Cultivating beauty is a blossoming business in Virginia—offering plenty of options for Mother’s Day gift-giving.
The fast-growing nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod sector ranked fourth among Virginia’s top farm income-earning commodities, generating $399 million in 2022, according to the most-recent U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture.
The state’s floriculture industry is bustling, as the number of farms growing bedding and garden plants, cut flowers, florist greens and potted, flowering plants jumped from 618 in 2017 to 822 in 2022.
There are 320 Virginia farms cultivating cut flowers and florist greens today—a 73 percent increase from 184 farms in 2017.
Part-time farmer Terry Osborn of Corvallis Farms has noticed more vegetable growers incorporating fresh-cut flowers at her local farmers market—where she sells specialty produce and seasonal bouquets from May through August. Her family has been growing summer annuals like peonies, larkspur, zinnias and sunflow...