Spring Season Flower Farming: It’s All Up to Mother Nature

On the surface it might seem that flower farming is sweet and glorious. Many imagine flower farmers spending our days surrounded by fields of beautiful flowers.

Yes, there is a lot of beauty in flower farming, but there is also a lot of risk.

There is risk of crop failure, risk that market tastes have shifted from the time you planted to the time that you are ready to harvest and sell, and risk that your sales channels are not willing or able to accept your product.

And one major, uncontrollable risk — weather.

Too much rain and bulbs can rot; a winter that is not cold enough and bulbs that require a long cold period (like tulips) may be stunted; a late spring will delay germination and plant growth; and then there is the unexpected frost or snow in May.

Farmers can plan and prepare, but there is only so much we can do; we cannot control Mother Nature.

Such was the case this spring. It was a rough start to say the least.

Our tulips, while they looked great and healthy, were ready to flower at only 8” tall. Tulips require a 12-14 week cold period in order to bloom. The winter was relatively mild, and we planted our bulbs 4”-6” deep instead of the recommended 6”-8,” which compounded the problem.

We got them to stretch a few more inches by using shade cloth. Some varieties stretched more than others. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade — or in our case, posies.

We offered them for Mother’s Day and we quickly sold out!

But then came the snow!

The last frost date in my area is normally the third week of April. It was definitely a surprise to have to deal with record-breaking cold and snow on Mother’s Day weekend.

We covered as many of the seedlings as possible with row cover to protect them from frost, but we could not cover the peonies; there were too many and they were planted in various beds throughout the farm.

I barely slept that night worrying about the peonies. There was a thin blanket of snow the next morning and I was out in the field shortly after dawn to inspect the crops.

It took everything I had not to panic when I saw the state of the peonies. They looked like dead soldiers, folded over with leaves darkened by frost.

I reached out to my Facebook community of flower farmers (who are awesome by the way!) and was advised to hose them off with water immediately.

So there I was at the crack of dawn, running around dousing peonies with water, dragging buckets back and forth to areas where the hose couldn’t reach.

In retrospect, I probably looked like a cold, soaked madwoman. But I had to save the peonies. Besides being one of my favorite flowers, they are my main spring crop.

Long story short, the peonies were saved and as I write this, the peony harvest begins.

Once established, peonies are pretty tough plants, almost as tough as flower farmers.