Open Flower Network: Expanding wholesale

Cut Flower Coops & Collectives

Mar 18, 2025

Selling through wholesale channels is a valuable yet often untapped income source for many small-scale flower farms, whether they are scaling up or already established. Cut flower cooperatives and collectives provide accessible and beneficial entry points to the wholesale market. These collaborative models allow groups of growers to organize into business-to-business “hubs,” where each participant contributes their products to collectively offer wholesale flowers to designers and other buyers.

In this video, we dive into the opportunities and the challenges of online wholesale flower hubs. Theresa Schumilas of Garden Party Flower Farm is joined by designers from The Local Flower Collective (Canada’s longest running online wholesale hub) and The Ottawa Flower Collective, who share their successes, setbacks, and insights.

Seeing our popularity has brought more local field grown flowers to the forefront and made them more readily available.

~ Jaimie Reeves, The Local Flower Collective

More resources for

Expanding Wholesale

Selling to Flower Shops

Selling to Flower Shops

For many local flower growers, establishing a relationship with a flower shop can be an effective way to expand into wholesale. We’re sharing strategies and tips for finding a good match, setting prices, choosing flower varieties, and preparing your products for delivery.

Starting a Cut Flower Hub

Starting a Cut Flower Hub

Learn how specialty cut flower hubs work, the benefit for growers and designers, and key ways to get a new hub off on the right foot.

Financial support was provided under the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.