There's no special florist exam in most of the country: a flower business needs the ordinary business layers, a name, a sales tax permit, a city license where required, and in a lot of states a nursery or floral registration from the state department of agriculture, because cut flowers and potted plants can carry pests. Where it applies, the registration covers each place you grow or sell flowers, a farm, a studio, a shop, with inspections, and plants or flowers shipped across a state line carry certificates of inspection when the other state asks. Weddings and events add the venues' own paperwork. Texas, the example's state, defines a florist as anyone who grows or buys florist items, cut flowers, potted and blooming plants, bedding plants, corsages, floral decorations, and offers them for sale, and requires a nursery and floral registration for each place that grows or offers them, with an annual fee by the size and type of location, inspections at least every three years, and no sales without the certificate. In the example below, a Wimberley flower farmer opens a studio in town. Below are the layers, Texas's rules, the example, and a free checklist.
The short version
- No florist exam in most states: the business layers, sales tax, a city license where required.
- A lot of states require a nursery or floral registration from the department of agriculture.
- The registration covers each place you grow or sell flowers, with inspections.
- Flowers and plants shipped across a state line carry certificates when the other state asks.
- Texas: a florist grows or buys florist items and offers them for sale.
- Texas: a nursery and floral registration for each place, annual fee by size and type, inspections every three years.
- Texas: no offering florist items for sale without the certificate.
- TaroStack keeps stems by delivery and date, and costs every arrangement. More below.
The layers
| Layer | Who issues it | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name | State | An LLC filing, or an assumed name |
| Sales tax | State revenue department | Bouquets, arrangements, delivery |
| City business license | City | Where required, for a shop or studio |
| Nursery or floral registration | State department of agriculture | Each place you grow or sell |
| Inspections | State department of agriculture | Pests and diseases |
| Shipping certificates | Your state and the receiving state | Certificates of inspection, quarantines |
What a shop earns is in flower shop business plan, and a farm in flower farm business plan. Every state differs; this is general information, not legal advice.
Texas's rules
| Rule | Texas Agriculture Code, chapter 71 |
|---|---|
| Florist | A person who maintains, grows, raises, or buys and offers for sale or lease florist items (71.041) |
| Florist items | Cut flowers, potted, blooming, foliage and bedding plants, corsage flowers, cut foliage, floral decorations, live decorative material (71.041) |
| Nursery grower | Grows more than half of the nursery products or florist items it sells (71.041) |
| Registration | Each nursery, greenhouse, garden or other place growing or offering them for sale (71.043) |
| The fee | Annual, by the size and type of location, plus an optional 15% (71.043) |
| No certificate, no sale | A person may not offer florist items for sale without it (71.043) |
| Inspections | At least once every three years (71.044) |
| Shipments | Certificates of inspection out of Texas when required, and into Texas from other states (71.050, 71.051) |
The law is chapter 71 of the Agriculture Code. The plant side is in license to sell plants.
An example: a Wimberley flower farmer
Blanco Bend Flowers, a made-up flower farm near Wimberley, Texas, I use in these examples, grows zinnias, sunflowers and dahlias for a Saturday market, weddings and a summer bouquet subscription, and is opening a studio in town:
| Layer | Status |
|---|---|
| Business name, an LLC | Done, February 2024 |
| Sales tax permit | To check: bouquets, wedding work and delivery |
| Nursery and floral registration, the farm | Renewed March 2, 2026; renews March 2, 2027 |
| Nursery grower | Yes: grows most of what it sells |
| Registration, the studio | Added March 2, 2026, its own certificate |
| Inspection | May 2025; due again by May 2028 |
| Roses bought from a California wholesaler for weddings | Arrive with California's certificate |
| General liability insurance | Renews March 1, 2027 |
The studio counts as a second place offering flowers for sale, so it carries its own registration; the farm's certificate doesn't stretch to town. How to price the stems is in how to price cut flowers.
Get the checklist
Download the flower business license checklist. One sheet: each layer, who issues it, what it is, whether you need it, the cost, the date done and the renewal date; the status and the total cost fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Stems cut on Thursday, a wedding on Saturday, buckets at the farm and the studio: a checklist doesn't say which stems are oldest or what the bridal bouquet really cost.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps stems by harvest or delivery and date, and costs every arrangement.
Stems by date. Each harvest or delivery goes in as a lot with its date and sell-by, so picking takes the oldest stems first, and stems close to their date show in your alerts.
Arrangements as recipes. Each arrangement is a recipe of its stems and hard goods, and wedding orders are sales orders for their date, checked against what's in the cooler.
Two places. The farm and the studio can be two sites, with transfers between them; more than one site is on Standard at $99 a month.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Stems to use first | Look in the buckets | Oldest picked first, alerts by date |
| What a bridal bouquet costs | Worked out once | The recipe, at what it used |
| Stems at the studio | A guess | Stock at its site |
Counts, lots, recipes and sales orders are on every plan, from $49 a month; more than one site is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.