Early May 2025 – Doom scrolling on Instagram and a field of gorgeous pink, orange, yellow, and purple flowers catch my eye. I opened the link and it’s an article talking about flower farming. Having been in the wedding industry for a few years, I thought I knew something about florals. I knew that florists work with mainly wholesalers who import their flowers from mainly Colombia and Ecuador. You would think after years of adoring the flower stands at farmers markets that I would put two and two together that there were flower farms in the US, but something about this post clicked and I’ve been consumed by the thought of it ever since. How does one even begin on this venture?
I sent the post to my husband, who impulsively fanned the flames of my newest fixation by bringing home a book Flower Farming for Profit by Lennie Larkin. that I read cover to cover. Immediately. I’ve always been the type to over research ideas to death, so this time I wanted to do something different. I’ve had my fair share of potted plants, indoors and out. Plant nurseries are a dangerously fun way to spend an afternoon (and a few $$$). Botanical gardens are always a joy to visit. I’ve never had a lawn or yard of my own to explore plants and gardening in my adult life, but something deep down said – DO IT. I was willing to do whatever I could to at least try. Try growing plants from seeds, see if I liked it, if I could do it, begin to learn and understand the science behind growing SOMETHING. Thus began my Balcony Garden!
I did my research, picked a few seeds for “easy to grow cut flowers for beginners”. You can imagine the faces of the people running the package room of my apartment building when they received a delivery of 2 40QT bags of potting soil. Safe to say I picked those up after hours when less people would be about so I would be less embarrassed carrying giant bags of dirt up the elevators to my tiny apartment.
Through my research I learned that I was a little late to the game this growing season just starting mid May. Many sources recommended sowing seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost. I was still determined to try and accepted that I may face defeat when it came to the spring blooms I had picked (spoiler – I was in fact defeated, by 2 weeks, still salty about it).
As the weeks went by, new little surprises popped up. I kept a log in a note book to document the process to be able to look back on to learn from mistakes or to be able to laugh at myself as years go by. I remember after one week of sowing so many of my flower pots started showing signs of successful germination, I nearly missed a mildly important meeting while working from home because I peaked over my screen and saw the first specs of green and rushed out to take a better look – still not ashamed. Every seed type planted started showing growth and it was the most exciting thing to wake up each day and see all the progress these little plants would make. One set of leaves, then two, and three! On and on – learning as I went. Plants battling for the strip of direct sun that lined the edge of the balcony reaching for their own drops of sunlight. Wishing I had just a little more space, I played a balancing act of moving pots around and rotating every few days until I found a sweet spot where they all got just enough of what they needed to keep going.
It took a couple months, but once the blooms began, there were endless pops of pink, orange, red, white, and yellow amongst all the vibrant green. It became the brightest part of my day to take a moment and appreciate all of their beauty and I felt the success of the work I put into helping them along. Fortunately for me, being on a high balcony meant dealing with less pests. It was nice to not worry as much about them with it being my first year, which I do not take for granted!
All in all, what started as a post and spark followed by research and amusement, ended in at least a really rewarding hobby, if not something to continue to grow. (pun very much intended)
