Cultivation Of Crops: Floral industry; Philanthropic flowers

Crocosmia "Lucifer": Devilish name, Heavenly flower

Just the other day, I saw the first signs of Crocosmias popping up. These fiery blooms, native to South Africa, turn our Arcata 27th Street fields into a brilliant sea of red from July through August. Their season usually starts around the last week of June, but the unseasonably cool weather we experienced throughout California earlier this year slowed them down just a bit. Aside from their seasonality, here's what you need to know about Crocosmias:

Crocosmia is part of the iridaceae family, meaning it's like a first cousin of Gladiola and Iris (about which you can learn more here). The variety we grow at Sun Valley is nicknamed "Lucifer" for its brilliant red color. Think little horns, cloven hooves, pitchfork... Yep, that Lucifer.

Saffron spice

Despite the name, Crocosmia is an eye-catching delight to see and to smell (when dried), that is, if you enjoy the smell of saffron. The name Crocosmia actually comes from the Greek words "krokos" (saffron) and "osme" (smell). If you aren't sure if you enjoy the smell of saffron because you don't know what saffron smells like, I can't really explain it in words. All I can tell you is it is not your typical floral smell! I guess you'll just have to pick up some dried Crocosmia to experience it for yourself, since the flower is more affordable than the spice!

When growing Crocosmia, warmer climates require replanting of their corms (sort of like bulbs) each fall or winter. Arcata's unique cool growing conditions that I'm always going on about allow the crop to come back strong year after year (volunteer growth). Now that they're ready to harvest, our Iris team doubles as a Crocosmia crew, which works out since the fields are right across from each other. Similar to Iris picking, the crew can tell when Crocosmia is ready to pick from the amount of color (in this case, red) showing on the flower. It's all in the family, I guess!

Just in case you are now scratching your head and saying "What about Montbretia?", I'll tell you a bit about what makes Crocosmia and Montbretia slightly different beasts. The Montbretia is smaller, orange in color, and it comes in about 30 days after Crocosmia. Also, Montbretia has a higher flower-to-pod ratio than Crocosmia. Of course, this is all dependent on the weather, which way the wind's blowing, how active our bees are for the season, how much the dogs bark at night... You get the idea. Basically, the pods vary from year to year, which affects which pods we end up distributing in the fall. More on pods below.

Sun Valley Team Member harvesting Crocosmia

As it happens, there are several ways to enjoy Crocosmia after it's harvested. Of course, the exotic fresh cut flower is interesting enough to display as a single stem, or it gives an exciting twist to an everyday arrangement. (As with most cut flowers, cut stems and place in tepid water.) You can also prolong your enjoyment by drying the flower (for simple drying instructions, click here). But wait, there's more! Once the flowers are done blooming around September, Montbretia pods come in. I'm told that the pods are great for adding texture in arrangements. They can also be painted for extra pizazz. Since my arranging skills are still limited to putting a bunch of single varieties in a vase (see examples here and here), I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some of these pods and trying this texture thing out for myself.

Crocosmia field in full bloom

That just about covers my recently acquired knowledge of the heavenly "Lucifer" Crocosmia. If you have anything to add, please let me know in the comments. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to find the answers! Our Flower Resource page has a bit more information on Crocosmia as well. Check it out here: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_Crocosmia.pdf

STAY TUNED: For those of you who attended IFE 2011, we will be raffling off three iPads right here on the blog TOMORROW, so make sure to watch the video! Good luck to the entrants!

Lily's Boots: When life hands you lemons...

Floral industry; Philanthropic flowers

Photo from http://www.raisingceokids.com/

This week, my adventures were slightly less than adventurous, so I've decided make today's post about a near-future event and... lemons.

Did you know that tomorrow is Lemonade Day? Are you even aware of what Lemonade Day is all about? (I'm not grilling you. I just learned what it is myself yesterday when a colleague brought it up, but I thought it was interesting enough to share here.)

Photo from http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Lemonade Day is a nation-wide event in which kids get their first taste of entrepreneurship by setting up lemonade stands. By running their own stands, kids learn about customer service, product, pricing, placement and promotion, supply and demand, economies of scale... Okay, I'm getting carried away. It's a great learning experience, I'll leave it at that.

Further research on lemonade stands brought me to Alex's Lemonade Stand, an organization that has raised over $40 million for Childhood Cancer Research since 2000 simply through the use of lemonade stands. It's truly amazing what you can do with lemons.

I love that the age-old concept of a lemonade stand is being promoted so heartily and for such great reasons. I also think that there's potential for the floral industry to pick up on this fantastic idea, which is why I'm writing about it here in Flower Talk.

Flowers can be used much in the same way as lemons, for both educational and philanthropic purposes. "National Flower Shop Day," anyone? (Okay, maybe we can work on the title.) Why not donate a few flowers to neighborhood kids, encourage them to set up their own flower stands, help them market their shop, and then donate the proceeds to a national charity? Sure, we'd be copying the Lemonade Day and Alex's Lemonade business models, but they work and, at risk of sounding cliché, it's for a good cause.