As the u-pick season in Michigan heats up, families are visiting greenhouses and fields to harvest summer flowers at accessible rates.
Given Michigan’s status as the second most agriculturally diverse and third biggest floriculture state, pickers expect quality blooms.
This is true of Novi-based MSU Tollgate Farm & Education Center, which is training harvesters on quality selection and pruning.
While MSU’s first u-pick flowers session has already passed, the next is occurring on August 27, 2025 in open fields.
Picking rates here are $17 a vase for those who have registered and $20/vase for those who just walk in.
In the flower industry, a vase or bouquet consists of 25 stems while a kilo measure averages 40 stems.
Sunflowers and Interstate U-Pick Flowers
Meanwhile at Blake’s Orchard & Cider Mill in east Michigan, the Blakes Sunflower Festival is taking place this August.
Sunflowers, including the wild Helianthus pumilus and Helianthus annuus are common in northerly climates. Garden varieties blossom into golden yellow blooms whose seeds process a popular edible oil.
As cut flowers, the helianthus genus’ bouquets provide warm and vibrant displays at weddings and other occasions.
Blooms cost as much as roses at a price range of between $1 and $5 per stem, due to versatile uses.
Since floriculture in MI is as diverse as the blooms themselves, u-pickers stretch the harvest into September.
Outside Michigan, current interstate venues include the coastal Mendicino in California whose u-pick dahlias and snapdragons last through fall.
The city’s farms offer weekly picking schedules on Saturdays, a convenient time for most 9-to-5 weekday workers.
But if it is begonia, lilies or geraniums, family harvesters can remain in Michigan which leads federal production for these three varieties. The state grosses enviable annual floral sales worth $695 million, as of 2023, per the following statistics.
Michigan Flowers Statistics
In both production and sales, Michigan is 3rd in the United States for the flower business. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), MI had 681 flower operations in 2023, which sold $695 million in cut stems. Only Florida ($1.208 billion) and California ($983 million) sold more in the period under quote.
Floriculture is Michigan’s fourth biggest agricultural industry in economic earnings from mainly greenhouse operations. Greenhouse flower production generates over $444.6 million per year in direct impact, while greenhouse vegetables add over $4.6 million. Nursery seedlings directly generate over $5.22 million, bringing the whole greenhouse industry to a worth of $741.4 million.
Where do greenhouse flowers grow most in MI?
Four counties in Michigan produce the most flowers per square feet, inclusive of blooms, nurseries and minor vegetables. The leaders include Ottawa with over 26.279 million square feet (sq.ft) and Kalamazoo with above 13.628 million sq.ft. Next are Kent and Wayne at over 5.535 million and 3.398 million sq.ft, respectively.
Do flowers from MI find market in the United States?
Michigan exhausts most of its flowers domestically thanks to a huge federal market: the United States is the world’s biggest buyer of flowers worldwide at $1.83 billion per year. So big is the American need for cut blooms that 80% of its total cut flower trade consists imports.
Which flowers does MI lead the nation with?
Michigan leads federal production of begonia, Easter lilies, geraniums and seeds of these flowers. It also ranks either second or third nationally for marigold flats and chrysanthemum cuttings.