Lane Talks Lisianthus

Lane Talks Lisianthus

Lane DeVries Lisianthus Sun Valley Floral Farms

This week's Flower Talk is an excerpt from an article by our own Bill Prescott in a recent edition of the Produce News, it also includes a new video, featuring Lane DeVries.



We are experiencing the very beginning of a sea change in floral design.  Millennials and Generation Y designers are throwing out the preconceived notions of what a bouquet should be. They are reaching beyond the traditional palette of floral design by incorporating non-traditional plants, herbs, fruits and vegetables into designs. Lisianthus has the bandwidth to be part of this emerging style.

“I think lisianthus offers a soft accent and sometimes alternative to a more traditional flower such as a rose. As we see a comeback in heirloom flowers, lisianthus stands out as a variety that offers a bit of nostalgic romance to any bouquet with its lush and delicate bloom.” Says Katie McConahay, Program and Category Manager for Floral at Portland, Oregon based New Seasons Market, she continues,  “It is something we sell best when it is in season and we are able to see a good assortment of color and larger blooms.”

One leading-edge designer who uses lisianthus is Nicolette Owen of the Brooklyn, N.Y. based Nicolette Camille Floral Design. She says, “When in season, I source my lisianthus from local farms, but there are some insanely beautiful, huge, very ruffled lisianthus varieties from Japan that I love.”
In demand designers such as Ms. Owen are offering unique varieties to their customers, and this speaks to the versatility of the crop. Lisianthus is very unique in that it can be used in a very controlled fashion in a design, or you can “let its’ hair down” to capture the farmer market aesthetic.
 
It is important that mass market retailers incorporate trend forward flowers in their every day designs, as consumers are more exposed to new styles than ever before. Social media channels such Instagram let consumers easily see what innovative designers such as Ms. Owen are doing. Taking advantage of seasonal bloom such as lisianthus, is a great way to highlight the relevance of your floral department.

With the beginning of summer, we welcome Lisianthus back to floral departments across the nation. Lisianthus season traditionally starts in mid-spring, with harvest beginning in April, and then it gets very heavy from May through September, finishing off in October.

Interview with Lane DeVries about Women's Day 2017

Interview with Lane DeVries about Women's Day 2017

#WomensDay CCFC interview Lane DeVries marketing materials Womens Day 2017

Women's Day (March 8th) is dedicated to celebrating women and honoring their achievements by expressing our respect, appreciation, and love. Originally founded in New York City in 1909, Women's Day is celebrated around the world; in the U.S., we have been witnessing the rising popularity of this holiday over the last three years.

Julie Randles, writing for the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC), interviewed Sun Valley's Lane DeVries to get his take on the growth of this holiday and the potential it has for the flower industry. 

What growth have you seen in Women's Day since you won the marketing award for your work?

Sun Valley has seen a steady rise in sales for week 8 and 9 due to Woman’s Day. The biggest gains have been in tulips, which are a perfect flower for Women’s Day.  This growth has also been helped by in-store signage, display boxes, and stickers which help make Women’s Day an event.



Why did you decide to take the lead in trying to get traction for this holiday?   


In the American flower industry, there is a disproportionate focus on Valentine’s Day and Mother Day. Those two holidays are where we collectively, as an industry, have our focus, and that is also where we see the growth in sales.

But it’s not good for our industry to keep focusing only on those two holidays-that’s not good for product quality. The higher you make those peaks in demand, the more negative consequences for consumers and therefore, for repeat sales, and it hurts growth of the category as a whole.

My vision – the whole premise of our initiative – is to increase flower consumption in America. And I believe the way to accomplish that is to find other opportunities to buy flowers without taking away any efforts from Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. By driving sales throughout the year, we will put a fresher product in consumers’ hands, which, over all will increase demand for flowers.

What would you like to see happen next with this growing flower-related holiday? 

So far this year, we have been thrilled to have customers calling and asking about Women’s Day flowers and promotions. The floral industry as a whole is doing an amazing job of creating awareness and generating sales for this holiday. Next, we would like to see other retailers and industries promote the holiday, such as home and garden centers, balloon and greeting card manufactures, and food and beverage companies. Women’s Day shouldn’t just be promoted at florists and supermarket floral departments.

 
We would also like to see more attention in the media. The idea of Women’s’ Day is simple, and positive. Showing respect and gratitude for the women in our lives is something we can all appreciate, and of course, flowers do an exceptional job of conveying these feelings. In a world dominated by our smart phones, social media, and an unending news cycle, an opportunity to recognize and say thank you to our mentors, our coworkers, our elders, and our daughters in real time is proving to be a welcome addition to the traditions we celebrate.          

How else can we help grow this holiday?

Sun Valley started promoting Women’s Day in 2010. Ideally, we’d like all our fellow flower farmers, as well as, retailers and wholesalers to put together their own Women’s Day programs. We need consumers to see Women’s Day everywhere they look in early March. Look as the average floral department at Valentine’s Day, the overwhelming amount of red makes it impossible to walk by and not think about Valentine’s Day.   Now, imagine that department leading up to March 8th promoting Women’s Day with a huge display of flowers, balloons, colorful signage and other merchandise.  The potential is enormous.      

Thank you Julie and Lane!

We have some great marketing materials for Women's Day; contact up your sales rep if you want to join in and take advantage of this awesome holiday!

4th generation Flower Farmer

4th generation Flower Farmer

4th generation ancestry flower farming history Holland kees nelis Lane DeVries tulip

 In 1984, Sun Valley brought its first tulips into the world.  The program was small, the plant sheets were handwritten, and the team was just a few...
 

Original Sun Valley Crew and Plant Sheets

That was thirty-two years ago, but the real heart and soul of Sun Valley began over 140 year ago, in Holland, with the birth of Lane DeVries' great-grandfather, Teun DeVries.   Teun was a vegetable farmer, the first in the family to fall in love with the tulip, and as history has shown, he wouldn't be the last.  

Teun started farming a small plot of rented land on the outskirts of Amsterdam.  He and his family planted, tended, and picked the tulips, loaded a wooden cart, and hauled them into the city.  He sold the tulips on a street corner, and soon developed a tribe of customers who, too, saw the beauty and life in a tulip.

The elder DeVries and his wife soon had a son, and that son followed him into the tulip fields.  The family tradition continued on through another generation, and then, Sun Valley's  Lane DeVries was brought into the world.  At the age of 10, Lane joined his father, brothers, and sisters in the tulip tradition--planting, picking, and delivering their baskets of color to the nearby Beverwijk flower auction.

Images of Beverwijk

The tulip was the DeVries Family world, and Lane carried the floral badge with fervor -- studying horticulture in Holland and eventually traveling to the US for "just a year" to grow Dutch tulips in American soil. That "just a year" turned in thirty-two.

Sun Valley 1989

Lane had found the perfect climate to grow his beloved, familial tulips in Coastal Northern California, and he didn't miss a beat in continuing the DeVries family tradition.  That first year, armed with eight tulip varieties, a Telex machine, and a century of experience, Sun Valley was born.  Thirty-two years later, our tulip program now involves over 200 varieties (keeping one of the original tulip varieties with us the whole stretch of the way--Kees Nelis).

Kees Nelis

Over the generations, a singular passion for growing the world's best tulips has been passed down from father to son again and again.   Tulip growing is not for the faint of heart, it is for tulips lovers only -- it requires a belief in the flowers and a discipline in the craft.  Only then, can one produce the world's best loved tulips.
 

Lane inspecting a bay of tulips

Because of one vegetable farmer's infatuation with the tulip over 140 years ago, we can now partake in a tradition that has been building since the invention of the automobile. Take home the living legacy of the DeVries family -- over four generations of exceptional tulip love. 

Lane DeVries and WFFSA Talk Women's Day

Lane DeVries and WFFSA Talk Women's Day

#WomensDay Lane DeVries WFFSA

Recently, Lane DeVries contributed an article to WFFSA (Wholesale Florist and Florist Supplier Association) about Women's Day and the floral industry. The article is below, or feel free to check it out in-situ on the WFFSA site, here.  We're proud to partner with WFFSA and support their continued advocacy for all things Wholesale Floral. 

Lane with some of our Sun Valley Team Ladies

  Women's Day 2016

Tuesday, March 8th is Women’s Day 2016. I can’t believe it has been six years since Sun Valley started talking about this opportunity to increase flower sales in the first part of March. Over the years, I’ve given countless presentations and spoken personally with hundreds of people, explaining the potential that Women’s Day holds.

Our efforts have paid off in two key areas.

Sun Valley’s sales of tulips and other flowers in week eight and nine have been rising steadily as our Women’s Day marketing efforts have reached deeper and deeper into consumers buying patterns. There is no other factor in the marketplace I can attribute to this growth. Women’s Day is placed squarely between Valentine’s Day and Easter, so it is perfectly positioned to keep the momentum of Valentine’s Day going right through spring. This was the vision six years ago: to keep our production at a steady level, and not have a precipitous gap in sales while waiting for Easter and Mother’s day.  With a broad swath of support across the industry, this vision is coming to fruition. Thank you for taking the time and effort to participate, and I sincerely hope you are seeing the bump in sales that we are. In an industry with (sometimes) different interests, it is gratifying to see us all working together for the common good.

 Secondly, we are truly blessed to work with flowers. Is there any other product on the market that brings such joy, has no adverse health effects, and which are generally bought to be shared? With Women’s Day, we have had an uphill climb to create awareness, but as you know, people love to receive flowers. It is a fundamental state of the human experience. So as people learn about Women’s Day and participate in Women’s Day, we are seeing that they will likely continue participating in the event. The effect of this day keeps flowers in the home and office, and gives consumers more time to appreciate flowers and to get accustomed to flowers as part of their lifestyle – which leads to more sales.

Yes, this is a marketing effort, but the growth is organic as consumers enjoy this new opportunity to share flowers. I’ve heard some criticism saying that we are building a “Hallmark Holiday” and I have thought about this quite a bit. Occasions such as Grandparents Day, Boss’s Day and Administrative Professionals’ Day were created without the help of Hallmark; they were created by individuals and groups that had a need to celebrate and honor a particular part of society. This is exactly the history of Women’s Day. It started in the United States in 1909, and immediately swept across the globe. It is a day to show our honor and respect for women.  

To Hallmarks’ credit, they were able to seize an opportunity and offer their product to a consumer base that was looking for help in expressing themselves.

As an example, Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a stay at home mom from West Virginia, initiated a campaign for a single day in which to honor grandparents. Mrs. McQuade started her campaign for a nationally recognized day in 1970, and after nine years of working tirelessly, including taking her message from her home in West Virginia to Washington D.C, she achieved her goal. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day each year as National Grandparents Day.


At this point, Hallmark saw an opportunity to increase sales and to ride on the coattails of a movement which was being championed at a grass roots level. This is good business, and it mirrors what we are doing as we promote Women’s Day. Women’s Day is an established grassroots holiday; we are here, offering flowers as the best way to celebrate this holiday.

Again, thank you to all the WFFSA members and supporters that are working diligently to create awareness and promote Women’s Day. When we work together, the sky is the limit.

Lane DeVries,
Sun Valley

 

How to Create the Perfect Ilex

How to Create the Perfect Ilex

#CAGrown American Grown ilex verticillata Lady Aster Lane DeVries Willow Creek winterberry

If you are familiar with Sun Valley, then you know we are the industry go-to for bulb crops, especially soil-grown tulips.  However, we also have a seasonal crop which is just as renowned, and always wows our customers and blows the socks off of our competition--Ilex Verticillata.

Ilex Verticillata (aka Winterberry) paired with Blue Prince Holly

I say that last statement with confidence, as our ilex program has been hand-picked, bred, and cultivated by our own Lane DeVries for over a decade.  His long-term dedication to grow the best ilex verticillata is evident in the product we offer today.

So, what are the requirements for high-quality ilex? Deep, saturated colors of the berries, a large concentration of berries on each stem, good positioning and length of laterals, and, of course, overall lasting power.  It's these floral characteristics which make our ilex a joy to use in design and a pleasure to share with others.

How to Create the Perfect Ilex

The ilex we currently grow is the “Oosterwijk” variety, which is the female cultivar of the ilex plant, known for the holding power of its color and berries as a cut branch.  Our original plants came from Holland a little over 10 years ago, and we've been growing them at our Willow Creek farm since then. 

Ilex growing in Willow Creek

Years ago, Lane started working with some test plants which had planted in 2006.  He ranked each individual plant using a 30-point scale based on the positioning of the berries on the stem, the saturation of color, the size and number of berries, and stem length.
 

Quality branch: high concentration of colorful berries, many laterals with good positioning, and great stem length.

Lane then took cuttings from 20 of the outstanding performers, and these were repropagated and replanted.  This process creates identical genetic copies of the strongest plants.  Ilex may be one of the most difficult crops to repropagate, but it's worth it to follow the achievable dream of the "most perfect" ilex.   Lane plants, tests, replants, retests, and so on in order to continuously improve and innovate--one of Sun Valley's guiding principles at work. 

Lane in his element

Another method that Lane uses to create the most perfect ilex is cross-pollination. He will plant two highly ranked bushes next to each other, and let the bees do their work of cross-pollinating the flowers, creating entirely new strains of ilex. Lane has the fields diagrammed like a stadium, each plant has an assigned section, row, and seat so that it can be closely tracked and monitored.

And while Lane has created the most perfect Ilex you can find on the market, the rest of the Sun Valley team ensures that it makes it to you that way.

Bunching and sleeving room

 Our Willow Creek team harvests the branches, places them in buckets and then they get hauled down the mountain to our Arcata farm. Once in the warehouse, our processing team removes the foliage to expose the striking red berries, and then bunches and sleeves the branches.

Large bucket of de-foliated ilex in our sales office

The end product is stunning. We offer simple bunches of the brilliant red ilex as well as enhanced bunches.  A very popular holiday favorite is our red ilex paired with cedar and white tulips or lilies--the contrast of color and texture is dynamic and beautiful.

The years of work (and love) that have gone into creating the best product in the market is a testament our floral devotion, and has made Sun Valley THE dependable source for ilex.  Not only that, Lane is continuing to improve and innovate, which makes the future look very berry bright, indeed.

Our exceptional red ilex is available NOW until it sells out, so get it quickly before Santa takes the rest of it up to Mrs. Claus! 



Whole Lotta Verticillata | The Ilex Chronicle

Whole Lotta Verticillata | The Ilex Chronicle

Ilex ilex verticillata Lane DeVries

Our Red Ilex Verticillata in a beautiful vase from The Blacksmith Shop in Ferndale, CA.

One person at Sun Valley is absolutely obsessed with Ilex Verticillata. His name is Lane DeVries. I walked into Lane’s office last week and asked the foolish question,

“Why is our red ilex so special?”

Lane’s eyes popped open, he flipped the top down on his laptop, took off his Bluetooth and grinned a huge smile, like a cat that had new toy. 

  

“So, you want to know about our ilex program, aye?”

Little did I know Lane had been patiently waiting for someone to come ask him about our ilex so he could expound on all the interesting developments in the Sun Valley ilex program.

Lane inspecting the ilex, bush by bush.

The following is distilled down from a reeeaaaally long discussion about ilex verticillata.

The ilex we currently grow is the “Oosterwijk” variety, which is the female cultivar of the ilex plant. Our original plants came from Holland, and we have been growing it at our Willow Creek farm for about 10 years.

Over the course of the fall we have gold, orange and red berries come to harvest.  Now through Christmas we have the classic red coming on strong. We usually sell out about seven days before Christmas, so get your ducks in a row now, because this year Thanksgiving is coming later than usual, and December is going to be a mad dash.

Ilex berries in mid-August.

Our picking team harvests the branches, places them in white buckets and then they get hauled down the mountain to our Arcata farm. In the warehouse, we removing the leaves to expose the stunning red berries, bunch and sleeve the branches.

Over the last several years Lane has been propagating the bushes with the best floral characteristics.  He has been doing this in a couple ways. The first way is making cuttings, and reproducing identical genetic copies of the strongest plants. By “strongest” I mean the plants that lives up to a set of 30 characteristics which Lane has established.  Characteristics include berry color, amount of berries on stem, position of the berries on the stem and stem length.

Ilex!

The other way Lane is working to create the perfect ilex is by cross pollination. He will take two highly ranked bushes and plant them next to each other, so that the bees will cross pollinate the flowers, creating entirely new strains of ilex bushes.

Lane has the fields diagrammed like a huge theater, each plant has an assigned seat so it can we tracked and monitored over the years.

 

This diligent and a bit compulsive behavior is leading to a breakthrough in fall foliage that will benefit all floral professionals, and ultimately consumers that will enjoy these berries as part of their fall and holiday traditions.

Ilex in the warehouse, ready to be sleeved.

Of course the berries are the star of the show, but I actually like the branch itself just as much. The main stem is a warm brown with gray and maroon highlights, and the stems holding the berries have an olive green tone that very subtly sets off the red berries with a lovely contrast.  The laterals of the branch are pretty stiff, so design wise you need to be conscious of this. The branches are much more rigid than a rosehip branch, and if you use this to your advantage you can easily go vertical or horizontal.

The Queen of Greens, Debbie Hartman, about to make some beautiful arrangements featuring our ilex.

Sun Valley is your dependable ilex source, and with Lanes' work, it shows that we are in this for the long haul.  Breeding this bush to be the best floral product is a testament to the effort and devotion we share in bringing the best flowers and foliage to market. 

  

Interview with Lane DeVries about OT Hybrids

Interview with Lane DeVries about OT Hybrids

African Lady Eudoxia Lane DeVries Oriental Trumpet Hybrid Lilies OT Hybrid lilies Shocking Lily Time Zone Lily Yelloween Lily

“Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them”
                                                                                  -Chinese proverb

Our classic Shocking OT Hybrid

Oriental Trumpet hybrid lilies have been bred to bring fall colors to the Oriental color palette. OT Hybrids, sometimes called Orienpets, display the best qualities of Orientals with the best qualities of Trumpets. These lilies capture the wonderful reds, oranges, and yellows of fall Trumpet lilies, with the shape and scent of an Oriental.

Time Zone OT Hybrid

I tracked down Lane to ask him about our OT Hybrid program.

Lily: What’s so special about OT Hybrids, what's the big deal?

Lane:  OT’s were developed to bring new colors to the Oriental lily scene. Before OTs all Orientals were white, pink and red. It was about 1999 when OT’s came on the market commercially, although I saw some in greenhouses as early as 1988. The three original OTs were Yelloween, Orania and Shocking.  We still grow Yelloween and Shocking…right now the greenhouse looks great.

Lily:  Any special considerations for growing OT Lilies?

Lane:  Unlike most lilies, OTs do really well in hot climates.  Right now they are very popular in southern China and Southeast Asia where it is generally too hot to grow a traditional Oriental.  We actually have been growing them at our farm in St. Catharines, Ontario during the summer, and they thrive in the hot summer weather.

Lily: What about the bulbs?

Lane:  We grow our OT's from only the biggest bulbs, this leads to the best bud counts. The trade off is that these bulbs are also the most expensive bulbs to buy of any lily variety.  Luckily the demand for the rich, saturated colors of OT Hybrids is high, so it is worthwhile for us to grow them.  Plus, I think they are going to continue to grow in popularity, so as we perfect growing OTs we will be well ahead of the curve.

Lily: What’s the difference between growing OTs compared to a regular Oriental, such as a Starfighter.

Lane:  The OT’s like more light, we don’t use the shade clothes at all.  This gets us thicker stems which are essential, since the blooms are huge.

Ovatie OT Hybrid

Lily:  What about the new varieties I have seen out in the greenhouses?

Lane:  We have Ovatie which is a pale white, in the sales office we call it “Maureen White” since it is about the same tone as our Maureen French Tulip.  We have a new light pink called Table Danceand there is a warm yellow named Eudoxia.  Hands down the new variety getting the most attention is Time Zone, this is a dark pink, purple, going to white in the  throat, it’s really eye catching and very unique.

Lily:  Did you just say “Table Dance”?

Lane: (laughing) Hey, I don’t name these lilies, I just grow them!

Lane with Time Zone

 Lily: What's your favorite OT Hybrid?

Lane:  My favorite is actually African Lady, it’s just stunning.  We don’t have any in the ground right now, but I have it in our growing plan for summer 2014… so this is something to look forward to.

Lane's favorite, African Lady.

 Lily: Thanks Lane!

Shocking Lilies awaiting harvest.

 Well, there you have it. OT Hybrids grown in the clear skies and clean water of northern California are coming on strong this fall.  This a year round program so we will always have OT’s.  However, now through the end of November our teams will be picking some big numbers.  So if you love these lilies, now is the time to order some, and if you are new to OT Hybrids now is the best time to get to know them.