Top 5 Flowers Sold in 2024 from my Michigan Flower Farm
2024 was a great year at Abundant Blooms Flower Farm.
It is hard to monetize things in the flower farming world, but I doubled my sales from last year enabling me to hit my sales goals for 2024.
I had renewed energy coming into 2024 after having a baby in November of 2023. So 2024 was filled with energy and baby challenges all at once. But ….it sure was nice to not be pregnant.
So what flowers sold the best from my West Michigan flower farm?
I’m so glad that you asked!
First, you need to know that this is in dollars sold, not stems. Remember that volume and profit has a lot more to it than the numbers sold. For example nigella has a lot less inputs than peonies.
ALL of these flowers were sold directly to local florists right from my farm or delivery suburban.
#1 The Sunflower:
The number one seller was sunflowers! I sold a surprising number of Procut white light sunflowers (that was a new variety this season). But I also sold tried and true Procut Gold DMR and Procut Orange. Then, in the fall I added in Procut Bicolor and Procut plum.
I also grew Procut White Night….and guess what….the stories are true….the bugs are attracted to them like lights in the night. I tried to harvest them early….but the bugs ate them before the petals even started to open. So I will NOT be growing this sunflower again, even though the three that I was able to harvest were beautiful.
I plant about 700 sunflowers EVERY SINGLE WEEK for 17 weeks. This gives me a consistent harvest of sunflowers from mid June - Mid Oct (my frost date).
Things I would do differently: I had some crop failure and had about 2 weeks with NO sunflowers. This was a big bummer for me as people rely on my sunflowers and I did not have any…Also resulting in lost sales. I also planted sunflowers for the first time with my paper-pot transplanter and I planted too many rows together without a pathway. This led to some loss because I had to trample plants in order to harvest the mature blooms. Next year I’m going to plant 6 or 7 rows about 5-6 inches apart and then leave a 2 foot pathway in order to harvest.
What to learn to Grow Sunflowers? Check out my BLOG HERE
#2 Peonies: The Queen of Early Summer
Not too far behind sunflowers in sales was Peonies. I sold mostly Duchesse De Nemours and Sarah Bernhardts. My peonies bushes are only three years old and so they are still considered just mature. I had demand for at least twice the amount of white peonies that I could produce. This is good news for me as next season I have more peonies come into maturity. I had one florists so disappointed that I had sold out of white peonies that she has already put in an order for a large quantity white peonies for June of 2025….this was very interesting to me. She wants white peonies from my farm because she says that are high quality and consistent large blooms.
Things I would do different: Well, honestly not much. I planted 160 peonies after my second season 4 years ago. I would not do anything differently, but I am thankful that I planted more peony plants every fall since then.
#3: Snapdragons
I have long heard that florists and wedding designers use a lot of snapdragons. I have grown them before, but I have had a hard time getting them to bloom consistently and in the quantity that I needed. I was not perfect, but I was able to grow more snapdragons than ever before.
Things I learned: Buying plugs works well for me. I have a hard time germinating snapdragons and keeping up on the successions all summer long.
For the summer of 2025 I already have all my snapdragon successions on order from Ball Seed to come every 2-3 weeks all season long giving me several more succession for the 2025 season.
#4: Yarrow
This flower might suprise you….remember we are calculating this in dollar amount sold, not stems.
Yarrow sold 1500 stems in 2024. Most of this yarrow was in its 2nd or 3rd year as a perennial. Yarrow is very easy to grow from seed and becomes better and better for about 3 seasons. Then I till it under and plant a new succession.
Yarrow is a really important crop for florists and designers. First, it is NOT a high dollar crop. I sell my yarrow for $9/bunch of 10 stems (wholesale to florists.) So it takes a lot of yarrow to make it to #4 in sales. But yarrow is very profitable because it is so easy to grow, easy to harvest, and comes back for 3 seasons. Yarrow also comes in a lot of great colors. I sold mostly Colorado mix, but next season I am adding more color varieties.
Things I learned: I will not be changing to many things….it is just important to remember that for wedding florists can need up to 50 bunches of this one flower. I had several orders from florists for weddings needing 25 or more bunches for one wedding. For florists yarrow had a good shape for design and is an affordable option. It’s good to remember as florist Ellen Frost from Local Color Flowers says, florists need the everyday flowers as well….florists don’t just need dahlias and peonies. They need those filler flowers in large volumes as well.
#5: Nigella
Of all the flowers on this list this one surprised me the most. I have grown nigella before, but I have not sold a lot of it in the past in flower from. This number is from selling both the flowers and then fresh pods (not dried).
It think the reason why this changed this past season is because I began selling to more event florist. I sold ALL my blue nigella fresh….and I could have sold more…..I sold some white nigella, but mostly that was left in the field because it did not sell as flowers and I sold it fresh as pods. Nigella is also a really great crop because I direct seed it in the fall (and again in spring) and it bloomed in the end of May on the farm this season.
Things I learned: Because it sold so well in the spring I tried growing it for the fall. I should have planted it 3 weeks sooner though because it bloomed just as my first frost took out all the flowers. HOWEVER, I did learn that it still has great stem length. I am going to try to grow a fall planting next season.
Nigella Pods
#6 Cosmos
I know I said my top 5, but cosmos was so close behind nigella I had to include it (there was only $25 difference between the 2 crops…that is basically tied in my book).
Almost everyone loves cosmos well….except maybe the farmer who has to harvest them 🤣. If you don’t know cosmos have a very specific harvest window and need to be harvested everyday to harvest at the correct harvest stage.
BUT….cosmos are a big wedding flower and they come in so many wonderful colors. One of my favorites is Afternoon White. It is such a great strong single white cosmos that dances and adds that airy element to a design. I can see why everyone loves them.
I doubled my planting this season and I am planning for even more cosmos in 2025.
So there you have it. My top 5 flower sellers from my Michigan flower farm in 2024. Sunflowers, Peonies, Snapdragons, Yarrow, Nigella and Cosmos coming in a close 6th. Was there anything that surprised you? What are your top sellers? I would love to know. You can always feel free to email me at info@abundantbloomsflowerfarm.com. I would love to hear from you.
