Where Do Your Flowers Actually Come From?
Here is a question almost nobody asks before they buy flowers: where did these come from?
It seems like it should have an obvious answer. Flowers grow in the ground, someone cut them, and now they are in a bucket at the store. Simple.
It is not simple at all. And once you know the real answer, you start looking at every bouquet a little differently.
This week on The Flower Files I sat down with Jake Mitchell-Keyser, who runs Flowrfwd with his wife Ally. They are a local flower sourcing company built entirely on Maryland-grown blooms, serving Baltimore, DC, and Philadelphia. Jake did not come up through farming. He came out of hospitality and hotel sales, and he landed a big job as a national sales director for one of the largest floral companies in the world. It was the kind of role most people would be thrilled to have.
He left it because of what he learned on the inside.
The short version: Roughly 80% of cut flowers sold in the United States are imported. Local flowers usually cost a little more because they are grown at true cost without subsidy and without volume shortcuts. What you get in return is freshness, seasonality, and money that stays in your own community.
About 80% of Cut Flowers Sold in the US Are Imported
When Jake said that number out loud, I made him repeat it.
Eighty percent.
That figure is consistent with what the USDA and industry groups have reported for years, and some grower advocacy organizations now put it closer to 85%. The vast majority of those imports come from Colombia and Ecuador, with the Netherlands and Kenya also supplying large volumes.
Which means the flowers most Americans buy have traveled thousands of miles before they arrive. And that travel is not instant. As Jake described it, flowers destined for large retailers can sit in a cold room for weeks, waiting to be shipped out. By the time they reach a shelf at a very attractive price, a meaningful portion of their vase life is already gone.
That is not a knock on any one store. It is just how a global distribution model works.
Jake's realization inside that job was that the sales language did not match the sourcing reality. He was talking about flowers being cut to order while most of the product was moving through flower markets in New York or Los Angeles, shipped in from somewhere far away.
The turn came from a conversation with Ally. She asked him how they could make flowers more sustainable, and that question became the business. They call what they sell Single Origin Flowers, which I think is a genuinely great way to name the thing most of the industry avoids naming.
Why the Distribution Model Works the Way It Does
There is a reason the global system favors certain flowers, and it has very little to do with beauty.
Large-scale distribution is built around flowers that can be cut, boxed, and shipped dry without water for long stretches. Roses, carnations, chrysanthemums, and similar varieties tolerate that treatment well. So those are the flowers that dominate.
The flowers that cannot survive that journey simply never enter the system. Not because customers would not love them, but because the logistics do not allow it.
As a dahlia grower, this is something I feel every single week. Dahlias are stunning and people want them desperately, and I still will not ship one. It would arrive as mush. I will ship peonies. I will ship sunflowers. Past that, the answer is no, and it is not stubbornness. It is honesty about what survives the trip.
So when you look at a standard bouquet and wonder why it always seems to contain the same handful of flowers, now you know. You are not looking at what grows best. You are looking at what ships best.
Locally Grown Flowers vs. Imported Flowers
Here is the honest comparison, without the marketing gloss on either side.
| Factor | Imported Flowers | Locally Grown Flowers |
|---|---|---|
| Distance traveled | Often thousands of miles, typically from South America, the Netherlands, or Kenya | Flowrfwd sources within about 50 miles of the delivery address, from 20 or more farm partners across 9 Maryland counties |
| Time from cut to customer | Can be weeks, including time in cold storage and transit | Often cut within 24 to 48 hours of the order |
| Vase life on arrival | Reduced before you ever get them home | Nearly full vase life still ahead of them |
| Variety available | Limited to flowers that ship well dry | Anything that grows well in your region, including varieties you will never see in a store |
| Seasonality | Masked. The same flowers appear year-round | Visible and honest. Peonies come and go |
| Price | Lower, supported by volume and global logistics | Higher, reflecting true growing cost |
| Where the money goes | Largely out of the local economy | Into local farms and the surrounding community |
Each column are genuinely different products, and pretending otherwise is what frustrates both of us!
Why Locally Grown Flowers Cost More
This is the conversation every local grower has to have, and it deserves a straight answer.
Local flowers are typically priced at the real cost of growing them. There is no volume subsidy underneath, no scale advantage from a hundred-acre operation in a perfect climate, and no favorable trade arrangement lowering the landed cost.
I brought up an example on the show that surprises people. When you look closely at pricing on flowers coming in from Canada, you have to account for the fact that greenhouse growers there operate under a very different energy cost structure than we do. I sit here looking out at my greenhouse thinking about the propane bill, and that bill is entirely mine.
So when American-grown flowers cost a bit more, that difference is not markup. It is the actual cost of growing something in a place where nothing is offsetting the expense.
What you get in exchange is real. Fresher flowers with more vase life. Varieties you cannot buy anywhere else. And a direct line to a grower who can tell you exactly where and how that flower was raised.
What Seasonality Actually Means for Your Order
This is where local buying asks something of the customer, and I think that is a good thing.
Peonies have a short window. You are not getting peonies in August, and if someone offers them to you, they traveled a very long way and they will not last. Jake compared it to the cherry blossoms in DC. They arrive, they are glorious, they leave, and you wait until next year.
That waiting is not a limitation. It is the whole point.
At Wildly Native, this is why we offer designer's choice arrangements. Every day something different is blooming in the field. There is more of one thing and less of another. The style and the price point stay consistent, but the specific flowers shift with what is actually ready. It took time to help customers understand that, and now it is one of my favorite things about how we work.
It is also why we do not take wire service orders from FTD or similar third-party companies. I do not have a smiley face mug full of carnations sitting in the back. That is not what we do, and taking those orders would mean promising something I cannot deliver honestly.
Flowrfwd handles this the same way. They started out listing specific varieties on their website and found themselves updating it constantly as farm availability shifted. Now their arrangements are sold by stem count rather than by flower, from a ten stem bunch of a single variety up to an eighty stem centerpiece, filled with whatever the farms are cutting that week. They publish the current availability list every Monday, which is about as honest as seasonality gets. Same philosophy, different application!
For Flower Farmers: What a Local Buyer Looks For in a Farm Partner
If you are a grower listening and thinking you would like to sell into a company like this, pay attention to this section. Jake walked through his actual screening process.
- Relationship before transaction. This is the first filter and it is not a soft one. Jake has passed on farms that wanted a standard order form and nothing else. Growers used to a pure wholesale model sometimes find this uncomfortable, and that mismatch tells him quickly whether the partnership will work.
- Growing methods and sustainability. He asks how you grow, start to finish. Not as a compliance checklist, but because the whole premise of the business rests on the answer.
- Variety and diversification. As his business-to-business side grows, he wants access to as many varieties as can be grown well in Maryland. Unusual offerings are an advantage here, not a complication. He described getting genuinely excited by availability sheets, occasionally having to look up a flower he had never heard of.
- Consistency and availability. Being able to deliver what you said you would deliver, in the quantity you promised, week after week. This is the piece that separates a hobby operation from a supply partner.
- An in-person farm visit. He and his wife walk the grounds themselves. This is partly relationship building and partly evaluation, and he is candid that some farms reveal themselves as a poor fit during that visit.
One more practical note for growers: expect to be asked about stem length and bundle sizes. Jake asks those questions directly, and the farms he has strong relationships with understand that a specific request usually traces back to a specific customer order or design plan. Flexibility on those details makes you significantly easier to buy from.
If you want to go deeper on the business side of growing, this is exactly the kind of thing we work through inside Rooted.
How to Buy Local Flowers Where You Live
You do not need to live in Maryland for this to apply.
- Ask the question. Anywhere you buy flowers, ask where they were grown. Vendors who source locally are usually delighted to tell you. Vagueness is its own answer.
- Look for regional sourcing companies. Flowrfwd delivers to Baltimore, DC, and Philadelphia, sourcing from Maryland farms within roughly 50 miles. Similar businesses are appearing in more regions every year.
- Buy directly from a farm. Many flower farms sell arrangements, subscriptions, or field bouquets straight to customers.
- Say yes to designer's choice. This is the single easiest way to get the freshest, most interesting flowers available on the day you order.
- Let go of the year-round list. If you can release the idea that specific flowers should be available in every month, local buying becomes genuinely delightful rather than restrictive.
Two Flower Notes Worth Stealing from This Episode
Snapdragons are difficult, and there is a reason. Jake named snapdragons as the hardest flower he works with. Long, awkward stems that are fragile in transit and tricky to place in arrangements. I would add something growers should know: snapdragons are extremely sensitive to ethylene gas. They are my early warning system. If something is off in my cooler, the snapdragons tell me first, and it is very often because someone left an apple in their lunch in the wrong cooler.
Flowers need their own cooler. In my first growing season I had a hoop house and about 700 iris that I had carefully stagger planted, convinced they would come on in waves. They arrived all at once. I shoved them into the fridge and froze the lot of them because they sat too close to the back. Jake and Ally started out clearing avocados and onions out of the family refrigerator to protect their snapdragons. We both learned the same lesson from opposite directions.
Coolers are tricky. Give flowers a dedicated one as soon as you possibly can.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many flowers sold in the US are imported?
About 80% of cut flowers sold in the United States are imported, a figure consistent with USDA reporting, and some grower organizations now cite a number closer to 85%. The largest suppliers are Colombia and Ecuador, with significant volume also arriving from the Netherlands and Kenya.
Why are locally grown flowers more expensive?
Local flowers are priced at the true cost of growing them, without the scale advantages, favorable climates, energy cost structures, or trade arrangements that support large-scale imports. In exchange, they are typically cut within 24 to 48 hours of your order, arrive with nearly full vase life ahead of them, and include varieties that cannot survive long-distance shipping.
How long have grocery store flowers been out of the field?
It varies, but imported flowers moving through large distribution channels can spend weeks in cold storage and transit before reaching a retail shelf. That is why an inexpensive bouquet sometimes fades within a few days.
Can flower farms ship flowers directly to customers?
Some flowers ship reasonably well, including peonies and sunflowers. Many do not. Dahlias in particular will not survive shipping and typically arrive damaged. Most flower farms limit shipping to a short list of durable varieties and handle everything else through local delivery or on-farm pickup.
What is a designer's choice arrangement?
A designer's choice arrangement is built from whatever is freshest and most beautiful on the day it is made, rather than from a fixed recipe. The size, style, and price point stay consistent while the specific flowers change with the season. It is usually the best value and the freshest option a local florist can offer.
How do I sell my flowers to a local floral company?
Local sourcing companies generally look for growers who are open to a real working relationship rather than a transactional order form, who can describe their growing practices clearly, who offer variety, and who deliver consistently on what they promise. Expect an in-person farm visit and questions about stem length and bundle sizes.
Where can I buy locally grown flowers in Maryland and the DMV?
Flowrfwd delivers to Baltimore, DC, and Philadelphia, sourcing from 20 or more farm partners across 9 Maryland counties, all within roughly 50 miles of the delivery address. Wildly Native Flower Farm serves the Chestertown area and the surrounding Eastern Shore.
Listen to the Full Episode
Jake and I could have talked for hours, and honestly we nearly did. If you are curious about the flowers you buy, or you are a grower thinking about where your stems could go next, this one is worth your time.
Find Jake and Ally at flowrfwd.com, where you can also see what is being cut on their partner farms this week.
And one more thing for the growers listening. Flowrfwd is actively looking to add Maryland farms to their network! If you grow cut flowers in this state and you have been wondering how to find wholesale relationships that are not soul crushing, this is a real open door. Go say hello.
If this episode made you look at a grocery store bouquet a little differently, share it with a friend who needs to hear it.
New episodes of The Flower Files publish regularly. Subscribe wherever you listen!
