In 2017, congress passed a resolution designating July as American Grown Flowers Month in celebration of the impact America’s flower (and foliage) farms have on the floral industry, both economically and culturally. Why July? Because its the month when flowers are being harvested on farms in all 50 states, everywhere from Alaska to Florida. Here at PFG we’re excited to celebrate too because it’s a great opportunity to do more customer education and build appreciation for locally-grown!
While the percentage of import flowers still hovers around 80%, we’re making serious progress with local flowers. The 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture counted roughly 10,800 commercial flower farms, a more than 50% increase from 2017, reflecting the rapid growth of local and specialty cut flower production and increased demand. But there’s even more opportunity for local farms and local flower shops! Take a look at these stats provided on the Certified American Grown website…
Did you catch that? Consumers are willing to pay 10% MORE for locally-grown blooms! The trick is getting the word out so they know that your shop/studio is committed to local and to showing with them the difference. Click here to see 10 Ways to Celebrate so you can engage your customers this month on the topic of local. They also have several downloadable graphics and prompts you can use on social media and in your newsletters.
And of course the very best way to kick off this celebratory month is to just order local flowers! We might even challenge you to only use American grown flowers throughout the whole month of July. Can you do that? How cool would it be to state that to your customers now and tell them all month long exactly how you’re meeting the challenge and where each bloom you’re using is coming from. That’s the kind of storytelling that gets customers coming in the door. So let’s get this local party started together!
Shop local flowers now and start telling their story! Follow along on our Instagram to see daily posts about our farmers and why local flowers are so valuable.