Area flower farms find niche with customers

Locally cut flower farms appear to be blooming across South Dakota.

The South Dakota Specialty Producers Association recently created a directory of growers and maps for consumers to find them. The organization found more than a dozen statewide.

You can see the map here.

It represents small flower producers selling everything from cut flowers directly to consumers to those that sell at farmers markets, through subscriptions, offer U-pick operations and cater to specialty florists and retailers.

Here’s a closer look at several of them.

Fleurish Flower Farm, Elk Point

Fleurish Flower Farm is a half-acre farm specializing in flowers for U-pick events, weddings, arrangements, design classes and tours in southeastern South Dakota.

Owner Christy Heckathorn also offers a full-service wedding design studio and bulk buckets for the DIY bride.

People love being able to have a “hands-on experience” when it comes to picking their own flowers, she said.

“Flowers evoke such a strong reaction in people, and they often will comment on how a certain variety reminds them of something that grew at their grandmother’s house. Last season, I had a 50-foot row of cinnamon and lemon basil. You could smell it before you even got up close, and that’s not an experience that you can get just anywhere,” Heckathorn said.

Flowers go straight from the field to the case and have a longer shelf life because of it, she said.

Pixie Acres Flower Farm, Castlewood

Pixie Acres Flower Farm’s passion is to spread joy through South Dakota flowers.

Owner Jessica Ruml’s family farm sells flowers for weddings, farmers markets, on-farm workshops and retail bouquets. She grows around 50 flower varieties, including favorites such as zinnias, dahlias, foxglove, snapdragons, sweet peas and more.

In the Castlewood area, the average frost-free season is 136 days, but the family has navigated techniques that allow them to sell their products from April through November.

The farm, which sustained only minimal damage in Thursday’s storm that produced a tornado in Castlewood, has two high-tunnel structures, allowing it to get a jump on the season and provide protection at the end of the season from both temperature changes and wind damage. On average, these structures give it  a one-month extension on each side of the normal season.

Pixie Acres typically has tulips blooming inside the high-tunnel in mid-April and dahlias still producing in the beginning of October. Its field-produced tulips begin blooming in early May, and outdoor dahlias end with the first frost, sometimes even early September.

The farm is able to plant hardy annuals and other spring bulbs beginning in March inside these structures, while the field might not be free of snow until the end of April. The family can then plant a second succession of certain flowers to get a longer blooming window.

By growing this way, Ruml has been able to have consistent sales for a season of 240 days versus their 136 frost-free days.

“We’ve also been fortunate to fill the gaps between seasons. After the first frost, most of our bouquet sales cease; however, we also grow specialty pumpkins and dried fall wreaths that help boost our sales post-frost. Once we enter November, we harvest and make South Dakota evergreen wreaths for holiday sales,” Ruml said.

Prairie Moon Herbs, Vermillion

Prairie Moon Herbs is an organic farm in southeast South Dakota owned by Grace Freeman. She sells most of her herbs, produce and flower bouquets at the Vermillion Area Farmers Market.

The farm grows many perennials and bulbs to supply the bouquets, as well as some favorite annuals such as cosmos, zinnia and baby’s breath. The bulbs, including tulip, gladiolus and dahlia, are a colorful addition and really make the bouquets pop. Varieties change throughout the growing season, and the bouquets adjust accordingly.

“Flowers dress up the farmers market stand and are equal to having sweets for sale! They make people happy just looking at them,” Freeman said.

Freeman invested in a six-bouquet sales rack, which allows a deep well of water for the flowers while they are on display at market and shows off the colors. She uses bouquet sleeves or recycled shopping bags to place the flowers in and tries to make each bouquet about $10.

Prairie Moon Herbs also sells products through the Dakota Fresh Food Hub but not bouquets.

Bouquet sales continue into the fall and winter. The farm grows strawflowers, gomphrena and statice to dry for winter bouquets, a hit at the Valentine’s market.

Freeman also forces bulbs to sell from December through February. This is a process of making a plant flower outside of its normal season by creating an artificial environment. Normally, a bulb would be in the ground outside under cold temperatures during the fall or winter. You can bypass months of waiting, urging bulbs to bloom earlier by placing them in refrigeration for a period of time and then planting them outside of the normal season.

Flegels Flowers, Lake Preston

From backyard gardening enthusiast to bringing her love for growing fresh flowers to consumers, Tanya Flegel of Flegels Flowers sells flower arrangements while incorporating conservation practices.

Flegel said she has always loved to garden and made sure her children would know the value of the food they ate. She started with a small vegetable garden and later turned her entire backyard into flowers.

Flegel also has a full-time job as the district manager at Kingsbury Conservation District and a part-time job as the county’s weed and pest supervisor.

“The belief in keeping everything as natural as I can comes from loving my job in conservation and inspiring others to do the same. My hope is that by selling my flower arrangements I can also spread the conservation values I have learned,” Flegel said.

In the spring and summers in between planting trees, Flegel helps out with a local Growing YOUth gardening program. The program teaches urban children how to grow gardens and love their vegetables. It has been one of her highlights to bring the knowledge of soil and growing plants to enthusiastic kids. The educators hope to grow this program to other communities in the state of South Dakota.

Floras & Bouquets, Sioux Falls

Floras & Bouquets LLC is a micro urban flower farm within walking distance to Falls Park in Sioux Falls. Owner Monica Pugh sells wholesale to specialty stores, offers flower subscriptions and uses her blooms in wedding work and everyday arrangements.

Pugh said she will never forget the very first time she sold flowers. She was a little girl and got a crazy idea to go out and pick the wildflowers that were growing in the field and sell them to those who drove by on their country road.

Little did she know, there was a huge estate sale happening down the road. She sold every bouquet that day.

Pugh is passionate about feeding the soil and using organic, sustainable practices to create unique designs with her locally grown blooms.

“Customers should consider using locally grown flowers because they are generally fresher and last longer, and local flower farmers can also offer a variety of flowers that you can’t find at a regular florist,” Pugh said. “It also supports the local economy keeping our money local. Everyone wins,”