How are we celebrating U.S. flower farming? Until September when the American Horticultural Society proudly celebrates its 100th anniversary, they are going to highlight 100 flower farms in the United States that are modernizing and expanding the flowers grown in each state with innovation, love and relevance.
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The 50 State Flower Garden Project
How We’re Celebrating U.S. Flower Farming
Welcome to “The 50 State Flower Garden” project.
Until September when the American Horticultural Society proudly celebrates its 100th anniversary, we are going to highlight 100 flower farms in the United States that are modernizing and expanding the flowers grown in each state with innovation, love and relevance.
A hundred years ago, many state flowers were determined through state legislatures. However, in the ensuing decades, as flower farming evolved, so did the varieties of flowers grown in each state.
For example, in Alaska, the state flower may be the forget-me-not but it has become one of the world’s most prolific peony-producing states with over 200 peony farms. Virginia, home to the American Horticultural Society’s epicenter, known as River Farm, calls the dogwood its state flower. But yet the state also has one of the most innovative hydroponic tulip farms.
This is why the team who created “The 50 State Flower Garden” project believes it’s the right time to expand the definition of a state flower.
Furthermore, due to the pandemic, there are now more than 20 million additional people who are aspiring, novice, and avid gardeners. Plus, studies reveal that more and more younger people are choosing to make a living as flower farmers and focusing their efforts on biodiversity and eco-friendly innovations.
Collectively this means that it’s time to examine farming circa 2022 and share the stories of the people and places making a difference in flower farming, which is one of the nation’s important agricultural sectors.
Not only will our team be determining the 100 Best Flower Farms in the United States for 2022, but we are also hoping to be filling these pages with input from citizens like you from around the nation, people in rural areas and urban centers, folks who are gardening aficionados and others who love to visit flower farms in towns all around the United States and share their favorite neighborhood flowers and memories.
Not only will be sponsoring a photography contest – details coming soon – with beautiful flower farm pictures that you provide, but we also want to know what flowers remind you of your neighborhood growing up. What flowers are special to you? What flower farms are your favorite and why?
This will help our team select the 100 Best Flower Farms in the United States – a list that will continue to expand each year by showcasing new farms – as well as help our partners Gibson & Dehn create a “scent” for different states and the master porcelain maker Anna Weatherley craft a special series for state flowers.
Also in the works are opportunities for landscape architects to share ideas to create a “50 State Flower Garden” which incorporates not only the state flower – which often grows at different times of year – with additional flowers that predominantly now grow in that state
All these efforts will create opportunities to showcase talented flower farmers and their personal stories with you as well as provide information for places to visit, flowers and plants to know, and people who inspire.
This will also be a place that will become a virtual garden with extraordinary and celebratory photography of flowers from around the nation.
