3 Reasons to Buy American Grown Flowers

I’m passionate about Alaskan grown flowers. When spring arrives our tiny farm bursts with blooms from May through September. If I need extra flowers for an event, my go-to are other Alaskan flower farmers. I have a few favorites in the Matanuska Valley!

But lets face it: during our cold winter months, it’s just impossible to get locally grown flowers. So we can go without OR we can buy flowers from the next best source: other American farmers.

Here’s 3 reasons why buying American grown is an awesome way to spend your hard earned cash:

1) Lower carbon footprint. Flowers are a perishable item. Once they’re cut, they start dying unless the process is slowed through refrigeration. Buying flowers from closer to home guarantees that less energy was spent getting the flowers to you fresh.

In addition to less time in the fridge, the flowers are less traveled. Less traveled means less fossil fuels to ship them about. As an Alaskan, for half the year we must ship in our flowers! But we can choose whether they come from CA or from South America. The latter being over twice as far.

2) Support American farms. I am not a MAGA American. I do, however, want to support local and keep money in the hands of small family farms and businesses.

Suburban sprawl is a huge threat to our farmland. Buying from other American farmers helps put money into rural hands to keep communities thriving without having to sell out to development.

Help keep farmers on farms. Help keep rural America alive.

At this time only 20% of all flowers sold in the US are American grown. WOW! We have lots of room to grow this market. There’s room for other small farmers to get in on this action. Farm on!

3) Less harmful chemicals. We grow all our flowers without the use of chemicals. We don’t spray. We fertilize only with compost and naturally occurring amendments like bone meal.

I want to be able to toss all the expired flowers I grow straight into the compost without worry of chemical leaching.

Imported flowers have less stringent environmental regulations. This means, questionable chemicals may be gracing your table alongside that gorgeous supermarket bouquet.

While “American grown” does not guarantee a chemical-free bloom, it does guarantee that farmers must follow our environmental guidelines for which chemicals to use. And although I don’t condone chemical use on farms, the chemicals used in other countries can be much worse.

And don’t take it from me: follow these links to learn more about American Grown and the Slow Flower movement.