Flowers › Stock
❀ Flower · Spring
Michigan Stock
Spicy-sweet and softly ruffled, stock brings clove-scented charm and cottage-garden texture to any bouquet. Grown by our member farmers, it’s one of the most fragrant flowers you can carry home by the bucket.
Seasonal Availability
About Stock
Stock is a cool-season member of the brassica family, grown for tall spikes densely lined with four-petaled florets in soft, saturated pastels of white, blush, lavender, apricot, and rose. Its true signature is scent: a warm, clove-and-honey perfume that carries across a room and makes stock a flower you tend to notice with your nose before your eyes.
Stock is not a Michigan native. It comes from southern Europe, where it grows wild from Spain to Greece, and botanically it is Matthiola incana, a genuine relative of cabbage and mustard in the family Brassicaceae, as Wikipedia’s Matthiola incana page details. What makes it such a natural fit for our fields is its love of cool air, since stock sets its richest color and fragrance in mild temperatures, exactly the conditions of a Michigan spring when our member farmers bring it to peak.
Because stock is sturdy, long-lasting, and generous by the bucket, it is a favorite among our local DIY buyers. Our farmer collective cuts it fresh in the cool spring window and holds it for pickup at the barn, so you carry home full, tightly packed spikes rather than the sparse, tired stems that survive long-distance shipping. Reserve a DIY bucket of stock for your next gathering, ask us to work it into a mixed bucket with spring companions, or have our floral designers build a scented arrangement around it.
Stock From Our Farmers
Stock at a Glance
In season (MI)
May through June, sometimes returning in cool early fall
Colors
White, cream, blush, lavender, purple, apricot, and rose
Stem length
16 to 30 inches
Best for
Fragrant bouquets, DIY buckets, spring weddings, filler-with-scent
How to buy
Requested in a DIY bucket, or custom design
Forms & Varieties
Stock comes in single and double forms plus several series bred specifically for cut-flower growers:
Double stock
Packed, ruffled florets with no visible eye; the fuller, showier type most people picture, and usually the most heavily scented.
Single stock
Open four-petaled florets that read airier and, unlike the sterile doubles, actually set seed.
Column types
One strong central spike per plant, bred for maximum stem length and a bold single line in a bouquet.
Spray types
Branching stems carrying several smaller spikes, ideal for filling out a DIY bucket with texture.
Care & Vase Life
- Vase life is a generous 7 to 10 days with clean water; stock is a genuinely long-lasting cut flower.
- Change the water every day or two, stock’s stems can turn the water cloudy and smelly fast.
- Strip all lower foliage; submerged leaves break down quickly and shorten vase life.
- Recut stems on an angle and give a fresh drink; woody bases benefit from a clean cut.
- Florets open up the spike over time, so buy stems with the lower half open for the longest show.
When We Have Stock
Stock loves the cool air of a Michigan May and June, and that’s its main window; a mild, cool late summer can bring a second flush into early fall. Heat is stock’s enemy, a hot spell will stall bloom and shorten spikes, so a cool, steady spring produces the tallest, most fragrant stems. All of it is grown by our member farmers, so the color range on offer shifts with their plantings and the season.
Availability shifts week to week with the Michigan season, so colors and varieties vary. Reserve ahead for events, and check the shop for what our farmers have cut this week.
How to Get Stock
Request stock in a DIY bucket
Reserve a DIY bucket and request stock to arrange yourself, perfect for weddings, events, or filling your home. Order ahead and pick up at the barn.
Reserve a DIY bucketBuy stock in the shop
When stock are in season, you can buy them straight from our online shop. It’s especially good value if you’re a wholesale buyer member.
Visit the shopLet us design it for you
Prefer it done for you? Our floral designers create custom, stock-forward arrangements and full wedding and event work. Pickup is at the barn; buyer members can also arrange local delivery.
Request floral designStock FAQs
Why does my stock water smell bad so quickly?
As a member of the cabbage family, stock releases sulfur compounds as its stems sit in water. Strip submerged leaves, use a clean vase, and change the water every day or two to keep both the water and the fragrance pleasant.
Is stock really that fragrant?
Yes, its warm, clove-like sweetness is one of the strongest scents among common cut flowers, which is why it’s often added purely for perfume. Double-flowered types tend to smell the richest.
How long will stock last in a vase?
With fresh water and stripped stems, expect a full week to ten days. Buying spikes with the lower florets already open and the tips still budded gives you the longest display.
Can I fill a whole bucket with stock for an event?
Absolutely, stock is a bucket-base flower, so you can reserve full DIY buckets of it. It’s a favorite for scented, textural spring arrangements you put together yourself.
Pairs Well With
PeonyFlower · Late May through June
LilacFlower · May, often two to three weeks
RanunculusFlower · Mid-April to late May
Sweet PeaFlower · June to July
SnapdragonFlower · June to September
TulipFlower · Mid-April to mid-MayStock Available to Buy Now
Ready to plan with stock?
Reserve stock for your event or ask our designers to build something around them, grown by our Michigan farmer collective.