2 weeks Ago By John Sievers
Flower power isn't just a slogan from the '60s. Today, the expression comes from building a community, and that’s exactly what the Southeast Minnesota Flower Farm Consortium (SEMNFFC) is trying to help bloom. The Consortium includes a variety of local flower farmers including agritourism businesses, larger field-type farms and some growers with greenhouses.
Currently, the Consortium includes 17 participants. The SEMNFFC began as a concept in 2023. Heather Wright, the group’s founder, has a love of flowers that germinated in her youth.
She recalls the bachelor buttons that grew in the yard of a childhood neighbor as something she says “came to mean a lot.” ADVERTISEMENT Now, as a mother herself, flowers have continued to be central to her life. “One of the most precious photos of my children is my eldest, about 5-years-old, sneaking back over our gate with a fistful of someone's flowers.
Yes, it was a naughty thing to do, but it was also such a beautiful moment of innocence and earth. Fresh flowers are a very spiritual thing.” Over the years, Wright has worked at a variety of flower shops and greenhouses in Minnesota and even had a stint owning her own flower businesses, first in Pine Island in 2015 and then in Rochester from 2019-2023.
Currently, Wright works as a freelance floral arranger with Huckleberry Floral in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Her experiences in the floral industry helped her see the value of locally grown flowers. “During my years as a shop owner, I occasionally bought locally grown flowers from growers stopping by the shop,” she says.
“There were a small handful of growers I became familiar with, and others I had yet to make contact with. When my shop was closing in 2023, I heard from my known growers, and new ones, asking me questions about marketing and distributing their product, looking for referrals to other designers, things like that. I really felt as if the growers needed to speak to each other, so I put together a list of farms in the southeastern Minnesota region and planted an email seed.
” The first gathering of the SEMNFFC in 2023 took place at Squash Blossom Farm and was facilitated by Pam Benike, a professional farming business consultant and author. About 18 flower farmers attended that first gathering. “My personal goals in starting this group were to give the growers a sense of community and to self-direct using the group,” says Wright.
“It is a place where they can talk shop and network.” The Consortium describes itself online as “a community of professional flower farmers and supporting role businesses interested in expanding the local flower industry.” The Consortium currently includes local flower businesses and farms such as The Little Flower, Bleedheart Floral, Buzzin Blooms, Four Cats Flower Farm, Nicole Kruger, Bluff Valley Farm, Berry & Bloom Farm, Breezy Hill Farm, Hidden Springs Peony Farm, Squash Blossom Farm, Iron Butterfly Flower Farm, Dancing River Blooms, Kelly's Garden Lab, Dragon Camp Gardens and Forest Edge Flowers.
“Flowers are an agricultural product just as dairy, corn and soybeans are,” says Wright. “Our area flower farmers are making a living, raising families, and contributing to our local and state economy. Minnesotans are great at supporting Minnesota-grown products, but may not realize that we have a robust flower farm scene.
It is true that we can't grow some things here in the Northern Plains states, but we can grow a wide variety, even as far north as Itasca and Beltrami counties and beyond. Southern Minnesota offers a very favorable zone for flowers, and they are high quality.” Wright says that many local flower growers also use sustainable practices avoiding pesticides and fertilizers that might be harmful to the environment.
In addition, some local flower growers raise native species of plants that help restore soil health. ADVERTISEMENT The SEMNFFC meets biannually in the spring and fall to avoid the times when flower growers are busiest nurturing their blooms. Their next formal meeting will be held on Nov.
2, 2025. Wright says the Consortium is always open to welcoming more flower farmers. In 2024, Wright says she offered a “100% local product designers choice arrangement, a hybrid of local and imported flowers, and a fully imported design” to her floral arranging customers.
“I can tell you that the choices with local flowers overwhelmingly outsold the standard import designs, and I am still getting calls from customers asking for those choices,” says Wright. “The feedback from recipients and senders was so affirming of my mission and work — the experiment far exceeded my expectations.” Local flower farmers do face challenges including getting traditional floral shops to see local flowers as something more than a novelty.
Zoning, seed availability and health insurance are other challenges faced by local growers. The Consortium has the potential to help flower growers face these difficulties. “Experienced farmers in the group are already mentoring new farmers, and that is a beautiful thing,” says Wright.
Consortium members also support each other by bolstering supply for large orders from clients. Each member of the Consortium distributes and markets their own flowers, so contacting individual members of the consortium and other local flower farmers is the best way to support local growers. Some of the members have flower Community Supported Agriculture programs offering scheduled pickups at various locations.
Other local growers offer “U-pick” options and events. “Choosing locally grown flowers is a powerful choice for our communities,” says Wright, as she points to some of her favorite local flowers like tulips, peonies, dahlias, narcissus, native grasses, sedum and cockscomb celosia. She adds that locally grown flowers and greenery “bring a sense of place, a connection to home or experience that the standard array of imported flowers just cannot emote.
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