Did you know that the flower farming season starts over a year in advance of the current growing year? For example, for Garden 2025, I had to order my tulips in March of 2024–three months before I even knew if they were going to bloom in the year I was currently in! The bulk of next year’s garden plan is finalized in August and ordered in October. Finally, the first seeds are started just after Christmas! The hardy annuals get started in February, and the rest of the flowers follow in March and April.
Curious about the flowers we grow on our flower farm? Here are some of our main crops and why we love them!
Our Favourite Hardy Annuals
At Shifting Blooms we love hardy annuals!! In fact, I wrote a whole book about how to grow them in a cold climate (because it’s actually pretty tricky). They’re totally worth all the fuss. Since we’ve gone all in on hardy annuals, it means we have more flowers than more Saskatchewan farms in June and early July.
While I won’t bore you to death about all of the different hardy annuals we grow, I will share a few of my favourite pictures with you, so you can get a sense of the beauty we have early in the season.
Sweet peas, feverfew, stock, Larkspur, and more all will likely grace your early season bouquets. Fingers crossed that the godetia doesn’t get ripped to shreds in a storm again, as it was quite beautiful, but unsellable this past year.
Our Growing Perennial Garden
Perennials are the backbone of any flower garden, and ours are still taking their sweet time. We’ve been on the acreage for 3 years now, and this summer the perennial garden should start to take off. I’ve mostly grown perennials for landscaping purposes, but as my flower farm continues to grow, I’ve been able to add some perennials purely for production. In your bouquets, you’ll most likely find yarrow, lilies, and bee balm, as these have been the first to really take off at the farm.
Anemone
This picture doesn’t do the anemone patch justice, but these flowers are a sight to behold! I grow mainly white anemones with black centres, and as long as the weather co-operates, these beauties will be in bridal and CSA bouquets from early to late June.
Dahlias
To say we struggle with dahlias on this flower farm is an understatement, but I am determined to get them right! For years I’ve been choosing the best varieties that can thrive under my neglect, and I just know this is going to be the year. But in case it isn’t, we proudly source our dahlias from Melissa at Backroad Blossoms.
Eucalyptus
Every year I start a few eucalyptus plants just for my September and October offerings. Over the years I’ve narrowed it down to my favourites, and this year I’ll be growing silver dollar and silver drop.
Lisianthus
Lisianthus is not a main crop for us here at the farm, but it still deserves a spot in this post because it is so beautiful. Every year I save the few stems I manage to grow for my September and October brides, and any short stems find their way into our Thanksgiving pumpkin sale.
Peonies
Our peonies have been taking their sweet time coming, but they’ll be worth the wait! When I moved from our original backyard flower farm in Saskatoon to our current acreage, I took along divisions of all the peonies. Every year I’ve added to the mix, and I’m most looking forward to seeing my old favourites, as well as Coral Sunset and Pecher.
Poppies
This year I visited a garden near Watson, SK with a giant bed of poppies. I fell in love, and I am determined to have my own crazy amount of poppies. I’ve got plans for the seed heads too!
Pumpkins
While obviously not a flower, we grow ALL the bougie coloured pumpkins. White, pink, blue, green. . . do we really need orange?
Ranunculus
Another tricky-to-grow cool season crop. However, now that I’ve got a system that works well on the acreage, ranunculus will always have a place here. You’ll find them fresh in the spring, and dried on pumpkin arrangements in the fall.
Snapdragons
Every year I plant at least a 40 foot row of snapdragons, and it’s still not quite enough. I stagger my snaps so that you’ll find them in your bouquets pretty much all summer long. This Potomac Orange variety below is my favourite.
Statice
Statice might not be the most exciting crop at first glance, but it’s one of my backbone crops! You’ll see it in all my boutonnieres, hair pieces, flower crowns, in Christmas wreaths, and of course, anything made with dried flowers.
Stock
Stock is one of our hardy annuals, but it is a main crop here both for its lovely scent, and how perfect it is for bridal work. The only problem is my chickens love it just as much as I do, so I have to stop them from snapping off the tops of seedlings!
Strawflowers
A full 40 foot row of strawflowers wasn’t quite enough this year to supply all my needs for pumpkin and wreath sales, so 2 40 foot rows it will be! I love strawflowers because they are so versatile and long lasting. It’s also fun to touch their petals and make a sound with them.
Sunflowers
We don’t grow a ton of sunflowers here at the flower farm, because we are blessed with another flower farmer who lives 5 minutes away who specializes in them and is fanatical about quality. You may see the odd sunny grown by me in your bouquet, but all wedding work has the most perfect sunflowers from Monica at 316 Flower Co.
These perfect sunflowers, above, are from Monica, while the fuzzy one below is something that I typically grow.
Tulips
Every year I debate whether I should keep growing tulips or not, and thankfully in 2025 they still made the cut. I’ve switched over to the more reliable varieties for our climate, so hopefully tulips will make sense for years to come.
Zinnias
Ever since my Mom and Dad grew zinnias for my wedding bouquet, I have been a huge fan. And with all the new releases coming out from breeders, I am even more of a fanatic. If I get my way, there will be two 40 foot rows full of gorgeous zinnias.
All the Texture Flowers
I also grow many other flowers that may not be the most exciting to look at at first glance, but help make the focal flowers pop. Baby’s breath, saponaria, forget-me-nots, different varieties of mint, tangerine gem marigolds and more all have a special spot in my garden.
