July is American Grown Flowers Month

All 50 States Bloom in July

Did you know that almost 80% of the flow­ers sold in the Unit­ed States are imported?

That leaves about 22% of all flow­ers sold in the U.S. are grown here. In 2017, the U. S. Con­gress decreed that July is devot­ed to the focus of flower and green­ery grow­ers in Amer­i­ca. In fact, dur­ing July, all 50 states have flow­ers bloom­ing — even in Alas­ka! Alas­ka has a vibrant peony farm­ing com­mu­ni­ty that extends the fresh-cut peony sea­son into August and some­times Sep­tem­ber, per­fect for late sum­mer weddings.

What is American Grown Month?

From the AmericanGrownFlowers.org website:

Amer­i­can Grown Flow­ers and Foliage Month is a ded­i­cat­ed month to cel­e­brate, rec­og­nize and appre­ci­ate the excep­tion­al tal­ents and efforts of our nation’s flower and foliage farm­ers. Through­out the month of July (and All Year Long!), we shine a spot­light on the incred­i­ble vari­ety of flow­ers and foliages grown right here in our own back­yard. Across the coun­try, Amer­i­can farm­ers pour their heart and soul into nur­tur­ing the blooms and foliages that bring joy, inspi­ra­tion, and a touch of nature’s beau­ty into our lives.

How can I participate?

You can par­tic­i­pate by buy­ing flow­ers from your local farmer, look­ing for the Amer­i­can Grown label on flow­ers at your local mar­ket, post­ing your “Amer­i­can Grown” flo­ral designs on your socials, and using the hash­tag #Amer­i­can­Grown­Month. Here are more ideas from Cer­ti­fied Amer­i­can Grown (CAG). If you are a florist you can become a CAG mem­ber and if you are a farmer, you can apply to become a farmer mem­ber or a cer­ti­fied mem­ber. These are new cat­e­gories than from years past so there is an eas­i­er way to become involved even if you have a small farm.

Down­load the 10 Ways to Cel­e­brate PDF