Lessons Learned from Selling Bouquets

Once you've mastered the basics of growing flowers, you reach a decision point: continue growing as a hobby or venture into selling your flowers.

This decision wasn't easy to make - especially once the imposter syndrome hit me and the idea of trying to sell these flowers amongst other growers dawned on me. Would the community accept me? Would people buy the flowers? How do I make a bouquet? Where do I sell them?

I decided to sell the flowers because I didn't want to keep growing them as a hobby, especially since I plan to start a farm. Now, what should I do next? Well, let me share what steps I took and what lessons I learned!

1. Understand how and when to harvest your flowers. The best time to cut flowers is either early morning when they are hydrated from the cool night or later in the afternoon/evening when the sun is not at its peak. It's important not to cut flowers in the middle of the day due to the heat because this will cause the flowers to wilt or lose their freshness.

   It's also important to harvest different flowers at different stages. Some are best to harvest when they are still in the bud stage, while others are best to harvest when fully bloomed. There are also other exceptions based on a flower's stem - i.e. when zinnias have a wiggly stem, they are not ready to harvest. So, I suggest researching when to harvest your different flower variations!

   
   

   Important note: Always trim the stems at an angle for better water absorption and remove any foliage or leaves from the stems to avoid bacteria in the water.

   
   

   

   
   

2. Ensure you have the proper tools when harvesting your flowers. When harvesting, make sure you have enough clean buckets with cool water and sharp scissors or pruners that you've cleaned. Some folks clean their pruners before each cut to avoid spreading bacteria. For example, with dahlias, you can use a clean mason jar with water and a little bleach to dip your pruners in after each snip to avoid spreading disease amongst your other dahlias.

   
   

3. Gather some basic tools and learn how to make a market bouquet. Now, I am not a florist, nor is that my goal! I'm a grower. But I want to get my flowers into people's hands, and this is the best way for me to do that now. So, here are some of the tools I started with to make bouquets:

   1. Multiple buckets

   2. Rubber bands

   3. A stapler

   4. Brown kraft paper

   5. Flower food packets

   6. Optional: a logo or custom-made card with care instructions for the flowers

   
   

   Now that I had my supplies to make the bouquets, I traveled into a YouTube abyss, watching various channels demonstrate their bouquet recipes and styles. But the rule of thumb is to pick 1-3 flowers as your focal flowers, use smaller filler flowers, and add a little greenery or foliage.

   Adjust the shape to ensure it looks balanced - a slight dome shape works well for market bouquets! Also, trim the stems to an even length, leaving the stems long enough to give the bouquets a long handle. Once you're happy with the bouquet, wrap it tightly with a rubberband and lay a sheet of brown kraft paper; fold it diagonally, fold one corner over the stems, then wrap the paper around it and secure it with a stapler!

   
   

   There are several approaches to wrapping a bouquet, so check out how other folks do theirs online or from local florists and test them yourself!

4. Decide on the location for selling your flowers. Choosing where to sell my flowers was tough. I was concerned about having adequate inventory to participate in a farmer's market or set up multiple location points for a subscription. I lack a physical store and do not possess land to host customers. However, I had a front porch and an opportunity to set up at a market! Therefore, I recommend beginning with what you have and trying different strategies to determine the best approach for you.

   
   

5. Spread the word! You can have the most exquisite blooms for sale, but if no one knows who you are, it's tough to sell them, no matter how amazing your flowers are. This was a huge learning curve for me. I always believed that if you have a quality product, then people will want it. They want it but need to know who you are and where and when they can buy them!

   Local Facebook groups were fantastic for spreading the word about the porch stand. Additionally, we put up flyers in the neighborhood and coffee shops to share the location, days, and hours of our porch sales. Improving our social media presence by posting consistently and engaging with folks certainly helped! We even handed out bouquets for free amongst folks, asking them to share them on social media. Not only did this spread the word, but it reminded us why we love flowers: it truly brings joy to others, which feels amazing.

   
   

   

   
   

6. Don't sell yourself short with your prices. Pricing is something I suggest you do your research on. Sometimes, folks charge per stem, and others charge based on bouquet size. Pay attention to what other growers are charging, and also keep in mind these factors:

   1. Materials: Calculate the cost of everything that goes into each bouquet, including flowers, greenery, wrapping materials, ribbons, and flower food packets.

   2. Labor: Factor in the time spent growing, harvesting, arranging, and selling the bouquets.

   3. Overhead: Include other expenses such as fertilizers, a vessel, transportation, and market fees.

   You'll find a balance between covering your costs, making a profit, and offering your customers good value once you put yourself out there and see what the market responds or doesn't respond to.

   
   

7. Make buying bouquets easy and convenient for folks. To make purchasing bouquets as simple as possible, I set up a self-serve system on our porch, just like a traditional farm stand. I displayed prices clearly on the flower buckets, secured a cash box to the porch for those who prefer to pay with cash, and displayed a QR code for digital payments, making it easy for customers to pay by phone. I highly recommend investing in a POS system like Square to accept card payments if you're selling at markets. It's also always a good idea to offer your flower services on your website to give customers another way to purchase from you! Lastly, if you're serious about growing your business, consider setting up a formal business entity, like an LLC (Limited Liability Company), opening a business checking account, and getting an EIN to keep everything organized and professional for tax purposes. It's also beneficial to make sure your prices include sales tax if applicable or state that sales tax will be added at the time of purchase. Trust me; folks aren't going to boycott purchasing a bouquet, paying an extra couple of dollars to cover sales tax, or a POS processing fee. We all pay sales tax daily on items without a second thought!

   
   

8. Enjoy the process. After I got in the groove of selling flowers, I looked forward to the end of every week when I got to turn off my day job, grab my buckets and pruners, and start harvesting. It was a weekly ritual where I admired and appreciated the blooms I grew.

   Then, the following morning, I'd spend time making bouquets, sipping coffee, listening to an audiobook, and trying different wrapping techniques, and it was truly fun! I loved creating different bouquet recipes with my blooms and finding the perfect balance. Admittedly, I didn't know what I was doing, but the result always exceeded my expectations, and it was always reassuring when others provided feedback - so, thank you!

   
   

Hopefully, my experience inspires you to take a risk on your hobby and just go for it. No one starts something as an expert; we all grow into it through failures and successes.

Feel free to share your own experience and the biggest lessons you learned!