Lavender lays claim to being the most profitable specialty crop for growers. According to the USDA, here’s a listing of the next nine:

2. Gourmet mushrooms – These plants can be grown indoors and can produce a very high return per square foot. The most widely grown gourmet mushrooms are oyster and shiitake, which are available fresh or dried in many grocery stores. At current prices of $7 a pound, that’s $17,500 worth of harvest from a 10 x 10 space.

3. Woody ornaments – Woodies are trees and shrubs whose branches are harvested and sold to florists and individuals for arrangements and craft products such as wreaths. Most woodies have colorful stems, like Red Twig dogwood. Some of the well-known woodies include holly in winter, pussy willows in spring and forsythia and hydrangeas in late spring and summer.

4. Landscape trees and shrubs. Seedlings for most popular landscaping trees and shrubs are available from wholesale growers for less than a dollar each. Add in a plastic pot and soil, wait two years, and you have $15 a plant – a 750 percent markup.

5. Bonsai plants. From tiny trees the size of a finger to mature maples and pines just 18 inches high, bonsai is enjoying widespread and growing popularity. Growing these small plants requires very little growing area.

6. Japanese maples – The beauty of this tree is coveted by gardeners and landscapers everywhere. Because they are small trees, they can be grown in containers to allow more varieties to be grown in a small space. The demand for these trees is high, thus very profitable.

 7. Willows – This trouble-free tree is easy to grow and maintain. Florists use the stems for arrangements and wreaths, and crafters use the shoots for basketry and other fiber arts. A recent University of Kentucky report found growers could harvest four to five tons of willow shoots per acre, which brings $7 a pound from basket weavers. That equates to $56,000 per acre.

8. Garlic – Three types of garlic (Rocambole, Purplestripe and Porcelain) are coveted by chefs due to their flavor. Customers are willing to pay top dollar (roughly $10 a pound) just for their flavor. Another is Elephant garlic, whose large, mild cloves bring $6-$8 per pound. Some growers call garlic the “mortgage lifter.”

9. Bamboo – This is a landscaping favorite of landscapers and homeowners. In the open, bamboo can reach 75 feet in height. By growing bamboo in containers, digging is eliminated, and the plants take up far less space. Container landscaping bamboo brings high prices, with the average plant fetching $45.

10.  Herbs – Herbs have remained popular the past two decades as people use them for cooking, medicinal purposes, in soaps, candles, teas and bath oils. The biggest demand is for fresh culinary herbs for grocery stores and restaurants.