Starting a flower farm is exciting. It's also overwhelming, exhausting, inspiring, and full of lessons that no Instagram reel can fully capture.
In this episode of The Flower Files, we pull back the curtain and share a more personal side of our journey. We talk honestly about what it was like leaving education to become a full-time flower farmer, the mistakes we made along the way, and why those experiences have inspired us to create practical educational courses for aspiring flower farmers and growers.
If you've ever wondered how to make money growing flowers—or questioned whether you're "doing it right"—this conversation is for you.
Why We Could Never Stop Teaching
Although flower farming is at the center of everything we do, teaching has always been part of who we are.
Before founding Wildly Native Flower Farm, Liza Goetz spent more than 14 years in education, teaching subjects like biology, biotechnology, environmental science, and animal science. That experience didn't disappear when we became flower farmers—it simply evolved.
As more growers reached out with questions about pests, business planning, crop selection, and scaling a flower farm, one thing became clear:
The same questions kept coming up.
Rather than answering them one at a time, we realized we could create resources that help many more people navigate the journey with confidence.
The Reality of Starting a Flower Farm
Looking back, our first season was full of enthusiasm—and plenty of misconceptions.
Like many new growers, we believed that earning more money simply meant growing more flowers.
It turns out that isn't how profitable flower farming works.
Instead, we found ourselves trapped in a cycle of:
- Growing more.
- Buying more.
- Planting more varieties.
- Working longer hours.
- Still wondering why profits weren't increasing.
The biggest lesson?
More flowers don't automatically create a better business.
Social Media Doesn't Show the Hard Parts
One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is the difference between what we see online and what actually happens behind the scenes.
Social media celebrates beautiful bouquets and thriving fields.
It rarely shows:
- Washing hundreds of buckets.
- Crop failures.
- Poor-performing varieties.
- Pricing struggles.
- Marketing challenges.
- Long days wondering if you're making the right decisions.
Every flower farm has these moments.
They're simply not as photogenic.
Understanding Scale Changes Everything
One of our biggest mistakes wasn't choosing the wrong flowers.
It was misunderstanding scale.
We carefully planned our first growing season and calculated stem counts—but we didn't fully understand how many flowers we'd actually need to sustain bouquet production throughout the season.
Some flowers produce one harvest.
Others bloom repeatedly.
Some varieties simply don't perform well in certain climates.
Learning the difference completely changed how we approach crop planning today.
There Is No Perfect Flower Recipe
One of the biggest misconceptions in flower farming is the idea that someone can hand you the perfect crop list.
The truth is... There isn't one.
Every flower farm has different:
- Soil
- Climate
- Customers
- Growing conditions
- Sales channels
- Business goals
A crop that thrives on one farm may struggle on another.
A flower that's profitable in one market might have little demand somewhere else.
Instead of following someone else's formula, we encourage growers to understand their own numbers, evaluate local demand, and focus on crops they grow exceptionally well.
Pricing Flowers Isn't About Guesswork
Another lesson we learned the hard way?
Pricing.
Many new growers price flowers based on what feels reasonable instead of what their business actually requires.
Successful flower farming means understanding:
- Production costs
- Market demand
- Customer expectations
- Profit margins
- Product positioning
When we learned to price with intention instead of emotion, our business became much healthier.
I Wish Someone Had Taught Me This
When we first started flower farming, we honestly thought the answer was simple.
If we wanted to make more money… We just needed to grow more flowers. So we did.
We ordered more seed. We planted more varieties. We worked longer days. We chased every recommendation we found online, convinced that if someone else was growing it successfully, we should be growing it too.
But season after season, we realized something: No one had taught us how to build a flower business.
People taught us how to germinate seeds, what varieties were popular, and shared bouquet recipes and growing tips. But nobody explained HOW to determine whether those flowers would actually make money on our farm.
Nobody explained how to work backward from a bouquet to figure out how many stems we actually needed.
Nobody talked about scale.
Nobody talked about pricing.
Nobody talked about spending hundreds of hours washing buckets.
Those are the lessons we had to learn ourselves, and we wish someone had been there to teach us to save time.
That's why we've spent the last two years building these courses.. NOT because we think we’ve done everything perfectly, but because we’ve made enough mistakes that maybe you won’t have to.
Find Your Tribe
Perhaps the biggest message from this episode is this:
You don't have to figure everything out alone.
Your support system doesn't have to consist entirely of flower farmers.
Sometimes your greatest cheerleaders are business owners, friends, family members, or mentors who simply believe in what you're building.
Surround yourself with people who encourage your growth, challenge your thinking, and celebrate your wins.
That community can make all the difference.
How Our Flower Farming Journey Can Help You Grow
Flower farming isn't about perfection. It's about learning, experimenting, making mistakes, and trying again.
Every season teaches us something new, and every challenge helps shape a stronger business.
If you're building your own flower farm, know that you're not alone. We've made plenty of mistakes ourselves—and we're excited to share what we've learned so your journey can be just a little bit easier.
