This small business features story is the result of a semester-long capstone project for a 2018 Business Journalism course.

Budding flower farmer finds niche market in Fairmount neighborhood

When Brown Mackie College announced in 2016 that it would begin closing locations, Katie Toon, then a Program Director at the Bedford, Texas campus, decided she would switch from cultivating minds to cultivating a new career.  

After seven years in the clinician field teaching occupational therapy assistantship, Toon, 29, was ready for a new career, but wasn’t sure what.

Toon said her mother, Leslee, asked one important question: “What makes you happy?”

Toon’s answer surprised her at first: “Honestly, flowers make me happy.”

Toon began researching, soaking in every piece of information she could find about flower farming from the Internet and other farmers.

While Toon was in her final year of teaching, her boyfriend, Jacob Furr, 32, donated the front yard of his home in Fort Worth’s Historic Fairmount neighborhood to Toon’s 500 daffodil and tulip bulbs. The pair of future-farmers then took over two beds in the Fairmount neighborhood community garden for more practice growing.

What came next was the biggest jump forward for the business: Toon’s parents saw her business plans and let her take over a plot of farm land on their five-acre property in Granbury.

“She’s been very good at figuring out what she wants to do,” said Toon’s father, Ron. “She had some of her research and talked to a bunch of people, it was a well-thought out business plan.”

Though most cut flowers are grown overseas, according to PennState Extension, there is still room in the market for domestic growers. Toon represents a very small portion of the domestic cut-flower industry, which the 2014 Census of Agriculture valued at over $458 million in sales nationally, and $948,000 in Texas. 

The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, a membership organization that supports commercial growers, counts 41 growers in Texas and roughly seven in the DFW area.

While Toon is not currently a member of the organization, she now has an established local farm, and more than that, she is becoming a staple of the Fairmount area.  She hosts pop-up shops, floral design classes and education sessions for backyard gardeners. Toon’s blooms have satiated a craving for local products.

Toon said part of the movement toward community-based products has made people more open to seasonal and local flowers, instead of the typical blooms that one would find in a grocery store’s floral department. 

A Fort Worth floral designer, Kristen McCurdy, 35, has become a frequent customer at Toon’s shops and sessions with hopes to use Toon’s flowers in her own professional projects.

“I get asked where my flowers come from,” said McCurdy. “I have many clients that would love to use local flowers. People in their 20s and 30s are all about the local product.” 

The blooms from Woodbine Flower Farm also satisfy a taste for vintage charm. Toon pulls inspiration from the past when she chooses which flowers to grow, her finger usually lands on what are known as “heirloom” varieties. 

The heirloom niche has helped Toon establish a few prongs of business to serve a variety of clients. The bulk of profit comes from supplying florals for weddings and events.

Brides are kept in mind throughout Katie’s planning process: wedding-friendly seeds are ordered in white and blush pink shades. 

The other large portion of profit is from direct sales to clients through pop-up shops, arranging sessions, home deliveries in the Fairmount neighborhood, and the like. 

Toon’s arranging sessions give people the opportunity to enjoy blooms they may have never seen before, those not found in a typical store-bought bouquet. 

What Toon values most is being able to sell directly to customers. 

“Our customers are our friends too, it’s really nice to have community connection,” she said. 

And connect with Toon they have…

“Katie has people just knocking down her door for flowers,” said Furr.

“We have a really amazing neighborhood,” Toon said. “The people who come to our pop-ups and support what we do has made me feel that way.”

A quick scroll through the farm’s Facebook or Instagram feeds shows many positive comments from friends and followers.

 Not only are the customers supportive, but other local business owners too. 

Owner of Magnolia Street’s Stir Crazy Baked Goods, Robbie Werner, has a knack for hosting pop-up markets for new businesses. The treat shop has lent space to Craftwork Coffee Co., Leaves Book and Tea Shop, Funkytown Donuts, and most recently, Woodbine Flower Farm. 

Toon set up vases of colorful stems in the front window and saw people almost racing to pick out their favorite blooms. 

Werner has enjoyed giving her customers a chance to explore other local goods. 

“Hosting Katie in our small business has been very beneficial for both of us,” she said. “We love supporting small businesses like ours and collaborating with those who are like-minded.”

Behind the scenes, Toon and Furr work hard to protect the flower crops from risk, particularly the biggest risk farmers face: weather. 

A day on the farm hasn’t begun until Toon checks the overnight temperature, dew point, soil temperature, incoming precipitation, wind levels, and even more.

For example, Toon and Furr knew their ranunculus and anemones would thrive best at a 55-degree soil temperature, but the soil registered at 57 degrees. The couple then raced the warming spring sun to install shade tents. 

A quick change in the weather can also bring a change of plans.

One day, Toon was going to take some time to relax, but the previously sunny day encouraged 700 daffodils to show their yellow faces.  

“I was either going to lose all my product or I was going to have to sell it,” she said. 

The solution: She planned a pop-up market at Craftwork Coffee Co. on Magnolia Street for the next day. 

“It’s a very flexible life. Your days can’t be planned out, your weeks can’t be planned out,” said Toon. 

Woodbine Flower Farm is currently entering a new phase of growth, flower-wise and business-wise. 

Toon said she is working to be smarter about planning productions, investing capital, and selling year-round. 

One of her goals is to purchase the business’ own farmland. The couple has their eye on a piece of USDA prime farm land up the road from their current spot. This purchase would allow them to reach their goal of having at least one full acre of land in production. 

Toon is still toying with different ideas of how to grow the business further. Perhaps a move toward wholesale supply is in store. But more likely, Toon hopes to create a subscription service for customers to be able to place an order online and pick up their blooms at Craftwork Coffee Co. on Magnolia Street.

No matter what the future holds, Toon keeps her farmer’s sensibility.

“You can’t make plants grow any faster,” she said.