The present invention provided methods and compositions for modifying flower development and reproductive development in plants. The methods involve transforming a plant with a polynucleotide construct comprising a promoter operably lined to polynucleotide molecule encoding a short vegetative phase-like transcription factor. The compositions include transformed plants, plant cells, seeds, and expression cassettes comprising a polynucleotide molecule encoding a short vegetative phase-like transcription factor or fragment or variant thereof.