TRAVERSE CITY — Crops at the Hooper family farm don’t grow in neat rows.
Peonies reach sky high. Ornamental greens and seemingly endless flowering plants bloom from the barn to the highway.
The picturesque flower garden, Hooper’s Farm Gardens, 2399 Kroupa Road on Old Mission Peninsula, is a small part of a big industry. Michigan ranked third in the nation for value of wholesale floriculture crops sold in 2014.
State growers sold more than $405.7 million in floriculture, or flower, products last year. Only growers in California and Florida sold more, according to a USDA release.
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