By David Yin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Like fruits and vegetables, flowers have their own growing seasons — a fact that many people overlook.

As the owner of Perennial Petals Flower Farm, Cathy Bartolic sometimes receives unrealistic orders for her crops and ponders about how little the average person knows about the floral industry.

“We’ll have people who love peonies, but they’re planning their wedding in like September. Peonies are mostly available in June… and it’s just not possible.”

Canadian Flowers Week, happening from Aug. 18 to 24, aims to increase public awareness and sales of local flower farms, and to highlight talented growers within Canada.

According to a 2010 pickOntario survey, 97 per cent of respondents said that they wanted to buy local flowers. However, the organization added that many customers did not know what flowers were available.

Statistics Canada said that there were over 3,700 ornamental plant farmers in 2023, generating over $3 billion in sales throughout the year.

Bartolic said that the number of flower farmers around Markham-Stouffville has grown since she started her business. According to her, there are up to a dozen farmers now.

Camela Ng, owner of CN Floral Studio, has worked with flowers for over 15 years.

According to her, Canadians tend to underrate the floral industry.

“All you see is the finished product that is in your hand,” she said. “But what about those bugs? Like, the weather is not okay. Some of the seasonal flowers are not there.”

She added that one of her reasons for teaching her floral arrangement classes is to show people the amount of work required to produce a floral product.

“The farmers are really great,” she said. “Their hard work is really underrated; nobody’s talking about them.”

Sveta Shvedenkova is the owner of Tim Clark’s Flowers. She said that her store is one of the oldest floral stores in the GTA, running for almost 60 years.

She agreed that Canadians need more knowledge about locally available plants.

“I could easily add peas, broccoli, cabbage leaves, and fallen leaves,” she said. “That’s like in the fall season, when we go to the forest, collect all the leaves, make bunches, and cultivate them into the designs.”

She added that she also grows her own flowers and buys some at local farms, despite some customers asking for blooms that require international shipping.

“That’s the biggest bonus of local growing,” she said. “It’s not something that’s going to be stored in a cooler during transportation for several days.”

Bartolic said that following local flower farmers online is one of the best ways to know which blooms are in season.

Additionally, Canadian Flowers Week offers a downloadable chart on its website detailing which flowers are available in Ontario per month.

Canadian Flowers Week is running an Instagram photo contest from Aug. 18 to 24. For more details, head to canadianflowersweek.ca.