Aerial view of a flower farm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (© Hans Blossey/Corbis)

【July 17 2014】Though not a food crop, flower farming is big business, with plants either shipped out still-living to be replanted by the consumer, or cut and destined to end up wrapped in tissue on a florist’s counter. (A bouquet would go well with a hastily scribbled card, because you forgot it was your anniversary again, didn’t you?) Here in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a region once known as the “land of coal and steel,” a flower farm thrives.Explore breathtaking Gallery from the HuluTrip homepage over the past 5 years..