Lily's Boots: Flowers, Science and Smiles

At the beginning of this week, I had the false perception (despite gloomy weather forcasts and dark, ominous rain clouds hovering in the horizon) that we were going to have dry, sunny weather all week here in Humboldt, thus allowing me to trade in my rain boots for my riders. Well, Wednesday night's hail and Friday morning's frost popped that little bubble. Ah well, rain boots it was!

Anyhow, my Boots had the pleasure of strolling through one of our farms on tours for Humboldt State University Marketing and MBA students this week. We journeyed through our massive coolers (one cooler can store about one million bulbs - wow!), our warm Iris rooms, the Tulip Greenhouses and Bunching Room, the Lily Greenhouses, and the Packing and Shipping Warehouse.

Lily Greenhouse

Although this wasn't my Boots' first trip around the farm, the tours certainly helped fill in some missing pieces of my floral education.

For example, I knew that Tulip bulbs are held back in "winter" coolers before being pulled into the greenhouse, but I had no idea that the opposite is true for Iris bulbs. While Tulip bulbs are stored at near freezing temps for vernalization (or the stimulization of growth), Iris bulbs are actually stored at a balmy 87 degrees for their dormancy period. Fascinating!

There were so many other tidbits of information that I picked up from one of our Sales Managers and one of our resident "Tulip Guys", but alas, this post is not a novel, so I will share these educational gems at a later date.

Perhaps the most enchanting part of the tours was when I experienced first-hand the magical effects flowers have on their recipients. One of our recurrent conversations with the HSU students was about the positive emotional effects associated with flowers. To really drive the point home, each of the students received a whole bunch our fresh Tulips, sprinkled with some Hyacinths and Lilies. As the flowers found their ways into the hands of their new owners, smiles spread from ear to ear on male and female faces alike. Positive emotional effects in action!

So this week, my Boots brought me to a greater understanding of the science behind flower growing, as well as through the ethereal experience of flowers bringing happiness. That put a smile on my face!