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!

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.)

Lily's Fun Facts about Fall Crops

Lily's Fun Facts about Fall Crops

Around the flower farm CA Grown Cotinus Growing Flowers Hydrangea Sun Valley

My boots didn't travel too far over the past week, so today I'm going to share a couple Fun Facts about our Fall crops (one that's educational and another that's downright cool) that I learned right here in the office.

Fun Fact #1: Did you know that the "petals" we see on the surface of Hydrangea aren't actually the blooms?



Don't let these bloom-like flowers fool you...

Hydrangea's surface flowers are actually petal-like sepal structures. The real blooms are below the flowers. If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the pistil and stamen. This is the true Hydrangea bloom.



Spreading apart Hydrangea's surface "petals," or sepals,
reveals the pistil and stamen below.



A close-up of the real Hydrangea blooms

Fun Fact #2: During certain times of the day, you might smell Maple syrup wafting through the air at Sun Valley. Unfortunately, no one's serving up pancakes around here (that I'm aware of). The scent actually comes from one of our Willow Creek Fall Crops, Cotinus, which smells strikingly similar to Maple syrup when it's cut! One of my team members discovered that one day when she cut Cotinus at her home. Talk about a pleasant surprise!



Cut some of this Cotinus, and this is what you'll smell...



Who's hungry?

So, these are the fun facts that I learned this week. The education never ends around here! Now don't go trying to put Cotinus leaves on your pancakes...

Keep following Flower Talk for more information on our Fall crops. Also, if you ever have questions or topics you'd like to learn more about, let me know in the Comments. I'm always happy to investigate new topics and share my findings!  

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!  

Where's Lane (now)?

Where's Lane (now)?

CA Grown Farmers market Growing Flowers Lane DeVries Sun Valley Where's Lane

Back when this blog first began, I wrote a post called Where's Lane?, which revealed where you might be able to find Sun Valley's Head Farmer at any given time. It seems like an appropriate topic to revisit, since lately Lane has been spotted literally all over the world - California, Miami, Holland, Israel... you name it!

Last week he could be found in, among other places, Arcata for Sun Valley's 24th Annual Open House (see photos on our Facebook page) and La Costa for the California Association of Flower Growers and Shippers (CAFGS) Fun 'N Sun Weekend. At Fun 'N Sun, Lane was honored with the Distinguished Service Award (along with co-recipient Joe Ortiz, Sr.). I could write all about the event and tell you about Lane's reception of the award, but Kasey Cronquist caught the whole thing on video, so you can watch it for yourself! I found it rather inspiring, and I think you will too.

Click on the image below to watch the video, or click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJGRmvnMq5A. 

Lily's Boots: Sun Valley's Open House

Lily's Boots: Sun Valley's Open House

CA Grown farmer's market Flower arrangements Flower farm flowers for delivery Growing Flowers Humboldt County Hydrangea Iris Iris flower Lilies Soil Grown Tulips Sun Valley Tulips

This week, I've decided to write about where my boots are going, not where they've been. On Sunday, they're bringing me right back here to our farm for our 24th annual Open House. I'm very excited for the event, as it's my first time and I've heard there's a lot to see and do. Yes, I'll be working during the show, but I still intend to check a few things out! Here's what I'm told you (and I) should see and do:

1. How we do things here.
Get an idea of how and where our Tulips, Asiatic lilies and Oriental lilies are planted, grown, harvested and bunched by taking a Guided Tour of the Greenhouses. Also check out how we pack our products at the Packing Display and see how we pasteurize our soil at the Soil Steaming Display. Finally, take a Hayride past our hoophouses and fields, where crops like Hydrangea and Iris are growing.

A hayride takes off for the fields (Open House 2010)

2. "Made in America" Design Show.
Floral designers from all over California and Oregon will  showcase their talent while taking you on a journey through "Roaring 20's," "Retro 40's," "Rock n' Roll 50's, 60's, and 70's, " and "Futuristic" eras with their designs. First, second and third place winners will be chosen for each category, and a Best in Show winner will be chosen from the first place category winners. Winners will be announced at 3:00 pm. The public (that means you!) will also be able to vote on their favorite design for the Pople's Choice Award.

The Best in Show Winner of 2010

3. The Masters in Action.
The Floral Design Show judges will also put on a show of their own - this is a must-see! Returning judges, Darlene Montgomoery CCE, MFD and Win Gonzalez, Jr. (former President of the Northwest chapter of AIFD), and newcomer Lily Chan (Vice President of the Northwest chapter of AIFD) will demonstrate their expertise on stage in the Main Showroom starting at 1:00 pm.

Darlene Montgomery gives a design presentation (Open House 2010)

4. Pick up bulbs and buy our flowers!
If you pre-ordered bulbs on our website, then you'll be able to pick them up at the General Store during the show. Also, we'll have a great range of our fresh flowers for sale, so get there early for the best selection!

Flowers and Bulbs for sale and pick-up (2010 Open House)

5. Entertainment for the whole family
All of the floral fun will be complimented by live music, food and refreshments, and a the ever-popular Kiddie Corner. So in between tours, shows and purchases, relax and recharge your batteries with a coffee or give the Jolly Jump a whirl (if you're a kid, of course)!



Lucky sisters bring home flowers! (Open House 2010)

 There's clearly plenty to keep you and me busy this coming Sunday. Everyone at the farm is excited to see familiar faces from the local community and our out-of-towner friends and family. If you're in the area on Sunday, please pop in at the farm and say hello!

Sun Valley's 24th Annual Open House
Where: 3160 Upper Bay Rd., Arcata, CA
When: Sunday, July 24th, 12 - 4 pm
Contact: Tina Uhl, (707) 825-5827
http://www.tsvg.com/