Discovering the Beauty of Flower Farms in Utah

Welcome to the enchanting world of flower farms in Utah, where nature’s beauty unfolds in vibrant colors. Nestled amidst the majestic landscapes of Utah, these flower farms are a true oasis of serenity and charm. Over the past few years, the number of flower farms in Utah has burst, and you will surely find one near you. If you find yourself in need of help to locate fresh flowers near you, reach out in the comments section below and our little community can help with resources.

Utah’s flower farms offer a breathtaking spectacle for nature lovers and photography enthusiasts alike. Imagine plots of various sizes, from backyard farmers with a kaleidoscope of blossoms like us at Wild and Sweet Life to those with acres of lush fields adorned with rows of seemingly never-ending flowers. Each farm boasts a unique variety of flowers, showcasing nature’s artistry at its finest.

As you wander through these picturesque farms, you can immerse yourself in the tranquility of the surroundings, breathing in the fragrant air and reveling in the symphony of colors. Whether you stroll down the flower-lined paths to breathe in the beauty and boost your mental health or enjoy nature as you capture the perfect shot on your phone, these farms offer a captivating experience for all.

Uncover the hidden treasures of Utah’s flower farms and immerse yourself in the mesmerizing beauty that nature bestows upon them. For a start, learn about one flower farm in particular, Wild and Sweet Life located in the foothills of Centerville.

The Beauty found in our Wild and Sweet Life plot

Utah’s flower farms are a sight to behold, showcasing the wonders of nature’s palette. Here at Wild and Sweet Life, you are greeted with a burst of color that will leave you awe-inspired. The lovingly and carefully cultivated (at least at the beginning of the year) garden is a testament to the dedication and passion of our family that tends to the soil, plants, and insects.

While working on the farm provides a daily dose of perspective and much-needed therapy out in the “wild” urban garden, we won’t be the first to say that our little plot of land is meticulously maintained, although we do our best to help the flowers thrive and create stunning displays that change with the seasons. Each month brings new flowers to enjoy in the landscape and cut for your favorite vase inside.

Spring

Come spring, you’ll see the vibrant hues of tulips and anemones, the softer hues of ranunculus and daffodils, and the uniquely gorgeous hyacinths with their delicious fragrance. Between spring blooms and the official start of summer, you’ll see a nice variety of perennial plants that start to bloom. We love the alliums from the little purple chive blooms to the unique nectaroscordum siculum and everything in between. This is also the time for lilacs which come for a glorious yet too-quick week. Sweet peas also arrive bringing their nostalgic scent and delicate blossoms. Check out our favorite spring bulbs to purchase in our online shop.

Summer

Summer rolls along and it feels like it has taken forever for the ground to warm up enough to plant the heat-loving annuals like celosia, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, amaranth, quinoa, and all the veggies that we somehow fit into the garden. Roses also come along nicely starting in June and July, which no cut flower garden should be without. Luckily my mom has a nice collection I can cut from until I make space for my own rose bushes.

Fall

Come fall, all the fruits of your labors are really ramping up and you’ve got almost more than you can handle. My favorite this time of year are mums. They produce the most gorgeous blooms similar to dahlias but with vase life that doesn’t even compare. Dahlias in all their glory will also produce bucketloads of blooms, but they are quite labor-intensive in my area (digging up and cleaning the tubers, storing through the winter, splitting the tubers before planting), thus I opt for mums which are perennials with quite a large selection of colors and shapes.

Fall also brings beautiful textures in the form of seedheads. Anything you haven’t harvested will start to produce seeds which provides you beautiful textures to play with in your floral arrangements or your fall wreaths. Fall is also the best time to work on getting your cool-loving flowers out into the soil to overwinter. My favorite part about fall is the change in weather, which starts to mellow so you can work outside past 10am and before 5pm again.

Our Journey from Flower Farmers to Flower Farmer-Florists

We started out as a wholesale flower farmer, with our ideal target as local floral shops and event florists. However, we found something was missing when growing only a select few plants in bulk. Deep within was an immense desire to grow a little of everything but that doesn’t make sense in a flower farmer’s world where the goal is to profit off the land and all your hours of labor.

While narrowing down your offerings to only five or so types of flowers is efficient for many small farms and is necessary for all the weddings and corporate events that require flowers in bulk, it wasn’t fulfilling the creative need within and the thought of planting only one or two types and colors left something unfulfilled inside of us at Wild and Sweet Life.

Nature is not known for meticulous garden plots and monoculture. From experience, I can tell you there is nothing better than being able to pick a bucketful of stems and create something beautiful from your own yard. As we at Wild and Sweet Life have improved our skills in cultivation over the last few years we’ve simultaneously grown in our interest in designing and creating with blooms. Many hours of practice and several classes with different floral artists throughout Utah have expanded our skillset in floral artistry. We’ve begun to feel a little more confident in creating beautiful arrangements and experience the difference of using our homegrown flowers makes an undeniable difference in the vase-life, quality, and feel of any floral design work. Not to mention, you can choose the desired age of the flower, from a rose bud peeking open to the blooms showing off near the end of their life.

A handful of Current Favorites

Although always changing and inevitably growing as we find every nook and cranny available and more grass is pulled out, some of our favorite flowers grown at Wild and Sweet Life include:

1.     Ranunculus: If you’ve never seen one in person you must make it your mission to find one whether you stop in your local floral shop or garden nursery. These beauties are bursting with petals and have incredible vase life, lasting up to two weeks inside your house. These corms, a different type of bulb, come in many different varieties and colors with our most recent find (and all-time love) being the Japanese-bred butterfly ranunculus. These gorgeous blooms have naturally waxy petals that shimmer and soften in color over their life. Their beauty is worth the price and you’ll find that out for yourself when you grow some or get some from your local flower farmer. We stock these corms in our shop, so take a look at what colors we’re offering this year.

2.     Tulips: Known for their graceful shape and ability to continue growing while in a vase, tulips are a springtime favorite. These flowers come in various shades, from soft pastels to bold and vibrant hues. The varieties are endless, from singles that can create a lux experience when reflexed backward to doubles that provide layer upon layer of petals that will prepare you for the upcoming peony season except with a few more color options and lower cost. Tulips are the quintessential showing that spring has arrived.

3.     Pansies: Not your typical flower that you’d see in a vase but their colors and beauty are worth growing. The trick I’ve found is interplanting them between other tall flowers to help them reach for the sun. When interplanted with other spring crops like bachelor’s buttons, they’ve reached 15 inches tall in our little plot of land.

There’s something magical in seeing the sweet face of a pansy in your lush floral arrangement on your kitchen counter. Another positive aspect of these beauties is that their petals simply fold into themselves as they age rather than dropping and leaving a mess on your entryway table. 

4.     Cosmos: Cosmos come in countless colors from a rich chocolate to a pure white with petals ranging from your standard single petal to doubles even the more unique tubular petals as seen in the seashell variety. These classic flowers are a true cut-and-come-again flower meaning the more you cut from them the more flowers you will have. Also, the lower down you cut on the stem, while keeping it just above a set of two “leaves”, the longer stems you can expect. These do well in poor soil and ever since a few have been let go to seed at the end of the season they pop up in late spring on their own. They pop up sooner on their own in the garden than I would ever dare plant them from a plug. Along with their ease of growing at our little farm, their delicate and free-floating stems are a must for any gorgeous bouquet from summer to fall.

5.     Mums: A more recent true love came when we tried out mums a few years ago. These grow in the late fall when all other flowers begin to wane in magnificence and abundance. Once they’ve been in the ground for a season or two they will produce abundantly for you, especially when pinched back once every 3-4 weeks throughout the spring and summer. You will be richly rewarded with a gorgeous display of flowers comparable to dahlias without the demands of annual planting, lifting, dividing, and storing. There is no limit to the colors and types of petals you can find to add to your garden from the thin and spiky quill and spider-type to full and lush decorative, pompon, and spoon-type mums. Indulge yourself by planting a handful of these perennial plants in your yard for a magnificent show as your little corner of the world prepares for the colder and darker winter months.

Truth be told, there are so many favorite flowers that are too numerous to mention here, including roses, scabiosa, sweet peas, daffodils, lisianthus, lilies in all their forms from calla to martagon, and everything in between. I shouldn’t forget flowers like lacecap hydrangea, clematis, nigella, and balloon flowers.

This list doesn’t even include any greenery or more of the shrubs and trees that harmoniously provide a base to your floral arrangement while simultaneously providing the perfect background in your landscape. These are not comparable to anything purchased from the grocery store or wholesaler as your branches will have natural and priceless movement rather than being stick-straight. Please forgive my pun. Nothing natural is going to grow perfectly straight and those types of stems only work well for your typical grocery or conventional retail store arrangement as opposed to the lush, garden-inspired floral arrangements we all want to create and enjoy.

Embracing the Beauty of Flower Farms in Utah

The hope in writing this journal entry is to introduce you to the reality of local flower farms becoming more accessible to everyone and to learn about a few gorgeous blooms you can easily add to your landscape and garden. No one flower farmer can grow every flower in every color so once you make a connection with your local flower farmer, find what you want to add to your yard to compliment their flowers. Working together with flower farmers promotes a strong Utah economy and brings joy to both you and us.

Tell me what your favorite flowers are to grow in the yard, whether they’re good for cutting and enjoying inside or you choose to leave them outdoors. I love that we can all learn and share our favorites together.

Along with flowers, we love to grow and preserve our own fruits and veggies. Learn our favorite way to preserve apricots.

If you’d like to learn more about starting some gorgeous blooms for your garden I invite you to read about three ways to start sweet peas. It may bring some nostalgia if your parents or grandparents grew these dainty, yet intoxicatingly-fragrant blooms. Neighbors always comment how they love to walk past the garden and stop to smell the sweet peas, which is fitting since I don’t yet have roses.