Scaling A Flower Farm To New Heights With Karl Of Green Park Nurseries
There is a big difference between building a flower farm that gets bigger and building a flower farm business that can actually last.
When I sat down with Karl Vahrmeyer of Green Park Nurseries, that distinction kept coming up again and again. His father started the business in 1980, and today the family grows cut flowers and ornamental branches across roughly 150 acres on six farms in southern Ontario. Karl is second generation, his siblings are involved in the business, and now his own kids are slowly stepping into the third generation.
That kind of longevity does not happen because somebody found the perfect crop or had one really good season. It comes from decades of decisions around money, labor, leadership, relationships, planning, and knowing when to grow.
Let Customer Demand Pull Your Flower Farm Forward
One thing I loved about Karl’s approach to scaling is that his family has never been obsessed with forcing growth just for the sake of getting bigger.
Their farm has expanded organically as customer demand increased. They might start with two rows of a crop, realize they cannot keep up with demand, double it, then double it again somewhere else. Over time, those scattered blocks became large enough that the family could consolidate production and make the farm much more efficient. Karl described it as a pull rather than a push.
That is such an important distinction for flower farmers. Growth does not have to mean buying more land, planting twice as much, hiring a full crew, and hoping the sales show up afterward. Sometimes the healthiest growth comes from proving demand first, then allowing the business to expand around what customers are already asking for.
Sustainable Flower Farm Growth Requires Long-Term Planning
At Green Park Nurseries, planning does not mean sitting down in December and deciding what to grow next spring.
Karl casually mentioned during our conversation that they have a northern farm being prepared for production in 2030. Their Christmas price list goes out in April. Purchase orders and crop planning often happen six, eight, or ten months ahead, and bigger infrastructure decisions are being considered years in advance.
Most of us start flower farming by thinking one season at a time because that is all we can handle. I completely understand that. But as your flower farm grows, your planning horizon has to grow with it. Equipment, infrastructure, perennial crops, wholesale relationships, employees, succession, and expansion all require decisions long before the moment you actually need them.
Financial Discipline Can Make Your Farm More Resilient
Karl kept coming back to lessons he learned from his father, especially around money. His father built the business during harder economic periods and carried that experience into the way the family still runs the farm today.
Their philosophy has been to stay lean and avoid overextending themselves. As Karl put it, if the money is not in the bank account, they are probably not buying it. They have grown slowly, reinvested what they had, and tried to make sure one bad crop or one bad decision could not take the entire company down.
About Karl Vahrmeyer
Karl Vahrmeyer is a second-generation farmer at Green Park Nurseries, a family-run operation in southern Ontario that has been growing since 1980. What began as a nursery producing trees and shrubs eventually evolved into a large-scale cut flower and ornamental branch business, with roughly 150 acres in production across six farms. Today, Karl runs the business alongside his father, brother, and sister, with a third generation already beginning to step into the farm.
Known affectionately as “The Stick Man,” Karl has built a reputation for his expertise in woody cuts, branches, hydrangeas, snowberries, smoke bush, and other specialty crops. But what really makes Karl stand apart is the business behind the flowers. Green Park Nurseries has grown through decades of careful financial decisions, strong wholesale relationships, thoughtful employee management, and a commitment to scaling in response to customer demand rather than growth for growth’s sake.
Karl brings a rare perspective to flower farming: what it looks like to build a business designed not just for the next season, but for the next generation. His practical approach to leadership, relationships, farm finances, and long-term planning offers an incredible example for growers who want to create a resilient flower farm that can truly stand the test of time.
Follow Karl on Instagram: @green_park_nurseries_inc
I have approached my own flower farm similarly. It can be frustrating when you want to grow quickly and the shiny new piece of equipment would make everything easier. But having financial breathing room gives you options when weather hits, a crop fails, customers change their buying habits, or something completely unexpected happens.
The Skills That Scale a Flower Farm Are Not Always Growing Skills
When I asked Karl what business skills had become most important as Green Park Nurseries grew, one of his first answers was Excel.
It sounds almost laughably simple, but it makes perfect sense. As a flower farm scales, the job changes. You spend less time worrying about how one plant looks and more time managing purchase orders, customers, logistics, labor, crop numbers, email, payroll, and planning.
Karl also talked about something even more important: learning how to find the right people and put them in positions where they can flourish. Instead of trying to become an expert at every function in the company, he has learned to recognize what someone else is good at and let them own that part of the business.
You Cannot Scale a Flower Farm While Holding Onto Everything
This is where things get uncomfortable for a lot of flower farmers.
When you start the farm yourself, you know exactly how you want everything done. You know how tight the bunches should be, how a bed should be weeded, which customers need special attention, and where every single tool belongs. Then you hire someone and discover that they do things differently.
Karl said that when you bring someone into the business, they may only do something 75 or 80 percent as well as you would. If you want to grow, you have to learn to live with that.
That does not mean lowering your standards. It means realizing that nobody will replicate you perfectly. At some point, sustainable flower farm growth requires giving other people real responsibility and letting go of some control. Otherwise, every decision, question, and problem still lands back on you.
Hiring Farm Employees Means Rethinking What Labor Can Look Like
Labor is one of the biggest challenges I hear about from flower farmers, so I was especially interested in how Green Park Nurseries handles it.
Their workload is highly seasonal. During the summer growing period, they use students who work early mornings and finish around lunchtime. During their busier fall, winter, and spring seasons, they rely on a core group that includes stay-at-home parents working roughly school-day hours, along with workers brought in through a local temporary staffing agency.
What stood out to me was the flexibility. Instead of deciding that every employee must fit one traditional full-time schedule, they built jobs around the people available to them. A parent who can work from 9:00 to 3:00 may still be incredibly valuable if you structure the work so harvesting happens earlier and processing happens when they arrive.
Sometimes the solution to a labor problem is not finding the perfect employee. Sometimes it is changing the job.
Employee Retention Starts With Good Management
Karl has employees who return year after year, something many flower farmers struggle with tremendously.
His answer for retaining people was almost deceptively simple: create a good working environment, treat people well, and work beside them. He talked about sorting snowball viburnum alongside the crew on a Saturday, music playing, everyone chatting, and getting the job done together.
But there is another layer to it. Karl adjusts his management style based on the people he is working with. Some employees thrive with a list of varied tasks. Others do better when they are shown one specific task and allowed to repeat it until the job is complete. His summer students use a group chat where everyone receives the same instructions and can communicate with one another.
Good farm management is not just telling people what to do. It is figuring out how different people work best and creating systems that help them succeed.
Mistakes Are Part of Running a Flower Farm Business
Karl has been farming his entire life, and he still makes mistakes.
During our conversation, he told me about spraying pre-emergent near hydrangeas and burning flowers that had developed farther than expected. He has ordered the wrong things, killed plants, and made plenty of decisions he wishes had gone differently.
His attitude toward those moments is one I think every flower farmer needs to hear: it is only a mistake if you do not learn from it.
The same applies when an employee messes something up. Karl shared an example where a miscommunication during viburnum processing meant hundreds of pails needed to be reworked. Instead of simply blaming the employee, he looked at his own instructions and asked whether the system had been clear enough. That kind of ownership is uncomfortable, but it is also how better systems are built.
Relationships Can Change the Trajectory of Your Farm
One of the biggest turning points for Green Park Nurseries started with a trip to Holland.
Karl invited a grower he knew to travel with him to a trade show. Because that grower had deep relationships in the local nursery industry, Karl suddenly found himself sitting down for coffee with growers and business owners he never would have met otherwise. One of those relationships eventually opened the door to new plant varieties and helped dramatically expand Green Park Nurseries' product lineup.
This is something I wish more flower farmers understood. Business is incredibly relationship driven. The grower you meet at a conference, the wholesaler you introduce yourself to, the farmer you sit next to at breakfast, or the customer you take the time to know may not change your business tomorrow. They may change it five years from now.
You do not need to know exactly where every relationship will lead. You just have to be willing to show up and start the conversation.
Build the Flower Farm You Want to Still Own 20 Years From Now
At the end of our conversation, I asked Karl what advice he would give a flower farmer somewhere around years three through seven who wants to stay in this business for the long haul.
His answer had nothing to do with varieties, planting dates, or production.
Find someone who understands the nuts and bolts of business and money. It could be an accountant, financial professional, experienced business owner, or someone in your community who has built something sustainable. Buy them breakfast. Ask questions. Learn how the financial side of business actually works.
You can grow absolutely gorgeous flowers and still build a financially fragile farm. If you want your flower farm to support you for decades, and maybe even support another generation someday, the business underneath the flowers has to be strong too.
Karl and I covered so much more in our full conversation, including working with family, succession, leadership, managing stress, farm expansion, wholesale production, and what it really takes to build a resilient flower farming business. Listen to the full episode on the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.