Learn About White Oriental Lilies

Learn About White Oriental Lilies

Cedar Christmas Lilies Flower Talk LA Hybrid Lilies Lilies in Christianity Lilies in Greek mythology Mary White Oriental Lilies

Holy smokes, only one week until Christmas. I need to get some shopping done, and start figuring out what will be on the menu for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. Living in rural Humboldt County it is rare when people come to visit.  When they do, we roll out all the bells and whistles… or in our case all the lilies and cedar. Our White Orchid Lilies are as timeless as Santa, and they smell a lot better.

Lilies with Cedar

Christmas is traditionally dominated by the relatively dark hues of red and green. What better flower to dress up your festivities than a white oriental lily. If you are new to Sun Valley, you should know that we brand our Oriental Lilies, as “Orchid Lilies.” The reason we do this is to separate our big, bodacious lilies from all others. Sun Valley is obsessed with quality, and the Orchid Lily line is the epitome of this passion. Personally, I choose an oriental over other varieties, such as an equally beautiful Bright Diamond LA Hybrid lily, because of that lovely scent. Mixed with the traditional evergreen scent of Christmas, it really compliments the earthy pine fragrances.


The White Lily isn’t just a good match for the Holidays because of the color. Symbolically, it has strong meaning in Christian culture. Christians hold the lily as a symbol of chastity, innocence, purity and piety. In early Christian art the white lily is symbolic of the "Madonna" as the flower is associated with the Virgin Mary. It is typically depicted in a vase or held by Gabriel in Annunciation paintings.

Moreover, the parts of the lily have specific religious significance to the Virgin Mary:

• The stem of the lily symbolizes Mary's religiously faithful mind.
• Lily petals represent Mary's purity and virginity.
• The scent of the flower represents Mary's divinity.
• The leaves signify her humility.

With its three primary petals, and 3 secondary petals, the lily is often considered a Trinity symbol, holding the representation of three virtues: Charity, Hope and Faith.

Whoa, Merry Christmas!

White Cup Lilies are ready for the holidays.

Before the Christians, the Greeks had some deep symbolism attached to the white lily as well. Greek lore associates lily meaning with birth and it is a symbol for motherhood because the flower was said to be created from the breast milk of Hera.

As the story goes, Zeus wanted Hercules (his son born from an extra-marital affair) to become a god. One way of doing this was to have him suckle at the breast of his wife, Hera. Zeus invoked the god of sleep, Somnus, to put Hera in a deep slumber while he enticed Hercules to suck at her bosom. He did this so vigorously that the milk overflowed. That which flowed heaven-wards became the Milky Way, and the milk that flowed to the earth turned into a white lily. Another telling of the tale says, when Hera woke up and realized that she was breastfeeding an unknown infant, she pushed him away and the spurting milk became the Milky Way.

Now was Zeus naughty or nice, or just weird?

At Sun Valley we also hold the White Oriental Lily in high regard:



We wish you a very Happy Holiday Season and hope you and your family have a safe, flower filled holiday.  Next week we will be taking a break from Flower Talk with Lily, but we will be back for the New Year.  We sincerely hope you continue learning and laughing with us here at Flower Talk with Lily, the blog from the Sun Valley Group.

Cheers,

Freesia: Grace Under Pressure

Freesia: Grace Under Pressure

Flower Talk Freesia freesia arrangements freesia bouquets. freesia images Red Beauty freesia white freesia

Our Freesia crop is coming in really strong here on the Farm in Arcata. Freesia is a flower I wasn’t too familiar with until recently. Now I am enchanted by this delicate, elegant and fragrant flower….it may be my new favorite flower…sorry Leen van der Mark Tulips. Right now I have our Red Beauty variety on my desk, it captures the essence of autumn with its warm, reddish, orangeish, dark yellowish color palette. This great color is augmented by a citrus scent that is truly out of this world. On closer inspection, the freesia is full of contradictions.


A bold arrangement of Sun Valley Freesia.

Named after the German physician Dr. Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese, this flower is a native of Africa. Apparently, the flower was first brought to Europe in the 1700s, however, do to some errors was never properly classified. In 1870’s the flower was rediscovered growing in the Botanic Gardens of Padua, Italy. After this “rediscovery”, somehow connected to Dr. Freese, the Freesia became widely cultivated after 1874.

Sun Valley grows several different colored varieties freesia and we have the crop year-round, however, right now is the primo time for freesia. White is the most sought after color, luckily, we have quite a few white varieties being harvested.  The process of growing a Freesia isn’t a simple one; in fact it is one of the most challenging crops on the Farm to grow. This is because the temperature of the soil is the key factor in having a robust crop.


The most popular freesia color?  White.  Perfect for weddings and the coming holidays.

Here is how it works: Corms are planted directly in the soil, protected by a “Hoop House.” The crop takes a long time, usually between 20 to 24 weeks. During this time we need to keep the soil pretty warm, specifically above 53.6 degrees Fahrenheit. At this temperature the plants will grow big, tall and healthy, however, they will never bloom. Hmmm, this could be a problem.

To change the Freesia from a vegetative plant to a budding plant we need to chill the soil, and it will “set bud”, a.k.a. produce flowers. Back in the old days, farmers would literally bury water pipes underground among the rows. They would run warm water through the pipes during the vegetative cycle, then start pumping cold water through the pipes when it was time for budding and the subsequent harvest.
 

How do you think these smell?

At Sun Valley we have experimented with a lot of systems to produce outstanding freesia, however, we finally took a nudge from Mother Nature. Here in Arcata we have perhaps the perfect climate to grow freesia, our summer lows hover in the low 50’s and our highs might hit 75. As we roll into fall, the lows dip into the mid-40’s and the highs are in the 50’s and the freesia naturally start budding, RIGHT ABOUT NOW. This is a banner year for our freesia, as the temperature has been perfect, the stems are long and the blooms are robust. We grow freesia year round on the farm, so in the winter and spring we actually lay tarps the over the beds of corms to hold the warmth in.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that the Red Beauty variety has citrusy scent. Another interesting thing about freesia is the fact that the different colored blossoms can have dramatically different fragrances. The white variety seems to have peppery overtones, while the purple is a bit more earthy. By all accounts the white is considered to be the most fragrant.

According to About Flowers, the bright flowers blossom along one side of the plants stem, a pattern known as “zygomorphic.” While the buds are produced facing downward, the stem bends as the flowers mature so that the blossoms end up facing upward. Each long stem produces up to 10 flowers with little foliage.


Get Creative with Sun Valley Freesia!

Freesia are said to symbolize friendship, innocence, thoughtfulness, perseverance and being high-spirited. It is also the flower given for the seventh wedding anniversary. Contemporary florist, noting its graceful appearance, recommend freesia for someone who has performed gracefully under pressure.
I think “Grace Under Pressure” fits the personality of the elegant freesia perfectly. Grown for a long time, under very particular conditions, freesia come out as a beautiful, classically styled flower with a lovely scent and long vase life.

lily@tsvg.com

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The Scoop on Antiqued Hydrangeas

The Scoop on Antiqued Hydrangeas

Antiqued Hydrangea Arcata CA Grown Fair Lawn Flower Talk Hydrangea J Schwanke N.J. New Jersery uBloom www.tsvg.com

“A dead hydrangea is as intricate and lovely as one in bloom. Bleak sky is as seductive as sunshine, miniature orange trees without blossom or fruit are not defective; they are that.”
                                                                                                           -Toni Morrison



While visiting my grandmother in Fair Lawn, New Jersey as a young boy, I never quite appreciated her Antiqued Hydrangeas. “Pompa” as we called her was an amazing gardener. On the shady side of her house, away from her rose and tulip beds, were a couple big hydrangeas. One was the classic white and the other had blossoms that varied from blue to pink and purple. Perhaps she was putting aluminum sulphate in the soil to influence the colors? More than likely, since though you couldn’t tell from outward appearances, Pompa was very much interested in the science of gardening.

We would usually visit her in mid-July on a typical summer vacation road trip, our whole family packed in the car for the drive down from Rhode Island. She would have great big cut hydrangea arrangements on her upright piano, and on her fireplace mantel. Usually the stems were placed in a thick chunky cut glass vase. The white and blue contrast really brightened up her modest living room.

Our family would usually return to share Thanksgiving with Pompa, since my grandfather, Rudolph, had passed away years before. I recall walking into her living room thinking, “Jeez, Pompa hasn’t changed the flowers since last time we were here.” As a child, I must have totally missed the fact that these, weren’t the same blooms, they were one of the most desired flowers in the industry, the Antiqued Hydrangea.

Two Antiques, our Hydrangeas and Pompa's copy of "Garden Flowers in Color" which she purchased in 1951.

Antiquing is the process where a blossom loses it's bold summer color and fades into a mellow rainbow of different tones, shades and hues. No two antiques are the same, each waning in its own special way. At this point most flowers wilt and die, hydrangeas miraculously keep their form and shape, and reinvent themselves for another season.

How does one “antique” a hydrangea? Does this take some special treatment or training? The simple truth is that an antiqued hydrangea blossom is left on the branch and naturally reaches this unique look, nothing but Mother Nature at work here. That said, there are some conditions at our farm in Arcata, California that make for exceptional hydrangeas, which in turn leads to exceptional antiques.



Look at the different colors on just one bush.



In late August, the days get shorter, and the air gets a little drier and chillier here on the Pacific coast. These atmospheric changes precipitate the change in the plant. You will find that hydrangeas grown closer to the equator don’t antique with the same impressive results as ours do, since their day light and weather patterns stay very constant.


Sun Valley can say without exaggeration that we grow some of the largest hydrangea on the market; this is due to our Hydrangea team's expert pruning. There is a very specific time and place to prune a hydrangea so that they grow the XXL blooms that we produce. If I told you the secret, I’d have to kill you, sorry nothing personal.

Our hydrangeas are in demand, and luckily we are ready. J Schwanke, The Flower Expert and Host of Fun with Flowers and J on uBloom.com, just checked in to get some of our antiques for an upcoming ABC TV series which he will be doing based on the theme of “Color”. I asked J, “Why Sun Valley?”

He replied in with his usual contagious enthusiasm, "Sun Valley is 'KNOCKING it out of the Park' with those CA Grown Hydrangeas... they look Wonderful... and the Colors are Out of this World!!! I can't wait to get my hands on them..."

Look for J to be featuring our antiques, and don’t be shy, get some for yourself. Once these antiques have reached this stage, they will dry and be beautiful for months to come. Often people pick hydrangea at their peak of color and try to use these for dry arrangements, without success. However, once the flower head has gotten well into antiquing, it should dry easily, and last a long time.

Another interesting fact about hydrangeas is that the colorful petals really aren't the fertile flowers of the plant.  In the center of the petals you will see a small ball, this is actually the fertile flower.



Hydrangeas are a pretty amazing plant, their blooms are loved by designers, gardeners and flower experts.  However, the hydrangea is really a plant for everybody, not just florist and flower professionals.  Anyone who has ever walked by a tall flower laden bush on a warm summer evening, with the rich scent of the blooms drifting on the breeze, knows this perennial favorite.  In many parts of the country, the hydrangea blooming signals that summer is in full swing.  As the blooms antique, it signals that Labor Day nears, days will be getting shorter and we all better take advantage of those last few weeks of summer.

Get out there!

-Lily
www.tsvg.com