Though summer wanes, vibrantly hued flowers abound in Michiana, where you can find locally grown flowers well into fall. Across the region, on large farms and small, entrepreneurial farmers grow and market annual and perennial flowers in ways as varied as a field of flowers. Discover a few farms here, then hit the road to find your flowers.

• Each grower offers unique options for purchasing flowers, and nature often controls flower availability and operating hours. Please check with farms to see when, where and how to find their flowers.
• Not all offer on-farm sales and cutting options.
• Unlike U-pick fruit and vegetables, flowers are cut, not picked.

Field to Vase U-pick Flowers

New Carlisle, Indiana

Melissa and Ryan Ripley and their children have been growing U-pick flowers for about nine years near New Carlisle, on the farm where Melissa’s great-grandparents grew corn and beans. While the farm’s main season runs midsummer into fall, color arrives in April, when plants grown from 50,000 tulip bulbs begin to bloom. Peonies and more early-summer bloomers emerge in June, followed by an array of summer and fall flowers.

The farm extends its seasons with curly willow branches precut from trees on the farm in February and arrangements of rose hips, boxwood and other winter greenery in December. During the U-pick season, chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats and a miniature horse hang out near the flower fields, and are available for photo shoots. Throughout the year, the couple sell their handmade jewelry and crafts online and host seasonal events with food, arts and craft vendors plus themed events such as drive-in days for Jeeps.

574.850.1290

Facebook: @TulipRoadNewCarlisleIN

Bicycle Bouquets

South Bend, Indiana

Fresh out of high school with plenty of pandemic time on his hands, Miles Kuharic began to rejuvenate his family’s 100-year-old flower farm in 2020, offering contact-free delivery from a cheerful tricycle. The urban farm sits on 3 acres of land on Corby Street in the heart of South Bend. Kuharic’s great-grandfather Joseph Louis Kuharic began cultivating flowers here, selling them at an open market at the Colfax Avenue bridge on the St. Joseph River and later at the South Bend Farmers Market, which he and others founded in the 1920s. While Joseph Louis’ son and grandson (Joseph William and Paul) pursued careers in education and other ventures, the family continued to grow flowers on Corby Street until about 2000.

Today, at 23, Kuharic continues to redevelop the farm. From spring into fall, you can order seasonal annual and perennial flowers for pickup, or purchase blooms on Saturdays at the South Bend Farmers Market. He also offers seasonal subscriptions plus flowers in bulk or in arrangements for events. Once the growing season has passed, Kuharic creates holiday swags and wreaths, which the family has sold at the market for decades.

574.315.3497

Facebook: @bicycle.bouquets

Singletree Farm

Goshen, Indiana

Although Kate Friesen and Scott Kempf knew they wanted to farm together, they hadn’t really settled on a crop when they bought their small farm in 2018. At the time, Friesen had been working part-time as a florist plus managing a farm owned by Goshen florist Phoebe Brubaker. After buying land in Benton, Friesen and Kempf grew flowers exclusively for Brubaker, then began marketing their own flowers after Brubaker relocated. The couple grows about 50 flower varieties, including tulips, daffodils, snapdragons, stocks, sunflowers, lisianthus, dahlias, cosmos and more, including flowers that dry well like celosia and globe amaranth.

            Singletree Farm sells bouquets at Goshen Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays from spring into fall. You can also order vase arrangements, wrapped bouquets, and bulk flowers online and pick them up at the market. The farm offers spring, summer, and fall CSA subscriptions.

singletree.farm

Facebook: @SingletreeFlowers

Rows & Rows Lavender Farm

North Liberty, Indiana

When Kathy Fogle began cultivating lavender on her 40-acre property in North Liberty, she was sure the fertile soil would ensure success. After the first crop failed, Fogle replaced the lavender field’s fertile soil with rock and sand, and now 600 lavender plants, in eight varieties, thrive there. In richer soil, Fogle grows about 100 different annuals and perennials, including her personal favorite, tuberose, which blooms from late summer into fall.

In addition to U-pick blooms, Fogle grows native perennials, which she sells as whole plants, digging them up for customers after selection. She sells cut bouquets and garden-themed gift items at her farm shop, the Flower Box, and at the South Bend Farmers Market. Rows and Rows offers tea parties followed by flower cutting for adults and children. Fogle enjoys sharing her growing expertise with others and even sells sand and rock for lavender plants.

574.855.6244

Facebook: @Rows&RowsLavenderFarm

White Barn Flower Company 

Fennville, Michigan 

Within a brief seven years, Mary Renaldi left a career in public health to develop a 35-acre flower farm, then movedall the flowers to a 105-acre farm in Fennville. She renamed the property Bella Vista Farm, and there she operates the White Barn Flower Company and a traditional fruit U-pick farm that has long occupied the land. At White Barn Flower Company, flowers bloom from May into October with spring flowers, peonies, lavender, dahlias, cosmos, hydrangeas, sunflowers and more. You can pick up precut flowers at Holland Farmers Market and at the farm, which also hosts events and workshops. In season, through its website, the farm ships fresh peonies, peony roots and dahlia tubers, along with flower-related products.

269.561.5126

whitebarnflower.com

Facebook: @WhiteBarnFlower

Ruby Hill Flower Farm

Niles, Michigan

Laura Tuthill farms flowers on about 1 acre of 11-acre Ruby Hill Flower Farm. Her husband, Howard, keeps bees and grows pumpkins at the farm, and the two of them also own Iron Shoe Distillery in Niles. While she markets flowers to local florists and catering services, her blooms also make appearances on a cheerful self-serve flower cart on summer Sundays at Niles Homegrown Market and at the Niles Fall Festival. Tuthill also offers classes that combine floral design and painting for children and adults.

303.229.5271

Facebook: @RubyHillFlowerFarm

Bright Blooms Flower Farm

Niles, Michigan

In a neighborhood of suburban acreages near Niles, Regan and Phil Albright grow tulips for spring cutting, followed by peonies, then summer favorites like zinnias, cosmos and black-eyed Susans, with sunflowers, dahlias and asters putting on the show for late summer and fall. In a September workshop, attendees create long-lasting fall displays that feature dried flowers arranged on the exterior of an uncut pumpkin.

269.325.0495

Facebook: @BrightBloomsFlowerFarm

Thistleberry Farm

St. Joseph County,Indiana

At longtime farm-themed fun spot Thistleberry Farm, owned by Jenny Sipes and her brother Dave Frushour, U-pick begins midsummer with lavender and continues with a field of cosmos, another of bachelor buttons and sometimes poppies, and yet another larger field of sunflowers. A second seasonal planting of cosmos, zinnias and sunflowers helps extend the color into fall, weather permitting. The farm welcomes flower-pickers and photographers for the same admission price, which includes cut flowers that fit in containers supplied by the farm. The fields have paths cut to enhance access and photography props such as an antique sofa, a tractor and swing.

574.289.0164

thistleberryfarm.com

Facebook: @ThistleberryFarm

Blume Flower Farm and Confections

Vandalia, Michigan

Trish and James McCourtie are hosting unique U-pick experiences this summer with ticketed events on their 1881 farmstead. Participants cut flowers from the field and learn to arrange them in a bouquet, with guidance from Trish. They can choose from a wide selection of flowers that includes 143 rose shrubs and 40 rose trees, complemented by annuals such as sunflowers, cosmos, snapdragons and bachelor buttons. In addition to the flower farm, Trish markets baked goods and James has recently launched a food truck, Coastal Carolina BBQ.

269.535.1952

Facebook: @BlumeFlowerFarm