By Shelby Shank
Field Editor
Starting a flower farm in the middle of cotton country came with more than a few raised eyebrows.
“My parents looked at me as if I was crazy and said, ‘We cannot grow flowers here,’” said Skyler Richardson, owner and operator of SkyGardens.
But Richardson and her parents decided to give it a try and find out for themselves.
SkyGardens is a flower farm in Levelland where Richardson grows a variety of seasonal flowers and welcomes customers to pick and cut their own flowers.
Her family has farmed cotton for generations, and Richardson is continuing that agricultural legacy, just with a different crop.
Her love for growing things began with her great-grandmother, who recognized Richardson’s interest in gardening and gave her a greenhouse. Tomatoes were the first crop Richardson grew.
“She would buy me everything I needed, and then she would come over and buy my tomatoes because she was my only customer at the time,” Richardson said. “She really instilled that love for the land in me.”
“It truly did feel like Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the five loaves of bread and two fish, and somehow it just kept on,” she said.
Richardson knows she can plant, grow and prepare, but some things will always be outside of her control.
So, she keeps tending the flowers.
And in a place where rows of cotton have long defined the landscape, Richardson has found room for rows of colorful blooms.
A love for gardening
Richardson initially set out to attend law school, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed her plans. After returning home from college, Richardson began working for a local flower shop and wedding planner. There, she noticed the poor quality of some flowers shipped into Lubbock.
“They would either have mold on them, or they’d be broken just from the shipping transit,” she said.
Richardson wondered if she could grow the flowers herself. So, she started researching which varieties could withstand the South Plains’ conditions.
In 2021, she began selling flowers at farmers markets and sharing the farm’s progress on social media.
Then, a 100-mph microburst destroyed her crop.
The setback forced Richardson to replant, and it also changed how she thought about selling flowers. Instead of taking all the flowers to customers, she began inviting them to the farm to cut their own.
“I thought, ‘They’re missing the miracle here,’” Richardson said.
The idea caught on.
Customers now walk through rows of colorful flowers at SkyGardens. They select their favorite blooms and create their own bouquets.
Today, Richardson grows flowers throughout the year, including zinnias, marigolds, amaranth, dahlias, sweet peas and snapdragons. The farm’s main pick-your-own season runs from August through October.
Growing through the challenges
But growing flowers on the South Plains is not without its challenges.
High winds regularly test the farm’s infrastructure. Richardson uses high tunnels to protect some flowers, but strong winds can damage the structures and their plastic coverings.
Wind and blowing dust can also make it difficult to invite customers to the farm, particularly during the spring.
And rain has been hard to come by.
Richardson said the farm only received about 4 inches of rain and snow this year, despite larger storms in surrounding areas.
“It’s been a very dry year,” she said. “I know it will rain again someday, but it definitely doesn’t feel like it right now.”
Walking by faith
Still, Richardson said her faith has remained central to the farm and its challenges.
“God was calling us into this, and it has been difficult. But it has also been so rewarding,” she said.
She recalled one busy market day when she worried there wouldn’t be enough flowers for every customer to make a bouquet.
But the flowers kept stretching from one customer to the next. By the end of the day, everyone had left with a full bouquet.
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