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A new and colorful alternative crop has emerged in Indiana over the past few years: flowers.

Some farms sell flowers wholesale, many produce finished bouquets, and a few process flowers for other products. But most Indiana flower farms are U-pick operations, with customers roaming the blooming fields with pruners and coming away with a bouquet.

“It’s using the land to do something you really enjoy,” said Tricia Wilson of Dollie’s Farm in Franklin.

“We’ve always wanted to do something with agritourism, but this is all the land I have,” said Kelly Shannon of Shannon Family Farms near Crawfordsville, gesturing toward the farm’s 9 total acres. “There’s not acres upon acres to do something huge, but I thought ‘You can put a lot of flowers out here.’”

Indiana flower farms tend to grow sturdy flowers that can be seeded directly or started indoors and transplanted. Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, daisies, dahlias and marigolds are common, but some farms also grow spring flowers such as tulips and daffodils, and many extend their season with fall-blooming flowers.

Shannon Family Farms has extensive experience selling meat and eggs directly to consumers, primarily through Four Seasons Local Market in Crawfordsville and Rural Provisions in New Market, but this is the first year for its U-pick flower farm Fresh Cut, which opened in July. The Shannons have approximately 3 acres in flowers, including zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers, snapdragons, bachelor buttons and larkspur.

“After having gone through COVID last year, we decided that families and other people are really looking for something to do outside, for an opportunity to be together. By choosing their flowers, they’re getting an experience and something to take home and enjoy,” Kelly explained.

Because Kelly has a background in education, Fresh Cut has put a big emphasis on kid-focused activities, including the weekly Flower Power Kids' Hour. Other special attractions planned for the summer include visits from a balloon artist, food trucks and special themed events.

Dollie’s Farm began selling U-pick flowers last year, but they’ve been in the flower-growing business since 2018, when they started producing lavender. The original idea, said Tricia, was to sell off the lavender, similar to the way corn and beans are sold. But they instead decided to dry the harvested lavender on-farm and formulate it into their own line of teas as well as use it in bridal bouquets. Dollie’s also sells a full line of health and skin care products at the farm market.

The farm is named after Tricia’s great-grandmother, Dollie Grose. In the 1930s, Dollie saved up enough money by selling eggs from her chickens to allow her and her husband to expand the farm from 46 acres to more than 80 acres.

Corn and soybeans are still produced on the farm, Tricia said, “But in the heart of the 80-acre farm is the flower farm,” which consists of approximately 4 acres of flowers including lisianthus, larkspur, four different kinds of daisies, dahlias, zinnias, verbena, 20 different varieties of sunflowers and more. Mint is also produced at Dollie’s, where it is dried and made into teas.

While many of the state’s flower farms don’t open until June or July, Dollie’s opened in April, offering tulips, hyacinths and daffodils. And they still sell eggs from their own chickens.

“We can’t very well have a flower farm and name it Dollie’s and not have chickens,” Tricia said.