The Flower Farmer: An Organic Grower's Guide to Raising and Selling Cut Flowers (Gardener's Supply Books) - Softcover

Byczynski, Lynn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930031946 ISBN 13: 9780930031947

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing, 1997

Synopsis

Acre-for-acre, flowers are the most profitable--as well as the most beautiful--crop on the farm. In The Flower Farmer expert flower grower Lynn Byczynski provides a complete introduction to raising a cornucopia of cut flowers for home use and for sale to retail customers, florists, and other markets.
The book offers detailed, manageable plans for flower growing on a scale ranging from a backyard border to a half-acre commercial garden. It will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, including:

Home gardeners who want growing tips from professionals, so that they can enjoy an abundance of flowers year-round in fresh and dried bouquets;

Passionate gardeners and small-scale growers who want to raise and sell cut flowers in season for additional income;

Small commercial farmers who want to increase farm revenue or even make a living from selling field-grown, specialty cut flowers.

The Flower Farmer provides a clear, realistic look at both the benefits and the challenges of growing flowers organically for local markets. Chapters include information on:

The best varieties of cut flowers--an A-Z list of more than one hundred recommended annuals and perennials, spotlighting the cultivars that are grown by professional flower farmers

How to cut, store, and preserve flowers for long-lasting beauty

How to dry flowers for crafting or for a dried-flower business

Flower-arranging basics from a designer's perspective

Extending the season with woody shrubs and trees

Marketing options for commercial growers, including sales at farmer's markets, supermarkets, florists, and wholesalers.

Sprinkled throughout are profiles of successful flower farmers--from Vermont to California, Texas to Wisconsin--each of them providing a unique perspective proving that growing flowers can be as profitable as it is satisfying.

About this title

About the Author:

Lynn Byczynski is publisher and editor of a monthly news letter Growing for Market. She also operates Wild Onion Farm in Lawrence, Kansas, where she resides with her husband and two children. For more information, please visit the website of Growing for Market at www.growingformarket.com

Review:

"Byczynski, who quit her city job to become a flower farmer, has interviewed hundreds of farmers who grow flowers as all or part of their income; she offers profiles of 12 of them. Byczynski emphasizes organic flowers because organic-farming practices protect both people and the environment. She gives advice on selecting seeds (recommending foolproof flowers for the novice grower), site and soil requirements, buying and starting plants, growing and caring for them, and creating a dried-flower garden. The author discusses growing woody ornamentals (certain species of trees and shrubs) that can be used in floral designs as well as harvest and postharvest procedures. She gives advice on arranging fresh flowers and on going commercial (marketing and pricing). There's a list of 100 recommended cut flowers, full-color photographs, and black-and-white line drawings."
-Booklist review by George Cohen

About this edition

• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0930031946
• ISBN 13: 9780930031947
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 207
• Illustrator: Wimbiscus Robin