The light at the end of the tunnel

The light at the end of the tunnel

Around the flower farm CA Grown California Flowers Flower farm lily's boots Soil Grown Tulips Sun Valley Tulips

This week has been a bit darker than most. Consider the course of events:

Halloween

Folks dressed as witches, ghosts and goblins (or a sports fan if you were me - hey, I thought it was scary), haunted houses on every block, punch served out of skulls. A dark holiday indeed.

Dia de los Muertos

Skeletons on parade, celebrations in graveyards, the living emulating the dead. Although it makes light of death (and makes very good use of flores), I would still call this a dark celebration.

And then, the light at the end of the tunnel....


This "tunnel" is the  pathway through on of our coolers!

Daylight Savings Time! 

Some groan at the thought of darkness coming earlier in the night, but I bask in the impending sensation of waking up to a little sunlight! Hardly the morning person, I've been impatiently awaiting this moment since we had our first near-frost at the farm.

If you're like me and love that first whole week's feeling of "sleeping in," then I'd say you're already aware of the perks of Daylight Savings Falling Back. But who, if anyone, appreciates it at the farm?

As it turns out, there are a few people at Sun Valley who love DST almost as I do. For one, our Greenhouse picking crews, who start the day early, enjoy that extra hour of natural sunlight in the Greenhouse. Picking flowers in the Greenhouse or anywhere is a lot easier when you can see them!

Speaking of the Greenhouses, there's one major perk that I'm reminded of when we Fall Back on our clocks: Once that NorCal winter weather starts coming in - ahem, rain - our team has rows upon rows of balmy Greenhouses to stroll through in order to escape the torrential downpours. We had a few readers over the past couple weeks say they'd love a job that allows them to walk through our beautiful farms (inspired in part by these posts: click here and here). Well, when it's raining, you'd certainly love our Greenhouses!

To illustrate what I'm talking about, these are a few images I took today whilst walking the Arcata farm...
 

Since it was sunny and didn't quite capture the "torrential downpours"
that I wrote about, I thought I'd show you a picture of one of the many
puddles that remind us of yesterday's rain. Look closely, you can see
a reflection of the Greenhouses in the puddle!



A row of Greenhouses



Seedlings that will become the rich burgundy Sumatra Lilies



Orientals nearly ready for harvest



Tulip pickers



A full load of Tulips ready to be graded



Freshly steamed soil. Because we reuse our soil, we steam it in
order to remove unwanted pathogens and weed seeds. 

Aside from the picking team, there are a few others who get an extra pep in their step from the time change: 1) The Farmers. Although they have to be somewhat hardened to the elements, I'm sure our farmers enjoy the extra warmth from the sun first thing in the morning. 2) The Sales Team. Your helpful Sales reps are here dark and early each day so they can help you out, whether you're down the street or on the other side of the country. After Sunday, that'll be bright and early! 3) Anyone else with an early morning start. You get the idea.

I could go on more about why Daylight Savings Time is great, but I have a feeling I'd start talking in circles. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Monday!

If you've got anything to add to my one-sided conversation on DST, please share it in the comments below!



A trip down serenity lane

A trip down serenity lane

California Flowers Chinese Lanterns Cotinus Fall Flowers Flowers and Emotion Ilex Rosehips

As you might imagine, one of the many perks of working at a flower farm is getting to stroll through the flower farm once in a while. Immersing yourself in fields of flowers, foliage and berries makes you forget about ringing phones and unanswered emails for a bit. Everyday stresses just melt away and in flow feelings of calmness and tranquility.

And happiness. Let's not forget about happiness.

When you're waist-deep (sometimes over-your-head deep) in flowers, you basically feel every emotion we know cut flowers invoke in people - just a much larger dose.

For the readers who don't get to frolic through the flowers on a regular basis, I want to take you on an image tour of Willow Creek, which I visited for first time since summer the other day. Hopefully sharing these pictures can help you forget your daily woes for a few minutes!

The Farm

Three months ago, Willow Creek was sun-drenched valley laced with the
scent of roses and buzzing with bees. A couple weeks ago it was blanketed
in fog (as pictured here) and bursting with fall crops.



The view from above

The neighbors



Rosehips



Fog hangs over the Rosehip crop



A few rose bushes still have flowers, soon to be completely replaced by berries



Close-up of brilliant red, giant Rosehips

Cotinus

The Cotinus stands about 8 - 10 feet tall now.
I felt like Alice in Wonderland when I wandered past this crop!

 

The Cotinus was covered with droplets from the previous night's rainfall. The rain drops
looked like crystals against the dark purple Cotinus. What a stunning sight!



Close-up of rain droplets on Cotinus leaves



Physalis (aka Chinese Lanterns)

 

A field of Chinese Lanterns, nearly ready for harvest

 

Close-up of the paper-like Chinese Lanterns

Sun Valley team members - fully clad in waterproof gear to keep dry after
the rain - harvest a row of Chinese Lanterns



A tractor-pulled cart full of freshly cut Chinese Lanterns

Ilex Berries



Gold Ilex is just about ready for harvest



Red Ilex will follow the Gold and Orange harvest, just in time for Christmas!

Here ends my photo tour of Willow Creek in the fall. Hopefully it gave you a moment of peace during your busy day!

If you want to learn more about any of these crops click on the following links:

For more on Rosehips, click here for the blog post or here for the flower resource page.
For more on Cotinus, click here for the blog or here for the resource page.
For the Chinese Lanterns resource page, click here.
And finally, for the Ilex resource page, click here.

Also, check back in a few weeks for a post on Ilex and what this crop has in common with Degas' famous paintings of ballerinas!







Hey Material Girl, Open Your Heart... to Hydrangeas

Hey Material Girl, Open Your Heart... to Hydrangeas

CA Grown California Flowers Farmers market Growing Flowers Hydrangea Sun Valley

As most floral enthusiasts already know, Hydrangeas have been getting quite a bit of attention in the social media circuit lately, which is quite a coincidence, since my planned topic for this week was Hydrangeas (I swear!). Of course, I planned on sharing some insight into how we grow them, not who likes them or, well, doesn't.

Back in June, I talked a bit about Hydrangeas - their meaning, ancient uses, care tips, etc. Today, I'm going to give you the Sun Valley spin on these lovable mop heads, thanks to Tim, the grower who gave us a "Bells and Whistles" tour of our Love and Royal Lilies a few weeks ago. A short stroll through our Arcata Shade Houses gave me a lot more insight into the lone perennial we grow at our Arcata farm (and further convinced me that the original Princess of Pop is crazy).

Here's what I learned about the gigantic blooms being passionately defended by growers and florists everywhere:

First of all, as I just mentioned, Hydrangeas are perennials that continuously provide growth for what Tim estimates to be about 20 years. (Back in the 90's, one of Tim's first jobs at Sun Valley was to prune the very same Hydrangea plants that are still growing here today. That should give you some idea of how long these things grow!) Each year, the large, leafy bushes produce multi-flowered blooms in a range of colors, mostly blues, pinks, purples and whites.

As I mentioned in my previous Hydrangea post, the pH balance of the soil determines the color of Hydrangeas. As a general rule of green thumb, a pH of 5.5 or lower gives you a blue Hydrangea, and a pH of 6.5 and higher gives you a pink Hydrangea. (Regardless of pH, white is white.) The soil at our Humboldt farm tends to be a bit on the acidic side, so in order to produce more pinks, the growers send a base solution (calcium carbonate) through the irrigation tubes to certain crops.

Of course, color characteristics vary among different varieties. As we toured the Hydrangea Shade Houses, we strolled past red and green "Antique Hamburgs," "Kuhnert" blues, "Oregon Pride" pinkish-purples, "Merritt Supreme" perfect dark purples, and a variety of brand new Dutch hybrids in exciting new colors (and growing techniques).

I should note here that Antique Hydrangeas, certain varieties that have hardened on the vine prior to harvest and appear "marbled" in color, sometimes get a bad rap due to a few common misconceptions (and not just because of recent negative publicity created by the Material Girl). Let's go ahead and clear up those fallacies right now: Some browning of the petals occurs naturally and just requires a bit of manicuring. It is NOT decay! When Hydrangeas "Antique" or "Heirloom," they develop a marbled appearance and start to show colors that can be confused with decay. This is NOT decay! Furthermore, Antique Hydrangeas will not wilt like fresh blooms, nor do their heads require submerging in water. So, they're actually pretty fantastic. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here are some of the varieties we saw in the Shade Houses...

"Antique Hamburg" - Tim said this variety is "bullet-proof" and a grower's favorite.
Sun Valley's "Antique Hamburg" Hydrangeas won Best in Show at SAF in 2004.



"Oregon Pride" pinkish-purple Hydrangeas



"Merritt Supreme" deep purple Hydrangeas


We grow a majority of our Hydrangea crops in Shade Houses, which mainly serve to keep rain off the plants and to shield them from too much sunlight, thus prolonging their growing season (they love water and some sun, but you know the saying - "Too much of a good thing..."). Our Hydrangea season can start as early as June 1st and end as late as December 1st (or with the first frost of the season).



An old Hydrangea plant (no longer used for harvesting) grows right out in the open sun.
Notice how the "sunburn" has faded the color of the blooms.

According to Tim, all the rage in Hydrangea Land are the new Dutch hybrids that we've just started growing. These Hydrangeas produce more flowers per plant, widen the range of colors available on the market, and bloom on one-year-old wood. Aside from their inherent benefits, the interesting thing about these crops is that, as opposed to growing them in the ground like our senior-status Hydrangea crops, we're growing them in large pots. This technique allows our growers more control or the soil alkalinity and the amount of water the plants receive. Take a look at these new varieties...



Rows of pots full of new variety, "Pearl" Hydrangea, the ideal pearly white



"Glowing Alps" Hydrangea is a brilliant glowing hot pink color



Cheery pink "Opal" Hydrangeas against a backdrop of "Pearl" Hydrangeas

When our fresh Hydrangeas are harvested, the Hydrangea team dunk the heads of the plants in cool water for a good five minutes before putting them back right side-up in buckets of water and hydration solution. When they're ready to ship, they're normally packed in a plastic wrap in order to keep the humidity high. Tim noted that Hydrangeas have the root word "Hydra-" or water (we couldn't remember if this was Greek or Latin), meaning these plants love that water! ("Hydra-" is Latin, in case you're wondering.)

This is where I ended my tour with Tim. If you want a few useful care tips for your beloved Hydrangeas, take a look at my previous Hydrangea post here. And remember: If you love Hydrangeas, go ahead and Express Yourself. Don't worry about Madonna.


If you want to stay updated on Sun Valley's flowers and other floral industry fun, subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the upper righthand corner of this page, and then follow the given steps. Thanks!  

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies - Part 2

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies - Part 2

Asiatic Lilies CA Grown California Flowers lily's boots Love Lilies Royal Lilies Sun Valley

Freshly harvested Royal Lilies

In my last Lily's Boots post, we followed Love and Royal Lily bulbs all the way from the bulb coolers to the soil, thanks to Tim, our informative tour guide. Today, we'll complete the journey from the sprout to the shipping cooler, thanks to a handful of knowledgeable Sun Valley Team Members.

Starting where we left off...

Once Loves and Royals are planted in the ground (which Tim and I got first-hand experience with), they take about 12 weeks to reach their blooming point, taking somewhat longer earlier in the season. Similar to Tulips, the Lily bulbs that hang out a bit longer in the coolers are the ones that hang out the shortest amount of time in the Hoophouses. Because they really enjoy the regular weather patterns of Arcata during this season and Oxnard during the alternate season, Royal and Love Lilies do not require a Greenhouse to grow in, unlike their Oriental Lily counterparts. (We'll explore Oriental Lily growing in the future.) For this reason, they're somewhat of a Grower's dream!

Although they're grown year-round between Arcata and Oxnard, we're in the midst of the peak planting season for Love and Royal Lilies since they provide a full spectrum of Autumnal colors. Also, because our Lily bulbs are used only once, as opposed to Gerberas or Roses, which grow from the same plant for three years, we are able to exercise a significant level of control over our Lily color programs. (Check out the range of Love and Royal Lily colors by clicking here and here.) So at any given time during this time of year, if you take a trip over to the Hoophouses, you can see the Loves and Royals being planted, tended to, and harvested - a whole life cycle happening right before your eyes!



At one part of the farm, a Team Member harvests Royal Lilies

Once the Lilies have been hand-cut by the Asiatic Lily Picking Team, they are wheeled a short distance over to a nearby Hoophouse, where they are bunched, sleeved and put into buckets of water. As it happens, I got a little bit of hands on experience with the sleeving the other day. I regret to inform you that I did not catch it on video, but here are some photos.

My bunching station: Grade 1 Love Lilies on the left, sleeves in the middle,
sleeved bunches on the right



Lily putting Lilies in a sleeve, taking about double the amount
of time as the Team Member to my left (not pictured), I might add

You might think that bunching and sleeving is as simple as putting a few stems together and sticking them into a sleeve, but the process is actually much more complicated. At least, I found it to be! For starters, each Lily has to be graded and then separated into its respective grade. The grading is made clear with color-coded rubber bands. Blue = Grade 1, and Red = Grade 6.



Blue and red rubber bands identify the Lily grades



Then each bunch of Lilies must go into its own sleeve. Every sleeve is coded with the brand and name of a Lily, and a color ring around the top of the sleeve indicates the color of the Lily - a helpful measure since we ship our Lilies closed.



"Santa Cruz" Love Lilies



"Champagne Diamond" Royal Lilies



"Tiger Play" Tango Lilies

Once the Love and Royal Lilies have been graded, bunched and sleeved, a Team Member ties them, trims them and puts them into a bucket of water on one of our Dutch auction carts. (You may remember the carts from IFE.) The team member carefully maps each cart to show exactly which variety or varieties are on the cart, how many bunches are in each bucket, and how many buckets are on each cart. This data is then entered into our computer system so the Packing Team in the Warehouse (the Love and Royal Lilies' final destination at the farm) will have an accurate inventory to pull from.



A Team Member ties and trims Love Lilies



Next the Team Member draws out a cart map by hand,
which he will later enter into a computer.



Finally, the Team Member wheels a full cart to the edge of
the Hoophouse where another team member will collect it
and pull it into the Warehouse.

And this completes our Sun Valley tour of the Love and Royal Lilies. The rest of the story, as you know, continues with a little Cold Chain Management, a wholesaler, retailer or florist, and ultimately, a smiling recipient of Loves or Royals.

The next time you're sticking an orange Love or a burgundy Royal into your cornucopia, you'll know exactly where your Lilies came from!

For even more information on Loves and Royals, visit this Resource Pages:
Love Lilies and Royal Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_LiliesRL.pdf
Love Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_LoveLilies.pdf
Royal Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_RoyalLilies.pdf

A newsletter worth blogging about: CCFC's Field Notes

A newsletter worth blogging about: CCFC's Field Notes

CA Grown California Flowers CCFC Farmers market Field Notes Floral industry Sending flowers Sun Valley

It has recently come to our attention that the California Cut Flower Commission (let's call 'em CCFC from here on out) is going to be releasing their first issue of Field Notes in the very near future. Our Team has had the great fortune of working with the CCFC on a number of levels, from small promotions to congressional hearings on issues facing the California cut flower industry, so we know they'll deliver the freshest California flower facts in their newsletter! Whether you're a grower, retailer, designer or just someone who loves flowers (read: if you're a person), Field Notes will clue you in to the latest news, floral business tips, industry profiles, and quite a lot more.

[On a personal note, I've been following the CCFC blog for awhile now, and I've found the information nothing short of enlightening. I trust that Field Notes will be of the same calibre.]

Make sure you don't miss the first issue of Field Notes! Subscribe here: http://www.ccfc.org/fieldnotes

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies (Watch the Video!)

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies (Watch the Video!)

CA Grown California Flowers Lilies lily's boots Love Lilies Royal Lilies Sun Valley

Love and Royal Lilies fill out a fall arrangement (along with Tulips, Gerbera and Sonata Lilies)



This week, I spent some time getting to know some of the other Lily(s) on the farm - the ones that go by the names of Love and Royal, to be exact. (Love Lilies are Sun Valley's Asiatic Lilies, and Royal Lilies are our Asiatic Longiflorum Hybrid Lilies - LA Hybrids.) On Monday, I came to the realization that I knew quite little about the complete growing process of these flowers that share my name. So yesterday, I arranged to meet with Tim, one of our lead Growers. What I thought would be more like an informational interview turned into a full-blown tour of the entire Love and Royal Lily growing process, from bulb cooler to warehouse, complete with a hands-on planting experience! I captured most of the experience in pictures and video, so enjoy the tour!



Tim, the tour guide



We started our journey in the Lily coolers, where the bulbs, which come in from Holland throughout the year (but mostly in the fall), are stored in peat moss, which is a perfect medium for keeping the bulbs moist, but not too moist, and for keeping the bulbs oxygenated while they slumber in the winter-weather coolers.

Crates full of Lily bulbs in the cooler



Tim displays the bulbs in peat moss

Each week, the bulbs are pulled out of the coolers about three days before they are ready to be planted in Hoophouses so they can thaw. Royals and Loves love growing in the ground and have an affinity for warm days and cool nights, which is why they're grown in Arcata Hoophouses in the summer and Oxnard Hoophouses in the winter. These Hoophouses, called "Cold Frames" in grower speak, actually have to be "pre-watered" before the bulbs can be planted (more on planting in a minute). Tim can actually power the irrigation system from his phone, albeit not as easily as doing it in person. Ah, modern technology! 



A misty Hoophouse being "pre-watered"

Once the soil has the right level of moisture, the Love and Royal Lilies are planted right into the ground by quick-handed Team Members and the "Planting Machine." (We love our technical terms here at the farm!) As it moves along a pipe track, the machine drills a line of holes across the dirt, which the team members quickly fill with bulbs. A horizontal bar at the back of the machine sweeps dirt into the planted holes. This machine enables the Team to plant literally thousands of bulbs each day!



The "Planting Machine"



A Planting Team Member - ready for his close-up!


Always up for a challenge, Tim and I tried our hands at the planting machine during the Planting Team's break. You can see us in action in the video below!

It turns out I'm not quite as coordinated as I had once believed. (Nor was Tim!) It was a great learning experience nonetheless!

Finally, the Planting Team lay drip tape, which supplies an appropriate amount of water and fertilizer directly to the Lilies' roots systems, and then they lay a wire grid, which will be raised with the Lilies as they grow to help keep them growing tall and straight.


Baby Lilies peeking up through drip tape and wire


And that, my friends, is the first part of the Love and Royal Lilies story. At this point, you've probably got enough to go on for the weekend. Please check in next week for the rest of their journey at Sun Valley - growing, harvesting and bunching!