The floral industry is not only blooming but booming. Our love of plants and flowers has increased dramatically since the pandemic. The health and wellness industry is also on the upswing. And now, the two industries are intertwining, with a growing list of healthful benefits.
“We grow cut flowers and medicinal herbs which also have flowers, and a lot of our bouquets incorporate both,” says Elisabeth Weaver, owner of Lancaster Farmacy. Her 25-acre certified organic farm produces about six acres’ worth of medicinal herbs, flowers and produce, which are handcrafted into bouquets, herbal remedies and teas.
Natural Beauty
Weaver describes being surrounded by growing, blooming plants on a daily basis as “very euphoric.” But she’s quick to add, there’s hard work involved in the planting process starting with seeds, evolving into tending, watering and weeding, until beautiful blooms are achieved. It’s a process that brought many Americans comfort and beauty during the pandemic, as houseplant and floral arrangement sales soared.
“The beauty of a bouquet is the healing that many people need,” Weaver says. “People recognize the importance of having fresh flowers around them, taking time to beautify their home. It’s almost an act of purification, bringing a fresh element of the outdoors inside.”
Lancaster Farmacy offers subscription bouquets through the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. About 200 subscribers receive fresh flowers every week.
“To me, that’s such a gift,” Weaver says. “It’s the idea that you as the consumer are getting a discount price on that bouquet, but you also get to witness the change in seasons week to week.”
She notes that locally grown flowers are robust, lasting longer than those typically picked before their peak bloom, packaged and shipped to grocery stores.
Stop and Smell the Roses—and Greenery
There’s more than meets the eye with flowers. Scents—called aromatics—can elevate your emotional and mental health, often triggering treasured memories of people you associate with specific scents, Weaver says.
Stock flowers are especially fragrant—“like perfume,” she says—while unique all-green bells of Ireland emit “the most amazing lemony-citrus scent.”
While showy blooms bring star power to Weaver’s bouquets, greenery and flowering herbs could be considered the unsung—and aromatic—heroes.
“Scented geranium combines the scents of lemon and rose into an amazing aroma,” she says. “It’s a very fresh scent that truly smells like roses or lemon citrus.”
Eucalyptus, mountain mint, chartreuse green lemon verbena, as well as catnip, are Weaver’s aromatic greenery go-tos.
“Catnip has a beautiful flower and smells amazing, but of course people sometimes have problems with their cats getting into arrangements,” Weaver says with a laugh.
Herbs That Heal
Lavender is one of the most popular herbs associated with healing properties.
“The scent of lavender is known as a sleep aid that’s good for the nervous system, promoting calming, stress and headache relief,” Weaver says.
Lemon verbena and mint both aid in digestion. Herbs in the Monarda family—bee balm and wild bergamot—are “great for colds,” she says, while “holy basil, also known as tulsi, is an Indian Ayurvedic herb with a long list of healing aids—stress, headaches, you name it.”
She fashions aromatic herbs into essential oils, teas and aromatic sprays called hydrosols.
“Hydrosols can be sprayed on pillows or your face for a refreshing mist on a hot day, to give yourself a reset,” Weaver says. “Or you can spray the room rather than burning incense. Hydrosols are more fresh and delicate.”
She creates rosemary, sage, lavender and additional hydrosols through a distilling process. She’s always searching for unique floral and herbal scents, so last year she experimented with a marigold hydrosol that turned out “pungent and zesty and floral.”
Edible Petals
Flowers can truly be a delight for all senses. You can see, touch, smell and—add one more to the list—taste their blossoms.
“Calendula flowers have a beautiful brilliant orange petal that can be added to salads, borage blossoms have a cucumber taste, and Monarda flowers—bee balm and wild bergamot—have an oregano-like flower,” Weaver describes.
For Weaver, the daily demands of a working farm inherently bring healing— and not only to her customers.
“I relieve my overwhelm by being in the fields—that brings me peace.”
Going Green
Over the past 10 years, our total spending on flowers, seeds and potted plants has grown from $29 billion to $72.8 billion, according to data compiled by The Society of American Florists. Meanwhile, America’s wellness industry is the world leader, according to The Global Wellness Institute, at $1.8 trillion.
