As the turn of the season approaches, you may find yourself itching to leave the city streets behind and wander among the spring flowers. Fortunately, there are many flower farms within driving distance of New York that will allow you to indulge your frolicking urges and even pick some blooms to take home with you. Check out some of our favorite NYC-area flower farms below!
Brittany Hollow – Rhinebeck, NY
Brittany Hollow has a unique business model—visitors pay $20 for a yellow one-gallon bucket that they can fill with flowers while strolling through their open fields. Bring your bucket back on return visits to save $5 on refills! Brittany Hollow is open daily from late June through Labor Day. Offerings vary seasonally, so expect to find a good selection of different blooms available, including ageratum, amaranth, butterfly weed, and snapdragons. Be aware, however, that Brittany Hollow accepts cash or check only.
Terhune Orchards – Princeton, NJ
For a pick-your-own experience that includes an impressive array of produce as well as flowers, pay a visit to Terhune Orchards! This 250-acre farm has been in the same family for ten generations and offers seasonal U-pick apples, asparagus, cherries, pumpkins, and more. The flower picking season runs from June to October and their website promises that they offer “gazillions” of different varieties. No pets are permitted on the farm, so just remember to leave four-legged family members at home.
Patty’s Berries and Bunches – Mattituck, NY
Out on the North Fork of Long Island, the farm now known as Patty’s Berries and Bunches has been open since 1975. You must sign up for a flower tour to take advantage of the self-picking opportunities at Patty’s, but their fields offer peonies, dahlias, sunflowers, and other ornamental blooms. Patty’s lives up to its full name: self-pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries are also available over the course of Patty’s season, which runs from June to November. Patty’s is pet-friendly, though no pets are allowed within the picking rows themselves.
Spring Wind Farm – Cream Ridge, NJ
A newcomer on the scene, Spring Wind will open this April for its second season. Spring Wind is unique for its focus on organic farming—its flowers are grown using sustainable methods that prioritize soil health by limiting the use of chemicals and pesticides. This quaint 20-acre farm is a hidden gem that may be a less crowded option than some of the more established farms on this list. Spring Wind also has bulk and wholesale blooms available if you can’t spare the time to pick your own flowers, and even offers CSA subscriptions for weekly or biweekly custom-made bouquets.
Lavender by the Bay – East Marion, NY and Calverton, NY
While Lavender by the Bay does not technically allow visitors to pick their own flowers, it deserves a mention on this list for the unbeatable sprawling lavender fields available at both of its locations. Though they’re open from spring to the early fall, their website offers a guide on how to catch their lavender during peak of its three major “blooms” that occur throughout the season. Their store offers lavender-related products such as dried lavender and lavender-scented candles, massage oil, and stuffed pillows.
Johnson’s Corner Farm – Medford, NJ
If you’re searching for a perfect sunflower photo op for this fall, look no further than Johnson’s Corner Farm! While rambling through their magnificent sunflower maze, you’ll have the opportunity to pick your own sunflowers at $1 per stem. You can also enjoy a hayride through the fields of flowers and munch on chicken pot pie and cider donuts at the farm market. Johnson’s sunflower maze opens in mid-September, but seasonal events—including egg hunts, farm tours, and holiday hayrides—occur at various points throughout the spring, summer, and winter. Reservations are required, so be sure to call ahead before you go!
The Cutting Garden – Youngsville, NY
A proud forerunner of the “Slow Flowers” movement to support locally-grown flowers, The Cutting Garden has over one hundred different flower varieties available for picking during their gardening season, which runs from June to early October. The Cutting Garden also boasts a restored 19th century general store from which the owners also peddle collectable crafts and vintage furniture items (lovely called “domesticities”) year-round, as well as an old barn full of “all matter of whatnot” that they invite enterprising craftspeople to dig through for inspiration for their next upcycling project.
Alstede Farms – Chester, NJ
This family-owned farm takes its stewardship of the land very seriously and emphasizes sustainable farming techniques for every variety of self-pick produce they grow—and there are many! In addition to sunflowers, which are available for picking from mid-July to mid-September each year, visitors to Alstede Farms can also pick their own berries, corn, greens, and even potatoes. The entertainment lasts all year ’round at Alstede—the farm hosts a corn maze in the fall and an evergreen maze in the winter for an extra bit of seasonal entertainment.
Holland Ridge Farm – Cream Ridge, NJ
Holland Ridge Farm is famous for its breathtaking rows of brightly-colored tulips as well as for being the largest “U-pick” flower farm in the United States. Holland Ridge offers two different self-picking seasons: one for tulips that begins in April, and one for sunflowers beginning in the fall. General admission is $13 per person and both types of flowers can be picked for $1 per stem. There are also a host of other attractions available, including a bakery, food vendors, pony rides, and farm animals.
Germantown Farms – Germantown, NY
When wandering Germantown Farms’ splendid wildflower fields, you can pick to your heart’s content while knowing that you are doing so for a good cause: 100% of proceeds from Germantown’s self-picked flowers go toward local charities. The Farms are run by a collective of four farming families with a passion for using their land to help provide for the community. Germantown Farms’ garden season runs from June through September, and the farms’ other amenities include a selection of herbs and veggies as well as a quaint hayfield.
