Three entrepreneurs who made a second career thanks to their love of gardening.

“The DNA is already there,” said Debra Prinzing, 60, based in Seattle, author of “The 50 Mile Bouquet” and host of the podcast “Slow Flowers”. “Many producers are lifetime gardeners who have adapted it to their way of life. And with demand taking off, small producers have a competitive advantage. “

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the business activities of flower growers.

For example, many offer subscription services. For an initial price at the start of the growing season, they agree to deliver weekly or biweekly bouquets or buckets of flowers to designated homes or delivery points.

Demand for local flowers also increased during the pandemic, as many flower growers in other countries are not allowed to export. Another effect of COVID-19: self-quarantine leads some customers to bring flowers that they buy from farmers to relatives, neighbors and friends.

If you are considering becoming a flower farmer, whatever the pandemic, Bob Wollam of Wollam Gardens in Jeffersonton, Virginia, it says, “You have to dig the dirt, get dirty, love the plants and be in good shape.”

This is how Wollam and two other flower producers succeeded in their second act:

Teresa Brown: A little income and a lot of joy.

Teresa Brown, 60, has loved gardening since she was a teenager and works in her mother’s garden. Discouraged from gardening, however, she studied art therapy and now teaches in an elementary school an hour’s drive from the 23 acres of Rooster Ridge Farms she bought five years ago in Bryan, Ohio.

“It’s a lot,” said Brown, “but going to the field is my zen.”

Brown works year-round growing a wide variety of flowers, from lilies to dragons, on 3 acres and in a “hoop house” at Rooster Ridge Farms (a hoop house is a series of hoops covered with plastic effect greenhouse, creating a tunnel for growing plants or food).

Before the pandemic, it was a few hours a day after teaching. Now, however, she grows flowers eight to ten hours a day. Brown’s plan is to manage the farm full time when he decides that it is financially possible to retire.

With no formal experience in flower growing, Brown sold his products during his first year at the farmers market. She stopped selling there when another florist appeared. But since the farmer’s departure, Brown has been planning to return.

“I could take this time, group my flowers, call a few florists, deliver and do more than what I would do on the market. But I miss the links with the community, ”she says.

Meanwhile, Brown runs a subscription service, a roadside stand and a store that had previously been his garage for three cars. It supplies a flower wholesaler, ships state bouquets and supplies wedding flowers. “I had eight weddings last year. I thought it was pretty good, ”says Brown.

But with weeds as a “continuous headache”, she is often physically exhausted from work. “At the end of the day, you can barely walk. You like to think, “Oh, I’m going to get used to this, but it never quite happens.”

Along the way, Brown plans to add an orchard, beehives, and a sculpture garden. “I’m not going for the mega-farmer,” she says. “I just want a little income and a lot of joy. And it seems to work that way. “

Bob Wollam: oil and gas in bloom

Bob Wollam, 80, has been drawn to flowers since spending the summer in his grandmother’s perennial garden north of New York. His passion flourished during his career in the oil and gas industry, which took him to Southeast Asia, where he saw dahlias for the first time. When his company proposed a purchase in 1986, Wollam seized it. “I thought it was my chance to do something with flowers,” he recalls.

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In 1988, Wollam purchased an 1819 11-acre farm in Jeffersonton, Virginia. Today, Wollam Gardens sells 80 varieties of cut flowers in farmers’ markets and Whole Foods stores, as well as to wholesalers and florists.

I’m still active [in the business]. I’m not as active as I used to be. But I go out four times a week, “he says.

Wollam found advice and camaraderie from the start by joining the Association of specialized cut flower producers, which today has nearly 2,000 members.

“I met with flower producers across the United States who were struggling with the same things as me,” he says. Wollam then served two terms as chairman of the group.

Wollam is not yet sure how the coronavirus will affect its business.

In 2015, Wollam’s friend built a wedding pavilion on the property. And before the pandemic, he said, “We trusted both this business and our flower business financially.” But Wollam had booked 16 weddings there for 2020, before the COVID-19 epidemic. “We are waiting to see if the four girlfriends we have planned over the next eight weeks should be canceled. This is just the last challenge.

Evelyn Lee: a natural flower producer

Flora’s middle name “free country girl”, Lee, 60, studied horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden and obtained a master’s degree in environmental studies, which she practiced in the area at non-profit of the Trust for Public Land in New York.

Therefore, it was natural to grow pesticide-free cut flowers when Butternut Gardens in Southport, Connecticut started in 2011.

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Today, she grows 60,000 cut flowers per year on her 1 ½ acre property, as well as on a neighboring acre that has a workshop barn and a cabin to sell bouquets on an honor system. “If they pay too much, they may underpay next time,” says Lee. “I can’t bother keeping track of this.”

Indeed, as a person’s operation, Lee is the one who generally delivers bouquets to florists, specialty supermarkets and subscribers.

“The 24/7 days and the length of the season surprised me,” she says. “I never spent an entire night at university, but I did several with flowers.”

And, Lee adds, the job can be physically demanding. “Sometimes it hurts a little when I wake up, so I’m fine,” she says.

To stay organized, Lee uses spreadsheets that outline what and when to plant. “You suddenly don’t want to have 3,000 tulips and you don’t know where to sell them,” he says.

All of his work is worth it in more ways than one. Last year, Lee donated more than $ 12,000 to local animal welfare and welfare groups and helped launch the Connecticut Flower Collective, a farmers’ cooperative that sells at the wholesale market. .

“I feel good about helping others because I have been doing it for a while and my knowledge and skills have been sought after,” said Lee.

Tips from the three flower growers

Here are some tips from the three flower growers if you are considering going into business:

Learn the business before you start. “You have the books and the prices. And do you have people to sell? Brown says, “You have to design a solid farm business plan.” YouTube is full of tips for growing flowers. And, says Brown, he could call a florist and choose his brain.

Brown says that six months to a year pass before it is operational.

Lee suggests asking, “How much time and energy do you want to spend on farming and do you have places to sell your crops?” He also notes: “If you want to establish some sort of roadside post, you have to take into account the regulations of any city. Some cities agree with this; others not ”.

Absorb knowledge. The Association of Specialized Cut Flower Producers, a trade group, has a wealth of information for beginners and experienced farmers. There is also facebook
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And the groups, Lee notes, many cooperative extension programs have excellent information about growing flowers, including those from the University of Maryland, Cornell University, Carolina State University, North and the University of Massachusetts.

Brown’s favorite books on the subject include “Slow Flowers” and “The 50 Mile Bouquet”, both by Debra Prinzing; Lisa Mason Ziegler “Easy Cut Flower Garden” and “The Flower Grower: A Guide for Organic Growers to Grow and Sell Cut Flowers” by Lyn Byczinski and Robin Wimbiscus.

Start small and be patient. Brown says, “You don’t need to have a lot of ground” when launching your business. Wollam believes that 1 acre is all you will need if you are going there alone, full time.

Lee recommends planting for summer annuals. “Flowers like zinnias, ageratum, sunflowers and rooster crest are nice in warm weather and are pretty bright summer flowers,” he says. “The seeds cost very little. You can start with less than $ 200 worth of seeds. “

Wollam suggests investing a few thousand dollars in the business initially if you have land and equipment and “several thousand if you start from scratch”. But, he warns, “chances are you won’t make a profit for years.” Lee adds, “The amount you earn will depend on how much you plant and how far you jump. However, agriculture is not an operation to get rich quickly.

Be realistic about the time commitment. You can be a part-time flower farmer and have a full-time job. “But there are so many flowers growing that it could easily happen 24/7 every day of the year,” says Wollam.