Flower Math Part 1 of 5: Price per Stem - I Discuss Pricing with Jennie Love

[@Lavender_May_American_Rooted]

This is golden! As a flower farmer I struggle with selling my flowers at market value. This is extremely helpful. It helps me understand the importance and reason behind the prices. I can't express how helpful this is.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Glad it was helpful! Selling at market value is a challenge for alot of people- me included!! We just put the second video in the 5 part series out today all about shrinkage and flower waste. Check it out if you have time! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYXcq4WvjNiIY9Usi=WcGTSvLBIS71vocI

[@suzannecerrone7110]

Jennie Love, this is your friend Suzanne C from LWG :) So nice to hear/see you! You are amazing and thank you to you and Ellen for such a thoughtful conversation! Looking forward to more.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Thanks so much for watching!!!

[@wbflowersvt]

Great conversation! Lots of food for thought. Looking forward to the next one :)

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Thanks for listening!

[@littlewaltersflowerfarm]

Loved this convo. Looking forward to the future episodes.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@genevievefairchild1516]

Thank you both for an amazing conversation. Very timely and helpful going into our season. I’m trying to learn all I can as I’m both growing my farm this year and also growing my relationships with the florist I work with💐

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Amazing to hear that you're working on your florist relationship along with growing your farm. I hope these conversations are useful to you!

[@kariblough-smith2632]

Great information and important perspectives. This was definitely worth watching. I'm looking forward to the next part of this conversation.😊

[@ellenfrostflowers]

so glad you liked it! We'll be putting out one a week for the next few weeks! Be sure to subscribe so you can get them as soon as they are available.

[@kariblough-smith2632]

Sounds great! I woke up before my alarm this morning and saw the notification for this video. Perfect timing! We are on a break from flower farming, and we are restructuring things a bit to meet some of my post surgical needs. Last year, I took one of your classes through The Gardener's Workshop. It was excellent! That experience with your class was part of what turned me on to your KZbin channel. Thank you. 😊

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Thank you so much for taking the class! I hope the restructuring goes well and you can get back to doing what you love very soon! @@kariblough-smith2632

[@kariblough-smith2632]

@@ellenfrostflowers Your very welcome. I hope so, too.

[@annephythyon4792]

This is fantastic! Also So excited about Floral Guild Radio!

[@ellenfrostflowers]

It's so good! Thanks so much for watching!

[@bethhubbs9937]

I am here for your 'community of flower nerds online'! I think I just found my 'tribe'. ;)

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Love this! So glad you found us!

[@magrape7]

I'm late to the video, but as a budding grower, i'm actually relieved to hear of the need for the basic flowers and foliage. I have space, but prefer less complicated and less intensive practices. This is making sense for my practical mind and aging body.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

It's all about find what works for you and for you customers. Trying to find that WIN WIN position. And I'm with you about find things that work for our bodies and our minds as we get older. What kinds of flowers are you growing this year?

[@sheelaghomalley5459]

This is so important as a farmer/florist. I need to be marking up my farmer side so my florist side can make some money

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Glady you found it helpful!

[@MarshaSwezey]

Oh you two - love you both, thank you, as always, for your insights.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

We're still at it- after all these years! Hope you're doing great!

[@cindyseeley2]

Such an insightful and honest chat. ❤

[@ellenfrostflowers]

thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! This is one of 5 conversations we did, so stay tuned for the next installment!

[@rachelle3445]

Thank you

[@ellenfrostflowers]

You're welcome

[@torimarie7659]

I love this conversation! So excited to hear more. I have a question about a “growers bunch”. You mentioned cutting and bunching with out a lot of extra work, but do you still strip the stems of foliage that would sit below the water line? Does the vase life of things cut in a growers bunch get affected by that type of harvesting?

[@ellenfrostflowers]

hi! this is a good question for jennie! I'll reach out to her and see what she says. We only have one grower that sells this way. He does not clean the stems. As a result, we have to have staff on hand when the flowers arrive to clean them and make sure they are back in water. If we leave them with all of the foliage on for more than a day or two, we'll have issues- mostly with mold. The price that he charges is significantly less than other farmers. This option is NOT going to be right for many florists. The trade off on price is not going to be enough for them to take on the extra work of cleaning the stems. But you may discuss this with your florists and see if there are any that might want to try it.

[@sheelaghomalley5459]

You most likely said, but what package are you using for your garden plan

[@Her_Ladyship_AnonyMous]

Ellen, this was so helpful, thank you! What are your thoughts on Saponaria? Would this be on your list of highly-desired, cost-effective filler that florists want (like ageratum and snapdragons)?

[@ellenfrostflowers]

I love it! Saponaria is great! the white and the pink are both a really great filler AND cost effective!!

[@Her_Ladyship_AnonyMous]

@@ellenfrostflowers Thank you! That's great news!

[@annasleep]

Winter forced tulips is so.ething I have been trying to figure out how and why to grow it since the cost for bulbs is so expensive unless You can leverage economy of scale.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Economies of scale are important. It's also critical to have a florist or consumer base that is ready and willing to pay the price you need them to pay. This is not a crop you can grow and hope to find a customer for it once the tulips are ready.

[@rbrown2746]

Which sweet william varieties/ colors do you prefer

[@ellenfrostflowers]

I like all sweet william. Electron is one of my favorites varieties. The mix of reds and pinks are a great addition to my designs in any season. For solid-colored Sweet William I love coral, black cherry and scarlet. Amazon is another popular mix but I don't like the colors as much. The Amazon neon purple is a harsh magenta that I find hard to add into designs. You can find more on how I use Sweet William in my newsletter back in December view.flodesk.com/emails/657f7daa352696e3056b4d7a

[@rbrown2746]

@@ellenfrostflowers Thank you , I am growing Volcano mix, Black cherry Sweet, and Amazon Neón cherry so far.

[@ellenfrostflowers]

sounds like a great mix!

[@rbrown2746]

@@ellenfrostflowers I shared this podcast with Alex's group on fb this is a great resource

[@NatalyaBerezneva]

If a farmer sells specialty tulips for $2.50 per stem that means there is a demand for it. Tulips for a $1 is not = a specialty double, fringe a parrot tulip. New tulips on the market as never seen before, over 270 varieties on the show presented in Europe .New generation of farmers is so excited to grow them. It’s like a Moda fashion . Everyone is switching to hydroponics, even old farms. Keeping with the market trends and market demand is the way to go . I will grow Cloned ranunculus and specialty tulips over nigella anytime 😊 .you can sell specialty tulips on the corner of the road for $3 , just get a street vendor permit. You need to realize that you don’t dictate the Market.

[@NatalyaBerezneva]

Winter specialty hydroponic tulips and nigella, celosia, camomile, sweet Willam, calendula are not blooming at the same time😊There are many florists include specialty tulips ( not a dollar stinky tulips)that look like peonies in their arrangements in December and charge $10-12 per stem. You just need a few tulips per arrangement to make a statement. Some florists are not there yet, or you have not seen a tulips that look like peonies or lilies

[@NatalyaBerezneva]

Next year florists will pay $5 per zinnia stem because everyone bought seeds from Floret . Just kidding. I don’t grow zinnias,overhyped and overpriced

[@NatalyaBerezneva]

Next year florists will pay $5 per zinnia stem because everyone bought seeds from Floret . Just kidding. I don’t grow zinnias,overhyped and overpriced😊

[@ellenfrostflowers]

Following up on our zinnia conversation! Now that the Floret Zinnias are out and being sold to florists, it's been our experience that the growers we're buying from are have not been able to price cut Floret zinnias any higher than other zinnias. We are buying them for $9.50 a bunch. I think the issue is that while they're very unique to flower farmers, and the colors are appealing to florists, they look alot like other zinnias. Florists are not in tune with the hype around these zinnias and are not willing to pay a premium for them. Have you had a different experience?