Stepping away and looking at the big picture, it is easy to see why and how we have been skipping over spring crops. Some of us go to extremes to get warm plants blooming sooner than they should be and others are still planting this family way too late to reap the rewards that well-established plants give. Warm-season plants are familiar, which makes them seem easier to grow.

I want to fast forward to where this journey of embracing seasonality with cool-season hardy annuals can lead.

This is a trend that I have seen over and over, and I think it is so smart.



My first experience with flower farmers making a clear decision to move away from offering summer crops and focusing on spring and or fall crops was with good friends Megan and Jonathan Leiss of Spring Forth Farm in North Carolina. I met them before their babies came, and I watched as they started a family, lived the homesteading life, and grew cut flowers as a piece of their family life, not allowing it to consume them. They developed their model as an early to late spring offering flower farm.

Now we're seeing more and more flower farmers realizing they can maintain control as they grow their businesses, molding them into a more manageable part of their life.



I had the honor of visiting one of my student's farms a couple of years ago. She came to the rescue of furnishing some flower crops for a photo shoot for my newest book, The Cut Flower Handbook.



I knew I wanted to revisit her farm with the team to learn and film about how she got into flower farming and where her journey is headed. I was thrilled to hear her story of creating a more manageable flower farming business. Our visit with Emma will be released as a Field & Garden podcast episode later this season.



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The⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Field and Garden Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, owner of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Gardener’s Workshop,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Flower Farming School Online,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and the publisher of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Farmer-Florist School Online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Florist School Online.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Watch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Lisa’s Story⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and connect with Lisa on social media!