Flowers bring vibrant hues into our gardens and homes, but we must select varieties that thrive in our specific climate and growing conditions.
Consider whether your chosen plants require full sun (6 hours or more of direct sunlight per day), partial shade (3 to 6 hours), and specific care requirements such as watering needs and pest resistance.
Color
Color is one of the critical considerations when selecting which flowers to grow, with their hue derived from both their hereditary genome and pigments such as flavonoids. Offering your customers a selection of hues throughout the season is critical; to aid your decision-making, create a Google Spreadsheet of the desired palette (without considering weeks/months bloomed and quantities). Grouping high-intensity hues may lessen their intensity.
Texture
Flowers and foliage with fine textures are delicate, airy, and weightless, like those found on spruce flowers and cedar trees. Conversely, coarse textures, like those seen on Kinnickinnick and Periwinkle plants, appear heavier. Adding plants of both textures to a composition adds contrast and interest, especially when balanced against one another, using more fine-textured plants for visual relief. Variations in surface edges also have an effect.
Season
Seasonality should always be considered when selecting flowers to grow on your farm. From wedding bouquets and natural summer festivity to barbecues, seasonal blooms add to the spirit of any event with their vibrant blooms. There are two primary types of plants: annuals (which flower and complete their life cycles in one season) and perennials (which bloom over multiple years but may or may not show). Spring and early summer blooming annuals like Iceland poppies, sweet peas, larkspur, bells of Ireland, and honeywort are often outshone by summer flowering annuals such as zinnias sunflowers, basil; at the same time, fall brings long-lived favorites like potted chrysanthemums to show.
To ensure your chrysanthemums bloom for Christmas, begin exposing them to short days on September 1st (see here for how). When buds form, they will continue developing each week until harvest time.