Harmony Harvest
Ep. 53: Growing a Cut Flower Business & Preserving Heirloom Mums with Jessica Hall of Harmony Harvest
Harmony Harvest’s Cut Flower Business & Heirloom Mums
If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your love for flowers into a business, working alongside family, or bringing vintage blooms back to life, this episode of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast is one you don’t want to miss.
Jennifer Gulizia sits down with Jessica Hall, co-founder of Harmony Harvest Farm, to talk about how she’s growing a cut flower business with heirloom chrysanthemums. Jessica and her family have built a thriving 20-acre flower farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. From preserving nearly-lost heirloom chrysanthemum varieties to shipping bouquets and floral tools nationwide, Jessica shares the real behind-the-scenes story of what it takes to run a sustainable flower business with heart, humor, and a whole lot of grit.
🌱 A Farm Born from Curiosity and Family Values
Like many great ventures, Harmony Harvest Farm didn’t begin with a perfect plan—it started with a question. While on a beach vacation, Jessica, her mom, and sister were talking about their love of flowers and realized they didn’t know where florists actually sourced them.
That seed of curiosity sparked what would become one of the most respected flower farms in the country.
“We started with a question, not a business plan. We just leaned into learning and weren’t afraid to say yes to things before we fully understood how.” – Jessica Hall
Over the years, Harmony Harvest has grown into a multi-faceted operation, offering seasonal flower bouquets, rooted chrysanthemum cuttings, and flower frogs through their sister brand, Floral Genius. But even as their business has scaled, their mission remains deeply rooted in education, sustainability, and connection.
🌼 The Role of Mentorship in Building a Flower Farm
Jessica openly shares how early mentorship shaped her success—especially her connection with Dave Dowling, a well-known flower farming educator.
“You only get one shot each year to try something new. That’s why mentorship is everything in this work.”
When you only have one growing season per year, learning from others can save years of trial and error. Jessica encourages new growers to invest in mentorship, ask questions, and seek community with others who’ve been there.
She also talks about how she now offers mentorship and consulting, paying that knowledge forward to the next generation of growers.
🌸 Growing a cut flower business with heirloom chrysanthemums
If you’ve never grown heirloom chrysanthemums, this episode will make you want to add them to your garden lineup. Jessica and her team at Harmony Harvest have built one of the largest collections of vintage mum varieties in the U.S.—and they’re passionate about getting these blooms back into home gardens and flower farms across the country.
What Makes Heirloom Mums Unique As A Cut Flower?
Heirloom chrysanthemums are nothing like the uniform, short-season grocery store mums. These are long-stemmed, long-blooming plants with rich histories and spectacular forms—spiders, spoons, incurves, reflexes, quills, and more.
Benefits of Growing Heirloom Mums:
- Perennial Power: Most are hardy in Zones 5 and up (some even in Zone 4) and come back year after year.
- Unique Beauty: These mums bring high drama and elegance to fall bouquets.
- Long Bloom Season: With proper planning, they can bloom from early September through November or later.
- Great Vase Life: Stems are strong, blooms are resilient, and they last 1–2 weeks in arrangements.
- Pollinator-Friendly: Especially the open-faced singles and semi-doubles.
- Naturally Pest-Resistant: Thanks to pyrethrins naturally found in mums, most pests leave them alone.
“Our mums are vintage, hand-me-down treasures. Each one comes with a story—some have been passed between growers since the 1930s.” – Jessica Hall
Harmony Harvest ships rooted chrysanthemum cuttings each spring, giving home gardeners and flower farmers access to varieties you can’t find in big-box stores or even most catalogs.
🛠️ How Shipping Flower Frogs Sparked a Flower Shipping Operation
One of the most unique parts of the Harmony Harvest story is their acquisition of Floral Genius—the only U.S. manufacturer of metal flower frogs. These sustainable design tools are a florist favorite and have even made appearances at high-profile events like the Oscars.
After shipping thousands of flower frogs successfully, Jessica thought—why not ship flowers too?
Today, Harmony Harvest ships:
- 🌸 Fresh flower bouquets nationwide
- 🌱 Rooted mum cuttings each spring
- 🪴 Flower frogs year-round through Floral Genius
This shipping model opened new revenue streams and made local flowers accessible to customers nationwide.
🧑💻 The Power of Tech in a Flower Farm
While the farm’s aesthetic is vintage and nature-forward, behind the scenes they’ve embraced tech tools to run a streamlined, high-volume operation.
Tools They Use:
- Shopify – For managing online orders
- ShipStation – For label printing and order fulfillment
- Airtable – For inventory, crop planning, and managing mum varieties
- Basecamp – For team communication and project management
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – To keep everything running smoothly, especially during the busy season
Jessica explains how vital it is to treat the farm like a real business, not just a passion project. Systems are the key to scaling without burnout.
“We had to stop thinking of ourselves as just flower growers. We’re business owners, too—and once we embraced that, everything changed.”
💡 Lessons for Aspiring Flower Farmers & Home Gardeners
Here are some key takeaways from Jessica’s story:
- Start Small, Stay Curious: You don’t need all the answers before you begin.
- Prioritize Mentorship: It’ll save you time, money, and stress.
- Preserve What Matters: Whether it’s heirloom mums or family stories—flowers connect us to something deeper.
- Say Yes Before You’re Ready: Growth often comes from being brave before you feel prepared.
- Build Systems Early: Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed—structure allows creativity to flourish.
🎧 Listen to the Full Episode
Jessica’s story is filled with laughter, honesty, and so many golden nuggets for flower lovers and dreamers alike. If you’re ready to be inspired, learn something new, and feel more connected to your own growing journey, tune in now.
- Listen now on Apple Podcasts
- Listen now on Spotify
- Listen now on YouTube
Or… find The Backyard Bouquet Podcast on your favorite podcast app.
🌐 Want to Learn More?
🛒 Shop flowers, mums, and flower frogs: hhfshop.com
📸 Follow Harmony Harvest: @harmonyharvestfarm
🌼 Explore Chrysanthemum Cuttings: hhfshop.com/collections/chrysanthemums
🌼 Join The Dahlia Patch Waitlist
Ready to grow your best dahlias yet? The Dahlia Patch is an online community for flower lovers who want to grow with more confidence and fewer frustrations.
💌 Get on the waitlist + be the first to access my upcoming free live training:👉
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New episodes every week to help keep your garden blooming!
Discover More Episodes of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast:
Growing Cut Flowers In A Vineyard
How a female flower farmer in the Columbia Gorge is growing cut flowers in a vineyard and quadrupled the value of every linear foot.
Soil Health for Flower Farmers
A soil agronomist on what’s beneath your feet, why compost isn’t the fix-all for soil health for flower farmers, and the mantra she taught me when my own land needed healing.
Graeme Corbett: Life In Bloom
Graeme Corbett left a TV career in London for a cutting garden in Kent. His story is a roadmap for anyone wondering if a career pivot to flowers is possible.
