8 pick-your-own flower farms near New York City
Tulips in the spring, wildflowers in the summer, sunflowers in the fall–whatever you fancy, there’s a farm nearby where you can pick your own flowers. Whether it’s upstate, on Long Island, or down in Jersey, we’ve rounded up the eight best you-pick flower farms within driving distance to NYC. Most of them also offer beautiful photo opportunities, pick-your-own produce, or farm shops.
Upstate
Sunflower Valley Farm
New Hampton, NY
Distance from NYC: 74 miles
Flowers available: Sunflowers
This family-friendly sunflower farm charges just $5 for admission, which includes three free pick-your-own sunflowers. The fields are a sunflower maze perfect for photos, and there’s also plenty of activities for the kids.
Photo via Brittany Hollow Farm
Brittany Hollow Farm
Rhinebeck, NY
Distance from NYC: 107 miles
Flowers available: Various varieties
This three-acre flower farm has countless varieties each season, including ageratum, amaranthus, butterfly weed, many celosia varieties, cleome, cockscomb, cosmos, gomphrena, snapdragons, snow on the mountain, statice, strawflowers, sunflowers, and zinnias. The way it works is visitors are provided with a one-gallon yellow bucket to fill with flowers for $20. The season usually starts in late June, and this year, there will also be pre-picked bouquets and mason jars.
The Cutting Garden
Youngsville, NY
Distance from NYC: 110 miles
Flowers available: Various varieties
This sustainable flower farm has over 100 varieties of organic flowers and herbs, which you can pick yourself to create a beautiful bouquet. The season usually lasts from late June through early October, and the Cutting Garden provides scissors and a short, in-person primer for first-timers (they also prep your picks for travel). You can visit their fun gift shop or the barn full of antiques.
Long Island
Photo via 6sqft
Waterdrinker Family Farm & Garden
Manorville, NY
Distance from NYC: 66 miles
Flowers available: Sunflowers (fall) and Tulips (Spring)
This Long Island farm is well known for its annual Sunflower Festival, where the beautiful fields are a favorite among Instagrammers. But in the spring, they also host the Long Island Tulip Festival. This year, there are more than 500,000 tulips; you-pick tulips aren’t open, but you can still purchase potted bulbs and flowers. There’s also mini-golf, barnyard animals, and live music and food trucks on the weekends.
New Jersey
Melick’s Town Farm
Oldwick, NJ
Distance from NYC: 46 miles
Flowers available: Various
New Jersey’s largest apple orchard also has beautiful flower gardens where you can cut your own flowers–they’re also filled with butterflies! You can also pick your own apples, pumpkins, peaches, and strawberries or pick up a bottle of Melick’s farm-fresh hard cider.
Alstede Farms
Chester, NJ
Distance from NYC: 53 miles
Flowers available: Zinneas, Sunflowers, and more
Not only can you pick over a dozen fruits and veggies at Alstede (everything from strawberries and peaches to tomatoes and eggplant), but from mid-July through mid-September, you can pick a variety of fresh flowers including zinneas and sunflowers (there’s even a sunflower maze!). While you’re there, you can shop at the farm store and visit the hen house, cider mill, or ice cream stand. And if you’re visiting without the kiddos, they offer a wine tasting by Tomasello Winery.
Stone Hill Farms
Chester, NJ
Distance from NYC: 54 miles
Flowers available: Sunflowers
Apples, pumpkins, and berries are part of this farm’s U-Pick program, as are sunflowers in the fall. In fact, their late-summer Sunflower Festival lets visitors peruse 2.5 acres filled with eight varieties of sunflowers. One field is for enjoying and taking photos, while the other lets guests cut their own flowers. Tickets for the 2021 festival are on sale now.
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Holland Ridge Farms
Creme Ridge, NJ
Distance from NYC: 65 miles
Flowers available: Tulips (spring) and Sunflowers (fall)
This is about as close as you’re going to get to Holland’s tulip farms without leaving the country (or the tri-state area). And with over 60 acres of flowers, it’s the largest you-pick flower farm on the East Coast. The rows of colorful bulbs total millions of flowers, which visitors can pick for $1 per stem. The tulip season is quite short though, usually only lasting two or three weeks. This year, it began on April 13th, and reservations are required. Because of the family farm’s great success, a few years ago, they also started offering you-pick sunflowers in the fall.
Lead image: Sunflower photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash; Others courtesy of Brittany Hollow Farm
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