Maximizing Profitability: The Potential of Growing Flowers on Less Than 1/4 Acre

If you're a fan of flowers and have a small space, you might be wondering if it's possible to make a profit from flower farming. SO AM I!

I live in the heart of "amish country", Lancaster County, Pa. I'm surrounded by farmland but hell if I can get my hands on any. The prices are not affordable for me at this time so I'm living with what I have, which is a postage stamp corner lot of a duplex in a housing development. Sounds glamorous right? Lol.

Since we moved in 11 years ago I have taken numerous courses in Permaculture, flower farming annuals, perennials, and hydroponic tulips, taken floral design workshops, listened to so many podcasts, and consumed so. much. YouTube... all in the hopes that one day I'll have what I thought I wanted (more on this later) all along, enough land to make a profitable business. It was drilled into my head from various reputable flower farmers that you NEED to have more property than what I have...but do I?

For those of you who don't know me, let me paint you a picture of my personality. I CLEARLY love to learn and am curious. My parents would call me strong-willed. My husband would call me stubborn (among other things), and my friends would call me crunchy because I'll figure out how to make something on my own just for the challenge rather than buy it.

In my 20s I started and ran a successful yarn dyeing business for 15 years which I began because some old timer told me "There's no money in hand-dyeing yarn". So I did it. I did it for 15 years before I got tired of schlepping crap to shows year after year, but not because "there's no money in it."

See where this is going? I don't like to be told I can't. I love a challenge.

So back to flower farming. Is there potential for growing flowers on less than 1/4 acre? On paper, I think there is, BUT (and there's always a but) it depends on what my goals are, what product(s) I'm selling, and who my ideal customer is.

Is this a side hustle or do you need this to be a full-time income? For me, this is a side hustle. My main gig is marketing and branding for a few small companies which I can do from home. Would I like to make it full-time? DUH! Yes, hence the experiment of seeing if I can make a profit with what I've got to put towards a little bit more property someday.

(Notice I put "a little bit more" above there. I don't think you need a huge amount of land to be full-time profitable. More on that later...)

So what's my plan?

I need to land on a product, figure out my ideal customer (customer avatar), and market the hell out of my product. That's all...LOL!

I have a LARGE challenge ahead of me. As I said before, I live in Amishland. In the summer, there are roadside stands galore. I'm serious. GA-LORE. They sell summer annuals for $5. IN A JAR no less! I can't compete with that. The people who are buying those are not my ideal customers.

So I'm not growing much in the way of summer annuals. I'm focusing on the shoulder seasons like Spring and Fall. Choosing crops that I can grow in crates like calla lilies, rose lilies, dahlias, and anemones. I'm growing hydroponic tulips in the Winter for Christmas and Valentine's Day.

Also for the past few years, I've been adding garden roses (130 bushes), shrubs, woodies, natives, and perennials to my garden. These crops are higher on the upfront cost but the benefit is also upfront in that you only plant it once which keeps your labor cost down. They also create a habitat for beneficial insects and birds to live so they can help me with pest issues. Many of these plants you can split over time creating new plants or you can propagate from them as long as their not patented.

Is any of this smart? Time will tell!

Curious to see if I'll succeed? Follow along @blommaflowerco and see. It will be a great learning opportunity at the very least.

PS. I mentioned above that I'm a great consumer of YouTube and Podcasts. I highly recommend the following:

B.A.R.E Flower Farm's Channel: Jesse just did a great series with Lennie Larkin about profitability.

Common Farm Flowers: Georgie is great at keeping it real. I love her attitude.

Lennie Larkin: Mentioned above. Lennie has a great book called Flower Farming for Profit. She also has been interviewed on some great podcasts. She's a wealth of info!

My Digital Farmer Podcast: Great tips for all types of farmers who need help with marketing.