Surprise! Your Biggest Rival Wears A Barcode
“Absolutely stunning.” “Breathtaking.” “Spectacular.”
“Your flowers are like an alternate universe.”
These are actual descriptions our customers have used to describe our mixed bouquets (my favorite is the last one).
Achieving those accolades wasn’t just about a love for flowers—it was a diligent pursuit of excellence, marked by trial and error and constant refinement of our techniques. Driven by business imperatives—how to compete successfully in a saturated market and recognizing that sustainable flower farming comes with significant costs—we became relentless in our quest to master the art of creating show-stopping arrangements, while not overstuffing our mixed bouquets with more blooms than our bottom line could afford. It's why we developed the Bouquet Blueprint™, and why it’s so essential to overcoming one of the biggest threats to your farm’s success: competition from a place you might not expect.
When making bouquets is a team effort, it’s critical to have a process in place, to ensure consistency and quality.
Flower Farming Frenzy: The Rise of Local Blooms
Flower farming has blossomed into a booming industry over the last decade. The number of flower farms in the U.S. has surged, with the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG) reporting that membership among small and mid-sized farms has more than doubled in recent years. This renaissance is fueled by a growing consumer demand for sustainably grown, locally sourced flowers and the "slow flowers" movement, which champions seasonal, locally grown blooms. Add in the farm-to-table trend and a thirst for unique, fresh floral designs, and it’s no wonder more people are planting roots in flower farming. This shift not only supports small businesses but also plays a pivotal role in reducing the carbon footprint associated with imported flowers.
Confronting the Competition: Why the Grocery Store is Your Biggest Rival
If you are selling flowers at the farmers market, or offering bouquet subscriptions or a CSA share, you might think your only competition is other flower farmers in your area.
It’s not.
Your biggest competitor isn’t your fellow farmer. It’s the grocery store.
We all know that grocery store flowers, while convenient, are a sad sight. Often flown in from far-flung corners of the globe, these bouquets are doused in chemicals, grown with synthetic fertilizers, and tend to consist of the same uninspired selection—mums, roses that never fully bloom, and the ubiquitous alstroemeria.
Many consumers don’t realize they have options beyond what they see at the grocery store, where most of the options are often bright, and sometimes garish and even dyed. Most consumers, however, don’t realize how monotonous or environmentally harmful these choices are. They just see the low price and convenience that grocery store flowers offer.
Policy Pains: How U.S. Trade Agreements Shaped the Flower Market
U.S. policy, particularly through trade agreements like the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), opened the floodgates for imported flowers by granting duty-free access to blooms from countries like Colombia and Ecuador. These agreements were intended to provide economic alternatives to coca production, aiding U.S. anti-drug efforts.
While the policy achieved its goals in those regions, it also triggered a significant drop in cut flower prices here at home, thanks to the lower production costs abroad. The influx of cheap imports put many small and mid-sized American flower farms on the ropes, unable to compete with the rock-bottom prices of these foreign-grown flowers. As a result, many small flower farms have struggled to survive.
Quality Over Quantity: Why Competing on Price is a Losing Game
You’ll likely never be able to compete with grocery stores on price. They buy in bulk, and despite the long distances their flowers travel, these imported blooms are produced at such low cost (thanks to heavy synthetic fertilizer use, low-paid labor, and prodigious use of insecticides) that small- to medium-sized local farms—especially those committed to sustainable practices—simply can’t match.
So, how do you bring your flowers directly to consumers and offer them something better? You compete on quality. To do that, you not only need to offer the freshest, healthiest blooms possible, your arrangements also need to be on point—the kind of bouquets that make customers stop in their tracks. That’s where the Bouquet Blueprint™ comes in.
Once we figured out what the formula is for creating beautiful mixed bouquets, we’ve been able to reliably create bouquets that our customers can’t get enough of.
Closing the Loop: More Than Just Flowers
The pursuit of creating beautiful bouquets didn’t come overnight. It was a process of trial and error, learning what worked, and—perhaps more importantly—what didn’t. Over time, I’ve realized that the key to success lies not just in growing great flowers but in mastering the art of showcasing them in a way that captures both their beauty and the essence of your farm.
As flower farmers, we're all on a journey of constant refinement, whether it's perfecting our flower arrangements or finding ways to differentiate ourselves in a crowded market. For me, developing the Bouquet Blueprint™ was about creating a tool to streamline that process—allowing more time for the creativity that drew us to flower farming in the first place.
The Bouquet Blueprint™ isn't just a method—it's a tool that empowers farmer florists to turn what grows in their fields into stunning bouquets that will crush the competition. Whether you're designing for clients, selling at markets, or simply looking to perfect your craft, this approach will give you the confidence and clarity to consistently create beautiful arrangements. After all, great design doesn’t happen by chance—it’s built on a foundation of thoughtful structure and artistry. Are you ready to bring your floral designs to the next level?"