Anemones are beautiful, fluffy, and classic: a staple in the wedding industry and an easy-to-grow flower in our mild winter climate. In our tunnel with shade cloth, we easily have stem lengths pushing 2 feet! So it might come as a surprise when I tell you we don't grow them anymore.
One of the toughest parts of being a micro flower farmer is managing production volume. No matter what your sales outlet, having only 4 bunches doesn't make for a great sale: whether it's to a florist, CSA, farmer's market or event. It's just not enough flowers to cover the expense of processing the sale or the hassle for your customer. To get weeks of reliable, large harvests takes a lot of planning and intention, especially with a small farm.
In a word, the reason we don't grow anemones anymore is timing. They bloom early before anything else. More importantly, here in North Texas, they bloom before the farmer's markets begin and before wedding season begins. Because nothing else is blooming alongside them, it's difficult to incorporate them into bouquets. If you had a large scale farm and could simply grow hundreds of them for florists sales, that would be a different story. But here, the most space we've ever had available for them is a 40x4ft section and despite their productiveness, we've had difficulty harvesting enough volumn to warrant a sale when we have nothing else to offer.
The same is true with daffodils. I've yet to see a February bride wanting mostly daffodils for her florals :) Also, February tends to be ice-season in North Texas so very few brides are brave enough to schedule their wedding at this time. Our city infrastructure isn't equipped for ice so an icing event will shut down the whole region - not ideal wedding conditions :)
Further, if we did find a nice reliable outlet for a few bunches of anemones and daffodils, we sacrifice space for later production. This means there's less flowers blooming at the height of wedding season in April (and the start of farmer's markets). Every flower farmer should consider this in their crop plans: the flowers must be available at the same time your customers want to purchase them.
In our approach to micro flower farming, we focus on having more flowers available for a shorter block of time. So we only grow things that bloom mid-March through mid-October. This cuts out both anemones and daffodils.
Not every micro-farm needs to take this approach. My friend Amanda at Bishop Hill Farm Flowers has access to a small boutique farmer's market that runs year-round and she has a loyal customer following there. This means she has a ready sales outlet in January and February when most of us don't. She carefully curates her growing so that she has less flowers for a longer span of time. That's the perfect approach for her so that she always has something to offer her customers (dried flowers in December!) and they often sell her out.
If you're a micro flower-farmer, it isn't always about what grows best. Be thoughtful about the timing and volume of your crops and keep records to help in your decision-making. Find what works best to maintain your loyal customers and sell the stems you worked so hard to grow.
Happy Autumn!
warmly,
Sarah Jo