Budget Blossoms

Buying from a farmers market drastically cuts the price of flowers. Unlike a florist, who has the overhead of a shop, a grower can fill a truck with just-picked flowers, drive to an open-air event and sell fistfuls for the price of a florist’s single bloom.

A recent visit to the Calabasas Certified Farmers Market--where two Oxnard growers, Sunrise Ranch and Skyline Flowers, had stalls--yielded these prices: $3.50 to $4 for a six-stem bunch of sunflowers (often $2 to $4 a stem at florists); $4 for a large bunch of stargazer lilies ($5 a stem and more at a shop); $6 for a dozen red roses (shop prices begin two or three times higher).

There are no amenities, of course. You can’t pick and choose among the stems, your purchase is wrapped in a newspaper and you can’t have it delivered. And since these markets are held in the Valley only once a week, you’re out of luck if you need posies on a weekday.

* Calabasas Certified Farmers Market, 23504 Calabasas Road (Old Town Calabasas Junction parking lot), Calabasas; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

* Southwest Valley Certified Farmers Market, 17400 Victory Blvd. (in the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly parking lot), Encino; 8 a.m. to noon Sunday.

* Burbank Certified Farmers Market, corner of Third Street and Orange Grove Boulevard (in public parking lot), Burbank; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Information: Southland Farmers Market Assn., (213) 244-9190.