

• July is the hottest month for us, and although we have quite a few blooms at this time (as well as tremendous amounts of filler and foliage) the blooms aren’t usually of the best quality. Most of the time we see a lot of blown centers on flowers like dahlias, a lot of singles on the usually double-flowered zinnias, and just overall lower bloom quality due to the heat and stress placed on the plants. Still, they are abundant in volume, and there is a very joyous quality in the sheer abundance of flowers and that’s what’s important at this point. 

• On the plus side, the dahlias are starting to bloom at this point! Even if some of them are wonky (the first ones usually are - like the first pancake made in a batch) they are treasured at this point, and the thrill of the dahlias blooming is brand new. 

• We consistently monitor things every day to ensure they are staying watered and kept in good health, running the irrigation as needed to provide them with the moisture that they need to keep growing. Sometimes, it may be all you can do to just keep plants alive at this point if it is super hot and dry - and that’s okay. 

• Most importantly, take a much-needed break at this point! For us, July is usually one of our slowest months as people are generally not having weddings here (way too hot) and are not as intent on buying flowers via retail purchases (although our wholesale accounts and CSA subscriptions do well this time of year still). 

• If you are in a high humidity environment (Southeastern, Midwest, Continental Northeast) you may want to look into starting a second succession of summer annuals. Zinnias, cosmos, marigolds and other flowers that are the workhorses of the flower farm may start petering out and looking a bit long in the petal or succumb to powdery mildew. We generally can continue cutting from our zinnias and cosmos all season long since we live in a drier environment, but it never hurts to have a second succession of summer annuals to keep things fresh and keep producing nice big blooms - and with 4 months away from the first frost date we still have time to get a few rounds of cuts from them before the frost.

August

3 months prior to last frost date

• The weather starts cooling down (usually) for us in the second half of August, giving a much-needed break in the growing season. This allows for the plants to gain a second wind. 

• This is also the time where everything seems to be producing like mad. The sheer volume of flowers can be sometimes unmanageable. It is more important than ever to ensure that you keep your flowers deadheaded to encourage them to produce more stems and more blooms - if they produce seeds, they will slow down or stop their production altogether, so even if you’re not going to use the flower make sure to remove spent blossoms. 

• If you have an area that has gotten away from you and looks leggy, weedy, and just generally terrible (cosmos and scabiosa are generally two that get away from us) you can revitalize the plants by chopping them down ⅔ . Just grab some secateurs or hedge shears and chop away. You’ll set them back a bit, but they will come back more manageable and more productive and fresh. It’s kind of like pinching your seedlings, but on a macro scale, and we still get great production from them in the fall as the weather cools down. 

• If you are planning on starting either perennials for next year or starting biennials or hardy annuals for fall planting, now is the time to get them started. For instance, we usually start our foxgloves this time of year to get them planted out in the fall - they will overwinter well and produce long and healthy stems the next year. Establishing perennials and biennials in the fall (that are guaranteed to be hardy through your winter) allows for you to gain the equivalent of a full year of growing - rudbeckia, echinacea, and other perennials and biennials need a good cold winter to encourage them to grow large and flower profusely. 

• Note, this is the time of year when we see a lot of flower farmer burnout. We’ve been going at this for eight months now, with the past five months being extremely intense and working long hours. Your body is exhausted, your mind is probably exhausted, and you may need to recharge. Take some time to also care for yourself - feed and water yourself well, get some good sleep and allow yourself to take more breaks than usual.

• Sow the last of the short season crops like single stem sunflowers

September

2 months prior to first frost

• At last! The weather really starts cooling down at this point (usually at least). Many more people are getting married this month, which usually means more sales to florists and more weddings on weekends that we are designing. Our focus usually goes towards ensuring these two income streams are done well, so we stop focusing as much on retail customers at this point in lieu of providing for weddings. 

• Tasks like harvesting and weeding are becoming more enjoyable at this point due to the cooler weather and with the expectation that the following month we’ll be getting a bit of a break with the first frost, we catch a second wind for ourselves. 

• If we have some crops that are done and we don’t have additional plans for that bed, we’ll start doing some light cleanup. If you’re super ambitious, you can also start thinking about planting a cover crop in some beds to improve the soil and get some growth prior to a hard freeze killing the cover crop. 

• All of our perennial and biennial seedlings are planted out now, and we may start sowing some hardy annual seeds at this point to try and get them established prior to the beginning of fall (although more recently we’ve just been doing an early spring planting and these seem to work out just fine).

Fourth Quarter - October-December

For many of us, it is a struggle through July and August - but once it starts cooling down in September and then in October even further, we get to the best part of the year when many of our materials are at their biggest and fullest - giant armloads of gigantic amaranthus, piles of dahlias, and even the first of the mums.

We’re usually busy with weddings in September and October - with florists ordering buckets of materials and our own clients packing the weekends full. It’s also the time of year in which you can feel the nights getting colder, and you know that the end of the season is near.

Once the first killing frost hits (“Frostmas”) then we get to switch gears and start cleaning up the farm. Digging dahlia tubers, tilling in crops, getting the farm ready for the next ear and cleaning up T-posts and netting and putting the business to rest. You may also keep yourself busy at holiday markets with dried materials and wreaths, but otherwise things will start winding down for you.

October

• Our first frost date is usually somewhere around the end of the month, bringing an official end to the growing season. Sometimes it is earlier, and sometimes it is later, but this is the month where everything comes to a rousing finale. 

• Mums are starting to bloom this month - we have a few that will start blooming sporadically earlier in September - and we are starting to use them in our designs. Fantastic blooms that are extremely long-lived and absolutely fluffy and come in beautiful colors, these are not the mums you can buy at the grocery store stand - they are something else. They combine extremely well with the dahlias that are still going strong. 

• If you haven’t yet, it’s a good idea to tag your dahlia tubers to ensure that you know exactly which variety is which when you’re digging them up this fall after the frost. A little bit of painter’s tape with indelible marker works well for us, but you can also use plant tags by the base with the cultivar written on them with an indelible marker. 

• We will continue to cut most things, but we also will start eyeing some of our plants for dried material - grasses, seeded basil, gomphrena, daucus and strawflower are our most common ones. Some (such as strawflowers) we want to ensure that they keep their beautiful color so we will cut and bunch and dry them in a dark and cool place so they keep their coloration. Others, such as the grasses we will just let them flower and go to seed because when the first freeze hits, they will undergo a natural bleaching process that allows them to achieve a beautiful golden straw color - perfect for autumnal and winter tones. 

• Some of our spring-blooming flowers that we have kept are getting a second wave now. Scabiosa, carnations, even a random Icelandic poppy that I somehow missed pulling out will bloom again. We get some of our best blooms right now - the scabiosa for instance get massive 2” blooms that are just so gloriously gigantic and full. 

• If you do experience an early freeze, it may be worth your effort to drag out floating row cover and shelter your plants underneath. The blooms and buds are very vulnerable to frost and will be ruined if they even get the faintest touch of extreme cold - showing up as black or brown or aborted blooms. The floating row cover will help you stave off the lighter frosts, and will allow you to extend your growing season a few more weeks - valuable time when your plants are going to be blooming and growing and producing the most beautiful flowers. 

• Keep a close eye on your temperatures. If you see that you’re going to be getting a freeze, do an emergency harvest. We’ll go out and cut every useable stem of anything that will melt in a frost - dahlias, mums, basil, celosia - and either try and make one last round of sales (or designs) or just enjoy them in a gigantic massive arrangement.

• Seeds that require a freeze/thaw treatment like larkspur, Bells of Ireland and poppies can be direct sown now to ensure they germinate and overwinter

• Plant out the last of the perennials and biennials for next year. Use Agribon and low tunnels as needed to ensure they get established before the first frost hits.

• If you get killing frosts, start digging dahlias and other tender tubers/perennials

• Mums are going to be blooming this month for most of us - cover with Agribon if in danger of frost in the field

• Start harvesting ornamental kales and cabbages (the cold temperatures will enhance the coloration)

• Begin farm clean-up before it gets too cold or rainy or snowy

• Start soaking and sprouting anemones and ranunculus if you are going to overwinter them

November

• Finish digging dahlias and store away for next year. Order new dahlia tubers for next year.

• Finish covering any perennials, biennials and cool flowers for next year as needed.

• Plant out anemones and ranunculus if overwintering

• Finish farm clean-up wherever possible

December

• Check on biennials, perennials and cool flowers as needed. Keep an eye on low tunnels and hoop houses to ensure that they are not overheating

• If overwintering anemones and ranunculus, check to ensure that they are doing well in their respective shelters

• Double and triple check that your thermostats and heating systems are ready for the winter if you have a heated greenhouse

• If you are starting dahlias for cuttings, pot up and place under lights

• Catch your breath! Enjoy that the farm has been put to rest

That’s a wrap!

There is still a lot of work to do - digging and lifting dahlia tubers, cutting back perennials, turning over beds and prepping for next year - but we can finally take a break now that the first frost has hit. The last of our large sales have been made, and although we do have some flowers that hang on for the last part of the season - dianthus, carnations, mint, sage and other hardy materials will continue to grow for us well into December and will be usable in arrangements - we’re officially done and we start closing down for the growing season.

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