How to Start a U-Pick Flower Field: The $100 Bulb Deal That Grew Into 2 Million Tulips, and the Sunflower Farm That Had to Close
Around 2012, Leslie Dawley brought home 34,000 tulip bulbs for $100. It was a deal too good to pass up. She and her son Michael planted every one by hand on their Virginia farm and opened the field to anyone who wanted to pick.
Today, according to Southern Living, Burnside Farms in Nokesville grows more than 2 million tulips across 15 acres each spring. Every ticket includes five flowers. Every extra stem is another dollar.
In 2018, a sixth-generation farm family near Hamilton, Ontario, opened 68 acres of sunflowers, about 1.6 million plants, for $7.50 a head. On Saturday, July 28, more than 7,000 cars backed up 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) down the highway. Visitors trampled the plants, stole flowers and wandered into poison ivy. Police directed traffic. The family closed the field to visitors and told reporters they had no plans to ever open it again.
Same idea. Same kind of crowd. Opposite endings.
The difference wasn't the flowers. It was the plan behind them. In this article, I'll show you how to start a U-pick flower field with sunflowers, zinnias and tulips: what to plant and when, how much to plant for the crowd you expect, what real farms charge in 2026, a first-season budget, and the legal, insurance and safety steps that keep a good idea from turning into a bad headline.
The short answer Start with zinnias and sunflowers. Sunflowers bloom about two months after seeding and zinnias in two to three, so you can test the idea in one summer. Add tulips once you know your crowd, because the bulbs cost more and must go in the ground the autumn before. Charge for the experience, not just the stem. The busiest farms in this article sell timed entry tickets and then charge per stem, per cup or per bucket on top. Plan the parking before the planting. The two famous sunflower-field meltdowns in this article started on the road, not in the field. Get insurance and zoning answers in writing. A standard farm policy may not cover paying visitors at all. |
Why Flowers Are the Fastest U-Pick Crop You Can Start
Most U-pick crops make you wait. An apple orchard takes years to bear. A cut-flower field can bloom in the same summer you plant it.
And the demand is already there. In a 2024 survey by the leisure consultancy White Hutchinson, 52.4% of U.S. households said they had done a U-pick activity that year. Apples led at 23% and strawberries at 19%, but 8% picked flowers. That's millions of families who already think of a farm field as a day out.
The wider agritourism market is growing too. The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 28,617 U.S. farms earning $1.26 billion from agritourism and recreation, up 12.4% from 2017 after adjusting for inflation. The average farm with agritourism income earned about $44,000 from it. For the full numbers, see my agritourism statistics guide.
There's also a quiet shift in what people want on their tables. According to farmdoc daily at the University of Illinois, nearly 80% of the value of cut flowers sold in the U.S. is imported, and Colombia and Ecuador supplied 88% of a record $1.98 billion in imports in 2024. Yet the 2022 Census counted about 10,800 U.S. farms growing cut flowers, up more than 50% from 2017. In a 2021 National Gardening Association survey, 58% of consumers said it was important that their flowers were locally grown. A U-pick field sells the most local flower there is: one the customer cut herself.
Flowers also do something no vegetable can: they make people pull out their phones. A sunflower field at golden hour is a photo studio. That's a blessing for your marketing and, as you'll see, a danger to your driveway.
Six Real Flower Farms and What Each One Teaches You
Before we talk seeds and spacing, look at how real farms got here. Each story below holds one lesson that will save you money.
1. Burnside Farms, Virginia: start small and let the crowd pay for growth
Burnside's first season was 34,000 hand-planted bulbs. The next year the family hand-planted 100,000, a job that took two months. By 2019 they were planting 1.2 million bulbs of more than 400 varieties. Southern Living now reports more than 2 million tulips on 15 acres, and the farm also runs a summer sunflower season.
After that first spring, the family made a little money and, as Leslie told Southern Living, realized they were "onto something." They grew from there, one season at a time.
Weather still bites. One spring, 20 mph winds stripped the blooms. Another year a heat wave dropped the petals overnight. In April 2026, with 90°F in the forecast, Burnside closed its tulip season five days early and automatically refunded every ticket for the missing days. That's what a mature operation does: it protects its reputation before it protects one weekend's cash.
Field-Tested Move Grow in steps you can pay for. Plant what you can afford to lose in year one, then let ticket sales fund the bulbs and seed for year two. |
2. Holland Ridge Farms, New Jersey: timed tickets plus per-stem pricing
The Jansen family has grown flowers in New Jersey since 1964, when Casey Jansen Sr., who had moved from the Netherlands at 17, started a greenhouse business. They opened Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge to the public in 2018, added sunflowers that summer, and doubled their flower fields from 150 to 300 acres by 2022. They now plant more than 8 million tulips each spring.
Their pricing is a model worth copying. In 2026, timed-entry tulip tickets cost $20 on weekdays and $25 on weekends, and fall sunflower tickets $17 and $20. Stems cost 50 cents on weekdays and $1 on weekends. Visitors snap tulips off by hand, and clippers are provided for sunflowers.
Look at what that does. The entry fee pays for the experience: parking, toilets, staff and the walk through the field. The stem price pays for the flowers. And the cheaper weekday prices push crowds away from Saturday, the day most fields break down.
Field-Tested Move Use two prices, not one: a timed entry ticket plus a flower price. Then make weekdays cheaper to spread the crowd. |
3. Grinter Farms, Kansas: the free field that jammed the interstate
Ted Grinter's father planted sunflowers near Lawrence in the 1970s as an oilseed crop. By the 1990s, people were stopping to cut blooms, so Kris suggested a donation box and Ted put one out. A newspaper story spread the word, and a family Facebook page followed to stop the phone ringing.
Then it went viral. On Labor Day 2016, the sheriff shut the farm down for the first time. Traffic backed up for miles toward Interstate 70 and there were two crashes. Ted still calls it "Carmageddon." The family's answer was to clear land for parking.
Walking the Grinters' roughly 50 acres of sunflowers is still free. They earn from merchandise and cinnamon rolls, and they have more than 105,000 Facebook followers. That works for a family with 50 acres of sunflowers on a 2,000-acre farm. A small farm that needs the field to pay its own way can't copy it.
Field-Tested Move A free field is a marketing expense, not a business. If you can't afford crowds that pay nothing, charge from day one. |
4. Bogle Seeds, Ontario: the farm that closed
Bogle Seeds is the story from the top of this article. The family had farmed the land since 1874. Their car park held about 300 cars. On Saturday, July 28, 2018, more than 7,000 cars backed up on the highway outside. The farm's website took 8,000 hits in a day. Brad Bogle described the scene as a "zombie apocalypse."
Nothing was wrong with the sunflowers. The farm had a field built for a few hundred cars and a social media audience big enough to fill a stadium. Nothing stopped the crowd before it reached the gate, so the cars simply kept coming.
Field-Tested Move Sell a fixed number of tickets per time slot, online, before people drive to you. Your capacity is your parking, not your acreage. |
5. Buttonwood Farm, Connecticut: an ice cream lure that raised $2 million
In 2003, Duane Button planted one acre of sunflowers to bring more customers to his family's ice cream stand. A few months later, a Make-A-Wish mailing gave him an idea. The next summer he planted a bigger field, his wife Kim sold bouquets for $5 donations, and the nine-day event raised $30,000.
In 2007 alone, the festival raised almost $70,000, and by the next year Duane was planting 17 acres. In 2026, the 23rd Sunflowers for Wishes festival grew more than 300,000 sunflowers at $3 a stem, and the total raised has passed $2 million, granting more than 194 wishes.
The charity does more than raise money. It gives local news a reason to cover the farm every summer, and every visitor walks past the ice cream window.
Field-Tested Move Tie your bloom to a local cause. It earns free press, builds goodwill with neighbors, and still brings buyers to the rest of your farm. |
6. Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, Oregon: why they started charging admission
The Iverson family opened their tulip fields to the public in 1985 to sell bulbs and cut flowers. In 2002, as bulb and flower sales fell, they started charging admission. In 2021 they moved to online tickets to control traffic, and in 2024 they added summer flowers.
That's the full journey in one family: free field, falling sales, paid entry, online tickets, a second season. You can skip the first two steps.
When the weather wins: two Texas farms
In 2026, a January freeze, drought, wind and heat wrecked the tulips at Robinson Family Farm in Central Texas. Only about 60% of the tulips that sprouted bloomed, and the family estimated a loss of $120,000 to $150,000. Instead of canceling, they set up a build-your-own-bouquet bar with more than 3,000 imported flowers, and the first 1,000 imported tulips sold out on opening weekend.
In spring 2024, constant rain rotted the first sunflower sowing at Western Belle Farm in West, Texas. They replanted in mid-April, then 7 inches of rain in the first week of May wiped out much of that too. They stopped U-pick for the season and sold sunflowers instead.
Neither farm had perfect weather. Both had a plan B. For more ideas on surviving a bad season, read my guide to building a U-pick backup plan after crop damage.
Farm | What happened | The lesson |
Burnside Farms, Virginia | $100 of bulbs grew into 2 million+ tulips | Start small, prove it, then grow |
Holland Ridge Farms, New Jersey | Timed tickets plus 50 cents to $1 a stem | Charge for entry and for flowers |
Grinter Farms, Kansas | A free field the sheriff had to close | Free fields need another income |
Bogle Seeds, Ontario | 7,000+ cars, parking for about 300 | Capacity is parking, not acres |
Buttonwood Farm, Connecticut | Ice cream lure became a charity festival, $2 million+ raised | A cause earns press every year |
Wooden Shoe, Oregon | Admission from 2002, online tickets from 2021 | Charge entry and control the crowd |
Two Texas farms | Freeze, drought, flood and heat | Always have a plan B |
Sunflowers, Zinnias or Tulips? Choose Your Starter Flower
Each of these three flowers does a different job on a U-pick farm. Sunflowers bring the crowds and the cameras. Zinnias bring steady picking all summer. Tulips bring a spring festival that people plan their year around.
Sunflowers | Zinnias | Tulips | |
Time to bloom | 50 to 70 days from seed | About 60 to 100 days from seed | Plant bulbs in autumn, pick next spring |
Picking season | Midsummer to fall, if you sow every 1 to 2 weeks | Midsummer until frost | A few weeks in spring |
Stems per plant | 1 (single-stem types) | About 8 or more | 1 (each bulb is used once) |
Cost per plant | About 3 cents a seed | About 11 cents a plug | About 19 cents to $1 a bulb |
Vase life | Up to 2 weeks (pollenless) | About 5 to 7 days | About 1.5 weeks |
Main risks | Birds, rabbits, heat | Powdery mildew, Japanese beetles | Tulip fire disease, deer, warm winters |
Best for | Photos and festivals | Weekly repeat picking | Premium spring tickets |
Sources for the table: Johnny's Selected Seeds, Rupp Seeds, Seedway, NDSU, Floret, University of Florida, University of Tennessee and University of Maryland Extension. Seed and bulb prices vary by supplier and year.
Sunflowers: the photo magnet
Choose pollenless, single-stem cut-flower varieties. Johnny's lists the ProCut series at 50 to 60 days to bloom and 5 to 6 feet tall, and the Sunrich series at 60 to 70 days. Pollenless means no yellow dust on visitors' clothes or tablecloths. North Dakota State University Extension notes these blooms can last up to two weeks in plain water.
Sow every 1 to 2 weeks from your last frost into midsummer. Rupp Seeds suggests every 7 to 10 days. NDSU notes that Sunrich blooms about 10 days later than ProCut, so sowing both together can stretch each planting. One seed company price I checked, Seedway's ProCut Orange, works out to about 3 cents a seed.
Spacing sets the size of the bloom. Utah State University found that single-stem plants spaced 2 to 4 inches apart give 2 to 3 inch flowers, while 4 to 6 inches gives 4 to 5 inch flowers. For a U-pick field, plant in rows wide enough for a family to walk. Rupp's field guide uses rows 30 to 38 inches apart with plants 5 to 6 inches apart, about 35,000 seeds an acre.
Don't pinch them. Johnny's warns that pinching single-stem sunflowers gives poor blooms or none at all. Utah State notes that branching types give 3 to 8 stems a plant, but the stems are shorter, they shed pollen and they don't last as long in the vase.
Watch for birds, which feed on the developing seed as the blooms fade, and rabbits, which eat the growing tip of young plants, according to Texas A&M AgriLife. Cornell trials also found that some popular varieties flower sooner and shorter under short days, so late-summer sowings may do the same. Trial a few varieties in year one before you plant acres.
Zinnias: the quiet cash crop
If sunflowers are the show, zinnias are the steady paycheck. They're the classic cut-and-come-again flower: Floret puts it simply, the more you cut, the more they bloom. On a U-pick farm, that means your visitors do the harvesting that keeps the plants producing, and they pay you for the privilege.
Good varieties include Benary's Giant, Queen Lime and the Oklahoma series. Floret lists 75 to 90 days to maturity. The University of Florida notes that 60 to 70 days is often cited, but its own trials took 83 to 100 days to first flower. Space plants 9 to 12 inches apart and pinch the tip when plants are 8 to 12 inches tall to get more stems. The University of Tennessee's budget assumes about 8 stems per plant over a season, and a North Carolina State trial averaged just over 10.
Teach visitors Floret's wiggle test: hold the stem about 8 inches below the flower and give it a shake. If it stays stiff and upright, it's ready. If it droops, leave it another day or two. Put that on a picture sign at the field gate.
The two problems you'll see most are powdery mildew and Japanese beetles. Use drip irrigation instead of overhead watering, give plants room for air, and consider the Oklahoma series, which University of Illinois Extension notes is less prone to mildew than other large cut-flower types.
Tulips: the spring festival machine
Tulips are a different business. You buy bulbs, plant them in autumn when the soil is 55°F or cooler, and wait through winter. In cold-winter areas, the ground gives them the long chill they need, about 12 to 16 weeks. In warm areas (USDA zones 8 to 10), Floret recommends buying pre-chilled bulbs, and Johnny's explains how to chill them yourself at 38 to 45°F for 6 to 12 weeks before planting.
Many cut-flower growers treat tulips as annuals: one bulb, one stem, one season. That makes the bulb your biggest cost. Retail pre-orders from Burnside Farms in 2026 worked out to about 76 to 96 cents a bulb, while a bulk crate of Rhode Island-grown bulbs from Wicked Tulips came to about 19 cents each. Prices have been under pressure: the Society of American Florists quoted a broker estimating Dutch production down as much as 30% heading into 2025, and wholesalers told WCAX that a 10% U.S. tariff in 2025 added more than 13% to bulb import costs.
Pulling the whole plant adds 3 to 6 inches of stem. Holland Ridge has visitors twist and snap the stem off the bulb instead. Either way, plan on replanting every autumn.
Watch for tulip fire, a botrytis disease the University of Maryland calls the most common tulip disease. Remove infected plants, bulb and all, and move your tulips to another field the next year. Deer love tulips too, so Maryland suggests low tunnels or row cover.
The tulip math in one minute Say you plant 10,000 bulbs at 50 cents each: $5,000. If 70% become pickable stems, you have 7,000 stems. Sell a $25 ticket that includes five tulips and you need 1,400 visitors to pick them all, for $35,000 in ticket sales. That's revenue, not profit, and a warm March can cut it in half. But it shows why tulip farms charge the highest tickets in this article. |
Laying Out the Field: Plan the Car Park First
Your field's real capacity is set by parking, toilets and staff, not by acres of flowers. Bogle Seeds had 68 acres of sunflowers and parking for about 300 cars. The field could hold the crowd. The road couldn't.
Pick a field near a good road with a safe entrance and room to queue cars off the highway. My guide on choosing the best location on your farm for agritourism walks through it.
Use full sun and a water source. Drip irrigation keeps foliage dry and cuts disease. The University of Kentucky priced a one-acre drip system at about $2,585 in 2015 costs, so budget more today.
Plant in blocks by sowing date so one block is always at its best. Label each block on a map at check-in.
Leave wide grass paths for wagons, strollers and wheelchairs, and a cross path every few blocks.
Build one or two photo spots at the edge of the field. They keep photographers off the plants.
Make people exit through your farm stand, where they pay for extra stems, get them wrapped and buy something else. See how to set up a farm stand that attracts visitors.
Deer pressure varies a lot. Texas A&M says deer damage to sunflowers is rare, but tulips are another story. If you need a fence, Rutgers estimates an 8-foot high-tensile woven-wire deer fence at about $10 a foot installed, lasting 20 years or more.
How Much to Plant: The Simple Math
New growers either plant far too little or plant acres they can't sell. Work backwards from visitors, not forwards from seed packets.
Here's the logic. If you expect 1,000 visitors and each takes home about four stems, you need 4,000 stems. Add 30% as insurance against bad weather, a rush weekend or stems that are too short or too open, and you need about 5,200.
The University of Tennessee's 2025 budgets give you yields to work with. They assume about 9,256 marketable zinnia stems per 1,000 square feet of bed, and about 2,800 sunflower stems. So 5,200 stems is roughly 560 square feet of zinnia beds or about 1,860 square feet of sunflowers.
That's the surprise: the flowers take very little space. What takes space is the experience: paths, photo areas, a sunflower field that looks endless in photos, and parking. Plan your field at two to three times the bed area, and stagger the plantings so you never run out on a Saturday.
What Real Farms Charge in 2026
Here's what U-pick flower farms are charging right now, from farm websites and recent local news.
There are five ways to charge, and the best farms combine two or three:
Ticket with flowers included. Burnside's 2026 summer ticket of $15 to $18.50 includes three sunflowers. Its spring tulip ticket includes five stems. Simple for visitors, predictable for you.
Ticket plus a stem price. Holland Ridge charges a timed entry ticket, then 50 cents to $1 a stem. Happy Day Farm in New Jersey charges $18 entry, $2.50 a sunflower and two zinnias for $1.
Fill-a-container pricing. Lucky Ladd Farms in Tennessee sold a quart jar for $20 and a bucket for $45 at its 2026 sunflower festival. Northern Farm and Flowers in Connecticut charged $30 for a gallon pail and $12 if you brought your own quart jar in 2025. Native Hill Farm in Colorado charges $25 a cup and $125 a bucket. Containers feel generous and lift the average sale.
Photography fees. Wicked Tulips charges photographers a $50 site fee for a 60-minute session, entry included, and Tulip Town sold a $100 photography day pass in 2023.
Free walk plus donations or merchandise. Grinter's model, and Buttonwood's $3 charity stems. It only works if another business pays the bills.
What you sell | Example low price | Example high price |
Single stem | 50 cents (Holland Ridge, weekday) | $3 (Lucky Ladd, Buttonwood) |
Cup or quart jar | $12 (Northern Farm and Flowers) | $25 (Native Hill Farm) |
Bucket or pail | $20 (Holland Ridge, weekday) | $125 (Native Hill Farm) |
Entry ticket | Free (Grinter Farms) | $31 (Burnside, day-of weekend tulips) |
Price for the experience, then sell more on the way out. My guides to setting entry fees and ticket prices and upsells that double your agritourism revenue go deeper.
The Money: A First-Season Budget and Break-Even
Let me show you why U-pick changes the math. The University of Tennessee's 2025 budget for 1,000 square feet of sunflowers assumes 2,800 stems sold at $1.70 each: $4,760 in sales and only $629 left after costs, with 68 hours of labor. Its zinnia budget made more, about $3,089 net from the same space, but needed 112 hours of work. On a U-pick farm, visitors do much of the cutting themselves.
U-pick hands the cutting to your visitors and lets you charge for the day out, not just the stem. Here's the same 1,000 square feet of sunflowers sold three ways.
Wholesale, those stems gross about $1,820. At UT's retail price of $1.70 a stem, about $4,760. As a U-pick with a $15 ticket that includes three stems, and with only 70% of stems picked, about $9,800. These are gross sales, not profit, and the U-pick column carries extra costs: parking, toilets, staff, insurance and marketing. Here's what those look like for a starter field.
Example: a one-acre sunflower and zinnia field
This example assumes about half an acre of flowers in rows and half an acre of paths and photo space, open for 12 days across six summer weekends. The prices are 2026 estimates. Get local quotes before you commit.
That's about $15,500 for the first season, including a drip system you'll use for years. Divide it by what each visitor brings in after their own costs, and you get your break-even number.
At a $15 ticket, this example needs about 1,110 visitors to break even. At $12, about 1,410. Write your number on the barn wall. Every visitor after it is profit.
Field-Tested Move Before you plant, count the people. Draw a one-hour drive circle around your farm, look at the towns inside it, and ask whether about 1,100 paying visitors (perhaps 300 to 400 families) will drive to you across six weekends. If not, lower your costs or plan a smaller first season. My guide on how much it costs to start an agritourism business shows how to plan the rest. |
Opening Day: Running the Field Like a Pro
The best flower farms feel effortless to visitors because every step has been planned. Here's the flow:
Timed ticket bought online. Visitors arrive in waves, not all at once.
Parking attendant. One person in a bright vest prevents more problems than any sign.
Check-in tent. Scan tickets, hand out clippers and buckets, point to the open blocks, and explain the rules in 30 seconds.
Picture signs in the field. How to cut, the wiggle test, which blocks are open, and where the toilets and water are.
Field guide. One staff member walking the rows, answering questions and watching for heat and bee stings.
Exit through the farm stand. Count extra stems, wrap bouquets, take payment, collect emails, and ask for a review.
Decide your bad-weather policy now. Burnside refunded tickets automatically when it closed early in a heatwave. Write your rain, heat and storm rules on your ticket page so nobody argues at the gate. Read my guide on preparing for weather-related risks in agritourism, and if you need help on busy weekends, see hiring seasonal staff for your agritourism farm.
The Legal and Insurance Side: What Most New Flower Farmers Get Wrong
I'll be blunt, because this is where good farms get hurt. The moment you invite paying strangers onto your land, you're running a business open to the public. Your risks change, and the paperwork has to change with them.
Your farm policy probably doesn't cover U-pick
This surprises almost everyone. Speaking to Virginia farmers, a Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance specialist explained that his company's basic farm liability policy excludes pick-your-own, tours, hayrides, mazes and events, and that each activity has to be described in the policy to be covered. Oregon State University Extension warns that a farm or umbrella policy may not cover U-pick visitors, and that some insurers refuse cover if visitors can use ladders.
So call your agent before you buy a single seed. Tell them, in writing, exactly what you plan: U-pick flowers, how many visitors, ticket sales, photo sessions, any wagon rides or events. Then get their answer in writing too. My guide to agritourism insurance and the coverage you need lists the questions to ask, and if you've been turned down, read what to do when you can't find agritourism insurance.
State agritourism laws help, but they aren't a shield
Many U.S. states have passed agritourism liability laws. In 2019 the National Agricultural Law Center counted 31 states with these protections, 28 of them requiring warning signs. By 2024, the Center's Rusty Rumley put the number of states with some type of agritourism statute at about 40.
Read the fine print, though. These laws typically do not protect you if you're negligent, if you act with willful or wanton disregard for safety, or if you knew about a danger and didn't warn people. University of Minnesota Extension describes Minnesota's version as a defense in court, not full immunity.
The signs matter. In Ohio, for example, the statute spells out the warning wording, and the letters must be black and at least one inch tall. Get the wording wrong, or forget the sign, and you can lose the protection. New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Hampshire had no such law as of late 2025. See my state-by-state guide to agritourism laws and my guide on where to post agritourism warning signs.
Waivers have limits
A signed waiver can help show a visitor understood the risks. But Minnesota Extension notes that waivers can't take away a person's right to sue, and they're weak when the visitor is a child. Use one, but never treat it as your safety plan. I explain why in do liability waivers protect your farm?
Sprays, re-entry times and the bees
If you spray anything, read the label's restricted-entry interval. Under the federal Worker Protection Standard, that rule is written for workers, not paying guests. But common sense says, and a court could expect, that you keep visitors out of a block for at least as long as you'd keep your own staff out. Re-entry intervals are often 4 to 72 hours, and sometimes longer. Keep a spray log by block and close a block until it's safe.
Sales tax, zoning and the photographers
Sales tax: rules vary widely. North Carolina exempts loose cut flowers sold by the grower. Mississippi exempts them only if they're grown in the state and sold where they're grown, and taxes bouquets. California and Virginia generally tax retail flower sales. Ask your accountant before you set prices. My list of agritourism tax questions to ask your accountant will save you an hour of their billing time.
Zoning: Oregon State Extension advises allowing at least six months for agritourism permits, and expecting the county to ask for a site plan showing parking, the driveway and accessibility. If you plan food or events, those need their own permits. Talk to your neighbors early too. My guide on how disputes with neighbors can affect agritourism shows why.
Photographers: a flower field is a free studio for professionals unless you set rules. Burnside Farms requires every photographer to buy an entry ticket and bans tripods, reflectors and props. Wicked Tulips in New England charges photographers a $50 site fee for a 60-minute session and bans drones outright. Tulip Town in Washington sold a $100 photography day pass in 2023. Write your photo policy before the first bloom.
Accessibility: Penn State Extension notes that accessible restrooms and seating are required when you're open to the public, and recommends wide, flat paths that aren't slippery when wet. In Pennsylvania, 26% of adults live with a disability, so this is a large share of your customers, not an edge case. See how to improve accessibility on your agritourism farm.
Legal and Insurance Check I'm sharing what I've learned from years in agritourism, not legal advice for your state. Before opening, get three things in writing: your agent's confirmation that U-pick visitors are covered, your county's answer on zoning, and the exact warning-sign wording your state requires. |
Safety in a Flower Field: Heat, Bees and Sharp Clippers
Flower fields look gentle, but they put sharp tools, bees, uneven ground and summer heat in the same place as toddlers and grandparents.
Bees are the obvious one. The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology estimates that 1.6% to 5.1% of Americans have had a potentially life-threatening reaction to an insect sting. On a busy weekend with a few thousand visitors, assume at least one person in your field is at risk.
Heat is the quiet danger. Sunflowers and zinnias peak in the hottest weeks of the year, and your visitors are standing in full sun with no shade. Rutgers advises avoiding the hottest hours and keeping cool water available. Burnside's decision to close early in a 90°F forecast is the right instinct.
Oregon State's U-pick guide adds a practical checklist: supply clippers and buckets and show people how to cut, provide shade, seating, toilets and handwashing, keep a sting kit, rope off holes, keep machinery away from visitors, and reserve parking near the field for guests with limited mobility.
Print the plan above, laminate it and walk every worker through it before opening day. Outside the U.S., swap 911 for your local emergency number. For a full template, read my guide to creating a first aid and emergency plan for your agritourism business, and see 10 common agritourism safety hazards.
Marketing a Flower Field Without Getting Trampled
Here's the strange thing about flower fields: your marketing problem may be too many visitors, not too few. Grinter and Bogle didn't run ads. Their visitors did it for them, with their phones.
So market in a way you can control:
Sell timed tickets online. Holland Ridge sells timed entry online, and Wooden Shoe moved to online tickets to control traffic. Timed tickets cap the crowd and give you cash before the gates open. See how small farms can sell event tickets without losing money on fees.
Post bloom updates, not just pretty pictures. A weekly photo with "Block C opens Saturday" tells people when to come and makes them check back.
Get on Google Maps first. When a family searches for a sunflower field near them, you want to be the pin they see. My guide to getting found on Google Maps shows how.
Build a list. Collect emails or WhatsApp numbers at checkout. In an Oklahoma survey, 48% of agritourism visitors found the farm by word of mouth, so your past visitors are your best salespeople. My study of word-of-mouth marketing explains why.
Use Facebook events for each bloom. Here's how to use Facebook events to promote farm activities.
And when a post does go viral, be ready to say "sold out." A sold-out sign protects your field, your neighbors and next year's crowd. For more ideas, read Instagram for agritourism: what actually works.
10 Lessons From the Farmers Who Got It Right
Lesson No. 1: Start with zinnias and sunflowers. Sunflowers bloom about two months from seed and zinnias in two to three. Add tulips once you know your crowd.
Lesson No. 2: Count the people before you count the acres. Work out your break-even visitors before you buy seed.
Lesson No. 3: Your capacity is your parking. Bogle Seeds had acres of flowers and room for 300 cars.
Lesson No. 4: Sell timed tickets online. It caps the crowd and puts cash in your account before the gates open.
Lesson No. 5: Use two prices. An entry ticket for the experience, plus stems, jars or buckets for the flowers.
Lesson No. 6: Plant in blocks every one to two weeks. One block should always be at its best on a Saturday.
Lesson No. 7: Teach visitors to cut. Clippers, a wiggle-test sign and a 30-second welcome save your plants.
Lesson No. 8: Get insurance, zoning and sign wording in writing. Before the first seed goes in.
Lesson No. 9: Plan for heat, bees and bad weather. Burnside refunded tickets and protected its name. Robinson Family Farm built a bouquet bar and stayed open.
Lesson No. 10: Build your list. A family that picked flowers this summer is next spring's tulip ticket. On my own durian farm in Malaysia, our seasons are short, and it's our WhatsApp list of loyal customers that fills them every time.
If you're still choosing between U-pick and other formats, read pick-your-own vs guided tours: which makes more money and my guide to creating a pick-your-own experience. For your other seasons, see how to start a pumpkin patch, how to start a corn maze and planning a spring blossom festival.
Not farming in the United States?
The prices and laws in this article are American, but flower fields draw crowds everywhere. In Hokuryu, Japan, about 2 million sunflowers on 23 hectares draw more than 200,000 visitors a year. Keukenhof in the Netherlands, with about 7 million bulbs, welcomed 1.4 million visitors in 2025. In Malaysia's Cameron Highlands, MARDI's agrotechnology park displayed about 2,500 tulips in 2024 and charged RM10 for adults to see them, because tulips need the highland cool. I wrote about another highland success in my Cameron Highlands Flora Park case study.
In warm lowlands, sunflowers and zinnias are the easier choice, and with no winter to stop you, you can time blooms for school holidays. Replace the U.S. agencies with your own and keep everything else.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to start a U-pick flower field?
The one-acre sunflower and zinnia example in this article costs about $15,500 for the first season, including a drip irrigation system you'll reuse for years. Staff, irrigation and liability insurance are the biggest costs. Tulips add bulb costs of roughly 19 cents to $1 per bulb, and you replant every autumn.
How much land do you need for a U-pick flower farm?
Less than most people think. Using University of Tennessee yields, about 560 square feet of zinnia beds or 1,860 square feet of sunflowers produces enough stems for 1,000 visitors taking about four stems each. Plan two to three times that area for paths and photo spots, plus parking.
Is a U-pick flower farm profitable?
It can be, if enough visitors come. A University of Tennessee budget for sunflowers sold at $1.70 a stem shows only about $629 net per 1,000 square feet. U-pick lets you charge for the experience: in this article's example, a $15 ticket breaks even at about 1,110 visitors.
How much should I charge for U-pick flowers?
In 2026, U.S. flower farms charge from free entry up to about $30 for a weekend ticket. Stems run 50 cents to $3, cups and quart jars $12 to $25, and buckets $20 to $125. Many farms combine a timed entry ticket with a stem or container price.
Which flowers are best for a U-pick field?
Zinnias and sunflowers are the easiest place to start. Zinnias keep producing all summer the more they're cut, and pollenless single-stem sunflowers bloom in about 50 to 70 days and draw photographers. Tulips make a strong spring season but cost more and must be planted the autumn before.
When should I plant sunflowers for a U-pick field?
Start after your last frost and sow a new block every one to two weeks until midsummer. Most cut-flower varieties bloom 50 to 70 days after seeding, so a mid-May sowing gives flowers in early to late July.
Do I need insurance for a U-pick flower farm?
Yes. A basic farm liability policy may exclude pick-your-own and other activities for paying visitors. Tell your agent in writing exactly what you plan and get written confirmation of coverage. Many states also have agritourism liability laws, but they usually require warning signs and don't protect against negligence.
Can I grow tulips for U-pick in a warm climate?
Yes, with planning. Tulips need a long cold spell, which cold winters provide in the ground. In USDA zones 8 to 10, buy pre-chilled bulbs or chill them yourself at 38 to 45°F for 6 to 12 weeks before planting, and treat them as annuals.
Your Next Step
The farms that win with flowers aren't the ones with the most acres. They're the ones that count their visitors first, plan their parking second, price the experience third, and plant the flowers last.
Not sure whether a U-pick flower field fits your farm, or how ready your farm really is for paying visitors? Take my free Farm Readiness Quiz. It takes a few minutes and shows you what to fix first.
Then download the free 21-Point Agritourism Blueprint, my step-by-step checklist for planning your first paying season without wasting money.
P.S. Tulip bulbs for next spring go in the ground this autumn, while the soil is cool. If you want a spring season in 2027, order a small test batch now, plant one block, and see who turns up. Burnside started with 34,000 bulbs and $100.
Written by Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. The budget, break-even and revenue figures in this article are illustrative examples built from the sources below, not quotes, legal advice or financial advice. Check prices, laws and insurance with local professionals.
Sources
Southern Living via AOL: Virginia farm turns $100 of bulbs into 2 million tulips (2026)
Potomac Local: Burnside Farms opens with 400 varieties of tulips (2019)
Prince William Times: Burnside Farms ends tulip festival early (2026)
KJHK: How Grinter's sunflower farm became an attraction (2016)
KSHB: Heavy traffic shuts down Grinter's sunflower farm (2016)
CTV News: Farm closes after sunflower selfie-seekers swarm field (2018)
FOX 7 Austin: Central Texas farm pivots after weather wipes out tulips (2026)
Atlanta News First: Farm estimates $120,000 loss after weather wipes out tulip crop (2026)
5280 Magazine: Best U-pick flower farms on the Front Range (2026)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Pick-your-own flower farms near Philadelphia (2024)
White Hutchinson: 2024 agritourism participation survey results (2025)
USDA Economic Research Service: Agritourism income in the 2022 Census (2024)
University of Georgia: 2022 Census of Agriculture agritourism fact sheet (2024)
farmdoc daily, University of Illinois: U.S. cut flower imports (2025)
USDA Economic Research Service: Cut flower farms in the 2022 Census (2024)
Florists' Review: Consumer survey on locally grown flowers (2021)
Johnny's Selected Seeds: Pollenless sunflower comparison chart
Utah State University: Sunflower cut flower production in Utah (2026)
Cornell University: Day-length response of sunflowers (2014)
University of Florida IFAS: Zinnia cut flower production (ENH 953)
University of Illinois Extension: Protect zinnias from powdery mildew (2025)
University of Maryland Extension: Production of tulips as cut flowers (2022)
Society of American Florists: Fewer tulips, higher prices expected in 2025
University of Tennessee Extension: Zinnia enterprise budget (2025)
University of Tennessee Extension: Sunflower enterprise budget (2025)
National Agricultural Law Center: Agritourism immunity fact sheet (2019)
University of Arkansas: National Agricultural Law Center on agritourism statutes (2024)
University of Minnesota Extension: Understanding agritourism liability in Minnesota (2025)
Virginia Cooperative Extension: Liability insurance concerns and agritourism (2018)
Oregon State University Extension: Adding U-pick or U-cut options to your farm (EM 9520)
Oregon State University Extension: Adding agritourism, working with your county (EM 9909)
Cornell Law School: 40 CFR 170.407, restricted-entry intervals
Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative: Restricted-entry interval chart
NC State Extension: Sales taxes and exemptions in farm production (2024)
Mississippi State University Extension: Sales tax guide for farmers market vendors
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration: Florists
Penn State Extension: Creating an inclusive agritourism experience (2024)
American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology: Insect sting allergies
Oklahoma State University Extension: Oklahoma agritourism visitor characteristics (AGEC-1053)
Photo credits: Bonnie Kittle, Chris Weiher, Carles Rabada, syl over, Fred Amini, Taylor Flowe, Annie Spratt, iKshana Productions and Joshua Taylor on Unsplash. Charts and diagrams by AgritourismSuccess.com.
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