Chinese New Year: A Floral New Year

Chinese New Year: A Floral New Year

CA Grown California Flowers Chinese New Year Sun Valley



Dragons on parade for the Chinese New Year (Photo courtesy of chinatownconnection.com)

We're smack dab in the middle of the Chinese New Year, the most important of traditional Chinese holidays, during which time Chinese populations (and anyone who follows the Chinese Zodiac) all over the world celebrate a new beginning. There are several traditions linked to this holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, and as you might have already guessed, flowers are a big part of the tradition.

According to sources like Chinatown San Francisco and The New York Times, flowers symbolize wealth, high career status and good fortune in Chinese culture. They believe that fresh blooms in the home during the New Year will bring success in the coming year. Therefore, elaborate flower markets in China and Chinatowns everywhere are a common sight to see this time of year. 


Hong Kong flower market (Photo courtesy of nytimes.com)

This is, as anyone near a Chinatown will tell you, simply wonderful. What a great time of year for floral folks in these areas!

Starfighters symbolize wealth
and prosperity



My question is: with the tremendous range of flowers available year-round nowadays, why aren't those of us who celebrate the Gregorian New Year (January 1st) celebrating with flowers as well? The prevalent use of flowers during the Chinese New Year is certainly rooted in tradition and symbolism, but hey, we've got tradition, too! And flowers are full of symbolism!



Just take the Stargazer Lily (which was hybridized right here at Sun Valley, by the way) and its cousin the Starfighter: They symbolize wealth and prosperity. Put a bunch of Stargazers/fighters in your home and open yourself up for good fortune in the New Year! Tulips signify perfect love. Put a couple bunches of French tulips in your home... and who knows what will happen?!

The point is (you probably know where this is going already): Flowers enhance every occasion. It's a fact. It seems as though every other culture on this planet really grasps this concept, while many Americans only seem to remember flowers for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and weddings.

Let's get on board, people. In 2013 and years to come, let's celebrate like it's the Chinese New Year. Let's celebrate with flowers!


Not sure what flowers are available during the New Year? Take a look at our crop calendar by clicking HERE. 

Life's most important question

Life's most important question

CA Grown California Flowers Growing Flowers Martin Luther King Day Veriflora Certification

You and I, your company and Sun Valley - we're in the flower business, or the business of spreading cheer. We've all read the reports about how flowers make people happier, calmer, more energetic, less stressed, etc. Facilitating these emotions is what we do every day, and it's something to feel good about. Perhaps equally important as the inherent benefits of the flowers we grow and sell is how the work we do to produce flowers benefits others.

photo from nobelprize.org

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" Dr. King, a martyr for social change and equality, did quite a lot for others during his short stay on Earth, more than most. But you don't have to be the leader of a civil rights movement to help out your fellow man or woman.


Like I mentioned above, we essentially make people happy for a living, but there's a whole lot that goes on before we put flowers into our customers' hands as well. This is where Veriflora comes in. The Veriflora certification ensures those buying our flowers that we are committed to delivering the highest quality products possible and producing them in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner. To me, this means that we continuously strive to improve the lives of our team members, our community and our customers by working conscientiously. It means helping others out each step of the way.

Today, while we commemorate the great Martin Luther King, Jr., let's ask ourselves just what we can do for others every day in everything we do.
 

Read more about Sun Valley and Veriflora by visiting our resource page: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_VerifloraCertified.pdf

Learn more about Veriflora by visiting their website: http://www.veriflora.com/index.php



Interview with The Aster Master - Part 2

Interview with The Aster Master - Part 2

Asters CA Grown California Flowers Chamomile Growing Flowers Matsumoto Asters Seestern Asters Sun Valley

A few weeks ago, we dipped our toes into the world of Aster growing at Sun Valley. I talked a bit about the who (Gerrit, the Aster Master) and the what (different varieties we grow) of our Aster program. Today we're digging deeper and getting into the real heart of the story - the where, when, why and how our Asters are grown.

Bulb Schmulb

As you may already know, The Sun Valley Group started out way back when as Sun Valley Bulb Farm. Our primary focus was (and still essentially is), obviously, bulb flowers like tulips, irises, and lilies. But with our growth as a company has come an ever-expanding selection of cut flowers, including some non-bulb varieties. Asters fall into this category.

Asters grow from seeds, plain and simple. The Aster planting team uses plugs - seeds rooted in about an inch of dirt in trays - that are bought in or seeded on the farm, as they are much more economical then planting seeds directly in the fields. (You can watch how plugs are seeded in this video.) A major difference between growing seed flowers and bulb flowers is seeds or seed plugs don't require cooling before they are ready to be planted. As you might guess, this is a huge advantage for Sun Valley, saving us time and cooler space.

However, that's not to say growing Asters is particularly easy...

Musical Hoops

Sea Star Asters growing in an Oxnard hoophouse

Imagine for a moment physically picking up your house, your car, the garage that houses your car, and all of your loose belongings and moving them to a new location... every year. That's somewhat what it's like with our Aster crops because of a process called crop rotation. I'm pretty sure you've heard of crop rotation before, but in case you haven't, it means periodically changing the crop grown in a particular field to help promote the restoration of essential nutrients in the soil.

A couple years ago, the Sun Valley Oxnard farmers accelerated the Aster crop rotation schedule and wound up with stronger flowers and a higher recovery rate. Great for our crops, hard work for our farmers. Because the Asters require much more than just a field to be planted in (hoops, lighting, generators, hydration systems, etc.), moving the crops requires a lot of time, precision and heavy lifting. But like the saying goes... somebody's gotta do it!

So, how does crop rotation impact our Asters?



Sweetheart Asters making a comeback!

Remember when I called Sweetheart Asters "The Comeback Kids" in Aster Master - Part 1? Well, crop rotation is precisely what facilitated this comeback. When we initially grew the beloved little Sweethearts, "the soil got tired," as Gerrit put it, from growing so many Matsumotos. Sweetheart Asters were the exhausted soil's casualty.

Soon after, the farmers decided to pick up the farm, take all of the hoops off the field, and replace Matsumotos with Iris. (Unlike our Arcata hoophouses, the Oxnard hoops are moveable... in case you were wondering.) This led to an entirely new "growing culture" in Oxnard, which now included crop rotation with Asters, irises and neighboring strawberry farm crops. This shift led to a much more favorable recovery rate for our Asters, and ultimately allowed us to reintroduce our Sweetheart Asters.



Matricaria busy healing the ground!

 You probably also remember me calling Matricaria (Chamomile) "The Healers."  These adorable flowers are vital to the Aster crop rotation process, since they actually heal the soil. And since they make such a charming filler for enhanced bunches and bouquets, our Matricaria varieties are a win-win for us!

How does our Aster garden grow?



Young Asters



Short answer: Year-round in hoops!

Long answer: Aster plugs are planted in hoophouses. Then, similar to growing Royal and Love Lilies, drip tape and a wire grid are laid down. Drip tape ensures adequate delivery of water and fertilizer to the plants' root systems, and the wire grid helps their stems grow straight and sturdy.

Asters are naturally a fall crop, but for some inexplicable reason, they seem to love growing year-round in Oxnard! They take about 10-15 weeks to grow, depending on the season, and the use of hoops and lighting help keep them on schedule during off seasons.

Unlike our bulb flowers, which are cut when still closed, Asters show full color when they are ready for harvest. This makes for a lot of pretty farm pictures! 




Karthauser Sea Star Asters



White Daisy Matricaria (Chamomile)



Freshly harvested Matsumoto Asters


This pretty much sums up my interview with Gerrit, The Aster Master. I, for one, picked up a wealth of new knowledge from this experience. I hope you, too, walk away with a little more insight into growing Asters - The Godfathers, The Comeback Kids, The Crowd Pleasers and The Healers - at Sun Valley!

Click on the following link to watch a video about Sun Valley Oxnard farm and learn a whole lot more about Asters from Gerrit and J Schwanke! (You will have to log into your uBloom account to watch the video.) http://ubloom.com/blog/2010/10/28/the-ca-grown-experience-on-ubloom-visits-sun-valley-group-oxnard-division/ Also, be sure to check out the Sun Valley website to see which Aster varieties are in season now.

If you would like to learn more about our Asters, or if you have anything you would like me to blog about in a future post, please email me! I'll do my best to oblige!

Baby it's cold outside, but it's warm fuzzies in here!

Baby it's cold outside, but it's warm fuzzies in here!

CA Grown California Flowers Christmas flowers Flower Meaning Flowers and Emotion flowers for delivery Sending flowers Sun Valley

The holidays tend to bring on a flood of emotions: Joy, surprise, anticipation, gratitude, love, maybe a little stress from time to time... Spending time with loved ones, carefully selecting the perfect tree, bedazzling the home, swapping gifts, cooking and eating traditional feasts, and traveling can truly cause one to experience every emotion on Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions (see image below) simultaneously. I'd argue that no other season has this impact on so many people.

Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions, 1980 (Notice its floral shape!)


Like the holidays, flowers have an emotional impact on people, and their effects are resoundingly positive. Some of the top emotional benefits associated with flowers (according to a 2006 behavioral research study by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D. of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School) are increased compassion towards others, diminished feelings of anxiety, stress and depression, and increased energy, happiness and enthusiasm. All particularly beneficial during the holidays!


Increased compassion for others

Reduced feelings of anxiety, stress and depression

 

Increased energy, happiness and enthusiasm

As it turns out, these favorable emotional shifts aren't only associated with receiving flowers - the flowers just have to be present in the home. So, they can be given as a present to a friend or a present to yourself - everybody wins! According to Etcoff, placing flowers in a high-traffic area (oh, let's say maybe the kitchen or living room this time of year) gives the most emotional bang for your floral buck. This makes sense really - higher exposure to flowers = elevated feelings of elation.

It's cold out there. You could light a fire or spike your eggnog to keep warm, but why not use flowers to make things warm and fuzzy?

Happy holidays from Lily and the Sun Valley Team!

Interview with The Aster Master - Part 1

Interview with The Aster Master - Part 1

Asters CA Grown California Flowers Christmas flowers Christmas greens Sun Valley

Now that we're over a week into December, I think it's safe to say we're officially in Holiday Mode. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Christmas, or just a holiday from work or school, you're undoubtedly encountering the festive spirit everywhere you go. The colors red and green, silver and gold deck every hall and home. Reindeer sweaters, eggnog cocktails, fairy lights, huge blow-up snowmen, real snowmen, and Christmas cookies are everywhere you look. (My team members just brought in a Dutch auction cart sized load of the little confectionery delights for "Bagel Friday," for example. Many thanks for the gluten-free cookies!) 

Yep, the holidays are here.

Since Sun Valley is full-swing into Holiday Mode, it makes sense to write about our holiday offerings. Of course, we have gorgeous red Tulips, pristine white, Starfighter and Candy Cane Oriental Lilies, fragrant Christmas greens, and bountiful red berries - Ilex and Rosehips. But today I simply want to talk about Asters.

Because some of our Asters come in true holiday red, I thought they fit perfectly into my Holiday Mode schema. A recent interview with Gerrit, aka "The Aster Master," the other day left me with abundant information about the star-shaped flowers.

When this happens - "this" meaning I learned A LOT about our crops from one of our farmers - I need to break up the information into few posts to keep my rambling to a minimum, so here we go. For now, I'll start simple, really simple, and give you a breakdown of the Asters we grow at Sun Valley:

Matsumoto Asters - The Godfathers

Matsumoto Asters, also referred to as Calistephus, feature cushiony, brightly-colored petals in red, hot pink, pink, purple, lavendar, bi-red and bi-lavendar, arranged around clusters of tiny yellow flowers. Because of their popularity among customers and favorable recovery rate, Matsumotos account for a large percentage of our Aster program. You might say Matsumotos are the head of the Sun Valley Aster family.

Sweetheart Asters - The Comeback Kids

They're back! These little beauties, commonly called Serenade Asters, consist of multiple small star-like flowers per stem. They've just made a comback in our Aster arena, which will be discussed further in the next post. With brilliant colors like red, hot pink and purple - not available in other filler crops - and exceptional vaselife, Sweethearts are a charming and unique filler.

Sea Star Asters - The Crowd Pleasers



Sea Star Asters, which consist of Igel, Seestern and Krallen varieties, boast huge heads filled all the way in with petals (except Seestern, which have yellow centers) and tall, sturdy stems. Sea Stars recently made their debut at Sun Valley in summer of 2010, and they've made quite a name for themselves already. You'll have to sea these beauties for yourself to understand what all the fuss is about! (Sorry about the pun - I couldn't help myself!)

Matricaria (Chamomile) Buttons, Cushions and Daisies - The Healers

As cute as the names imply, these little blooms add a dash of whimsy and fun to any arrangement. Aside from their aesthetic qualities, they also have healing qualities. You're probably already aware of the calming properties of chamomile tea, but did you know that the plant actually "heals" the soil as well? This makes them an essential part of our Aster crop rotation, which I'll discuss in detail in the next post.

Finally we have Solidago, which I would describe as bringing the garden into your home due its wildflower look. Our farmers have timed this crop carefully to come in during peak yellow demand seasons, thus Solidago signifies the onset of spring one season and resembles falling leaves another season.

And those, my friends, are the Asters we grow at Sun Valley - all fabulous fillers and some wildly appropriate for this holiday season. I'm glad I finally got the opportunity to share some information about them with you. Now I'm going to don my reindeer sweater, pour some eggnog, and use some Matsumoto Asters for my snowman's eyes! Happy Holidays!

For more information on Matsumoto Asters, Sea Star Asters and Matricaria, check out our flower resource pages:

Matsumotos

http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_Asters.pdf

Sea Stars http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_SeaStarAster.pdf

Matricaria

http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_Matricaria.pdf

Also, please check back soon to learn more about how we grow Asters at our Sun Valley Oxnard farm...

Thankful for Tulips!

Thankful for Tulips!

California Flowers Christmas flowers Sending flowers Soil Grown Tulips Sun Valley Tulip festival

Last week I asked Flower Talk readers and Facebook fans to tell us what they were thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday for a chance to win a free box of mixed Christmas tulips. We got a handful of responses, some funny ("I'm thankful for Conor Maguire. The best sales girl ever.") and some that tugged at the heartstrings. I'm thankful that they shared with us!

The Sales team and I decided to select TWO lucky tulips recipients, one from our local community and the other a valued customer. Because it was so much fun last time we used video for a raffle, we're doing it again!

Click on the video below to find out who won the Christmas tulips!

(My sincere apologies if I pronounced your name wrong!)

If you have trouble viewing or hearing the video, here are the names of the winners:

1. Sarah Michel
2. AllisonWard

Congratulations!!! We hope these tulips bring you much joy this holiday!

I will be contacting the winners on Facebook soon for shipping details.

Thanksgiving - Reflection on a floral education

Thanksgiving - Reflection on a floral education

California Flowers Growing Flowers Hydrangea Ilex Love Lilies Royal Lilies Soil Grown Tulips Sun Valley Thanksgiving

The turkey is back.

Without fail, the often grounded, gobbling bird returns year after year to remind us that it's time for a feast, football and most importantly, reflection. Thanksgiving is a holiday to, like the name implies, give thanks for the people and things that enhance our lives.

Since most of us won't be checking our emails tomorrow, I'm going to go ahead and share my personal Thanksgiving reflection with you today. Among the things I give thanks for every year - family, health, chocolate, The Beatles, etc. - this year I'm particularly grateful for the continuing floral education I've received from Sun Valley.

I've learned more about flowers in the past year at Sun Valley than I have throughout my previous 20-something years on earth. And I've had the pleasure of sharing it all right here on Flower Talk. The beauty of it is even though my floral horizons have been broadened so much already, there's still a huge world of flower facts out there for me to discover!

Until then, I want to share some of my favorite educational posts, ones I feel accurately represent my learning experience thus far. Without further ado...

1. Willow Creek Part 3 - In search of the "perfect Ilex"

I visited the Willow Creek farm with Lane a few months ago , and I learned a lot about Cotinus, Rosehips and Ilex, among other things. This post goes into detail about how our Ilex is grown and reveals one of Lane's greatest passions as a farmer.







2. Lily's Boots: Summer and... Cryogenic Freezing?

What do Sun Valley summer Tulips and Cryogenic Freezing have in common? One of our farm's main strengths is growing Tulips year-round. Learn how we're able to grow our Tulips in the summertime.







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

In light of Madonna's public denouncement of Hydrangeas, this post tells you all you need to know about how Hydrangeas are grown at Sun Valley.






4. Lily's Boots: The Path to Iris Enlightenment

I set out to learn all about Iris, and walked away a little more enlightened. This post is filled with fun facts about Iris and explores how this beautiful flower is grown and harvested.








5. Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies - Part 1 and Part 2

You can't have one without the other! These posts go into detail about how we grow our Asiatic (Love) and Royal (LA Hybrid) Lilies at Sun Valley's Arcata farm. I got some fantastic hands-on planting and bunching experience - check out the video!




While there are so many other fascinating floral topics that I've covered over the last several months, I feel these posts provide a great example of the knowledge I've absorbed while working at the farm.

I'm very grateful to have been given the opportunity to learn so much about such a fascinating topic and to be able to share it with you. I'm also grateful that I get to continue doing so!


And now, for the first time on Flower Talk...
For a chance to WIN A FREE CASE OF MIXED CHRISTMAS TULIPS, tell me what you're thankful for this year on our Facebook page! (Click HERE for the Sun Valley Floral Farms Facebook page.)