Bouquets to Art Photo Journal

Bouquets to Art Photo Journal

#BouquetsToArt bouquets to art 2017 de Young Museum flower art flower design Tulips

Sunday marked the final day of the 33rd annual Bouquets to Art exhibition, hosted every year by the de Young Museum in San Francisco. This event pairs artwork in the museum’s collection with flower designers from the Bay Area (and beyond) who then create a floral interpretation of their particular piece.  More than 120 designers were asked to participate this year, creating flower art ranging from the elegantly abstract to the intricately complex.

 "Rainy Season in the Tropics" by Frederic Edwin Church, 1866 | Flower Design by Jenny Tabarracci, AIFD

The event is the largest in the country, and the week-long floral exhibition is visited by fine art connoisseurs, design aficionados and flower lovers alike.

We, of course, we went to check it out!  Each year we supply this event with some our fabulous flowers, and we love to see what kind of floral alchemy is created with them.  We were not disappointed--not only did we get some great photos, we were also able to see what is trending in the floral design world right now, and what we saw were orchids, zantedeschia, and tulips, tulips, tulips!

 "Two Figures in a Landscape" by William H. Brown, 1960 | Flower Design by Alena Jean Barragan

 "Prometheus Bound" by Thomas Cole, 1847 | Flower Design by John Andrew James

Right: "V Series" by Frank Stella, 1968 | Flower Design by Yu-Mei Chen

Left:  "Our Lady Refuge of Sinners" (unidentified artist) | Flower Design by Fine Arts Museums of SF Flower Committee...Right: "Crusades" by Helen Frankenthaler, 1976 | Flower Design by Heather Dunne and Mari Tischenko

Left: "Bouguereau's Atelier at the Academie Julian, Paris" by Jefferson David Chaltant, 1891 | Flower Design by Daisy Rose and Jim Rose

There were even some flower costumes

We love Bouquets to Art because of its ability to bring the not-so-different worlds of fine art and flowers together. For centuries, flowers have served as inspiration for artists, and now, fine art inspires modern flower design.  You could say the two are as interconnected as Peace and Love.

The floral peace sign above honors the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, which the de Young will commemorate starting April 8th. 

Peace, Art, and Flowers,

Welcome Spring with Women's Day

Welcome Spring with Women's Day

International Women's Day IWD2017 Tulips Women's Day

“The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”  – Harriet Ann Jacobs

March 8th  2017, is a day to celebrate the social, political and economic achievements of women, and focus attention on areas still needing action. Flowers are a wonderful way to celebrate the victories and recognize the ongoing struggles women face around the globe.

Women’s Day has become a flower forward holiday, due to the ability of flowers to connect people. They aren’t some materialistic tchotchke, flowers are universally appreciated, and speak a language all their own. On March 8th, we celebrate the accomplishments of women and look to the future as women leaders, role models, mentors and community members continue to reshape our world and make it better.

March 8th is also about when we see the first hints of spring. It is not quite officially spring yet, but you can smell it in the air. The coming spring is best represented in floral terms by the mighty tulip. Tulips are strong, resilient and colorful, much like the women in my life. Tulips are unique in their storied history and the huge array of varieties. No other flower has as much personality as a tulip, and whether you prefer the classics, like Ad Rem and Ile de France, or go for the cutting edge varieties like Goldfish and Queensland; the eclectic essence of the tulip family is much a like a modern family tree, with roots across the globe and also sorts for hybrid connections.

Though Sun Valley is renowned for our ability to offer a huge selection of tulips year-round, spring truly brings a bounty. This is the time where the new varieties from Holland are harvested, turning the greenhouses into the tulip lovers equivalent of a kid in a candy store. There are so many new varieties to ooh and aah over, we can barely keep up.  [Note to self…Call your rep and ask what new varieties we have available!]

This year’s Women’s Day celebrations will take many forms, from marches, lectures and events, to simple expressions of gratitude and love.  No matter how you celebrate, be sure to grab a few bunches of tulips on the way and give every women you meet a flower!

Tricked by a Tulip

Tricked by a Tulip

Hans Meester pink red trick Tulips

It is impossible to stroll through our Arcata Greenhouses without running into our Resident Tulip Expert, Hans Meester, who may have very well been born from a tulip bulb.  This guy eats, sleeps, and breathes tulips, and right now, there’s one particular variety he can’t stop talking about.  We asked him to write down his experience with this tulip, in his own words.  So Ladies and Gentleman, may we present,

  The Trick Tulip

I thought I had seen it all. I have been working with tulips all my life. Growing, forcing, scaling, beheading, planting, harvesting, peeling, preparing, washing, watching, counting, researching and, most of all, talking about them. I used to visit every show there is to see the newest varieties and trends and to talk about tulips, because that’s what tulip people do. We also love to talk about tulips with a good glass in hand and small blocks of cheese to snack on. Here at Sun Valley Farms in Arcata I found a perfect spot to do all of the above. What more can a Dutch tulip grower want?

So I thought I’d seen it all. I was wrong. This February I got Tricked. One of our bulb suppliers sent us a variety that I had seen before and had not yet impressed me, called Trick.
 
A regular red with a tinting on the leaves. Nothing special. We planted it, grew it in the greenhouse, and then the first surprise came—no tinting on the leaves. Are we talking about the same Trick here? The second surprise was the length. Nice, beefy stems and at least 17 inches tall. The buds were as I knew: pointy and pink and a very nice presentation in the bunch. But the Trick didn’t stop here. As I said the buds are pink, so how to categorize this variety? I shrugged and said it’s a red and it is, but it is all in the eyes of the beholder.
 

Some said it was pink, some said red and there were even colleagues that called it a bi-color. It was like the blue/gold, silver/white dress: everybody sees something else. This is where it gets interesting. Do we have new marketing tool here, or a new line of tulips: the surprise line?

I decided to take a bunch home and surprise my wife. She loved those big pink (!) flowers and gave the bunch a nice spot in the living room. Then we got tricked again. The next day the flowers opened up completely into a sea of bright red tulips with black hearts....they were practically luminescent.

So no longer pink, but red. In the evening the flowers closed up again into their pink bud stage and the only hint of red was shown on the edges of the petals, justifying the bi-color opinion. Amazing!

These tulips definitely played a Trick on me. ..a nice Trick at that.



Hans Meester
Tulip Grower
Sun Valley Farms

The Poetry of Spring

The Poetry of Spring

poetry spring effect Spring flowers Tulips

"Spring has returned.
The Earth is like a child that knows poems"
--Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring has arrived, and the world can't help but erupt with color: fruit trees are blossoming, shrubs are sporting new, tender buds, and flowers are brightening up fields, yards, and even our farm compost pile.  Yes, spring is in full effect.
 

Our compost pile during spring

We grow flowers year round, and without a doubt, spring is the best time to be a flower farmer.  We no longer need to "trick" our crops into thinking it is springtime.  Now, the sun shines, and the flowers act accordingly.

We call this the "Spring Effect," though it could just as easily be called the "Flower Explosion."  The timing is perfect as Mother's Day is just a month away, and in the meantime, we are fully enjoying the buzz of springtime energy around the farm.

First, our Willow Creek crops come alive (hello Viburnum!), which is quickly followed by our hoop houses, greenhouses, and fields giving us millions of blooms.

Spring's favorite flowering shrub, Viburnum!

Spring in the Hoops

Our crops of Royal Lilies (aka LA Hybrids) are imitating lush, miniature forests; we're picking thousands of Hyacinth a week; and our French Tulips and iris are showing great stem lengths.

Royal Lilies 

French Tulips

Hyacinth

Telstar Iris

Spring in the Greenhouses

Spring is the tulip's season.  In Arcata, our greenhouses are brimming with tulips in all stages of growth.

Tulip Greenhouse

Our lily greenhouses are also full of hustle and bustle--picking crews are working hard, filling their buckets and carts with blooms ready to send out the door.

Spring in the Fields

Now that the soil is warming, we've begun planting summer crops in open fields--iris, crocosmia, hypericum, and hydrangea are in the ground. Spring paves the way for the summer arrival of these colorful crops.

Hydrangea bud

We welcome the Spring Effect with big smiles and open arms (and open greenhouses!).  How do you like to celebrate the season of living poetry?

Flowers for Easter Renewal

Flowers for Easter Renewal

Easter flowers Easter lilies Holy Week Hyacinth Palm Sunday Persian New Year rebirth renewal spring Tulips white lilies

"Easter spells out beauty,
 the rare beauty of new life."
S.D. Gordon


I write this in the middle of Holy Week, a week which begins on Palm Sunday and concludes 7 days later with Easter Sunday. In the Christian tradition, Easter represents the resurrection of Jesus, a day filled with hope, celebration, and renewal--how appropriate that this day is accompanied by the arrival of Spring.

 After all, Spring is THE season which represents dawn after darkness, sunshine after rain, life after death.  Spring and Easter are inextricably linked, both embodying resurrection of growth and being. 

Lily sprouts ready to go after a long winter in the ground.

 Even if you do not celebrate Easter as a religious holiday, there is an undeniable sense of wonderment and collective reverence for the day.  Yes, the world is coming alive again after a long and dark winter.  Just take a look at the secular images of Easter: fertile rabbits, baby chicks, eggs, and flowers, flowers, flowers. They are all related to life and rebirth.

 What flower reminds you of the hope and renewal of Easter?  

 A lot of responses here on the farm included the tulip, which comes as no surprise as this flower is firmly associated with Spring.  The other popular response was the hyacinth, another classic spring bloom, which comes in all the Easter colors.  Not only that, blue hyacinth is the flower of the Persian New Year, which also marks the first day of spring. 

 

Spring-hued blue and lavender hyacinth

However, the most favored response was the white lily.  White lilies are ubiquitous during Easter; in fact, the white lilum longiflorum is officially known as the "Easter Lily."  For centuries, this white lily has been used as the floral symbol of the resurrection.  Moreover, legend has it that white lilies sprung up where drops of Jesus' sweat fell as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before the crucifixion.  Talk about hope, renewal, and rebirth!

However you choose to celebrate Easter, we here at Sun Valley wish you a lovely one--may it be filled with the promise of new life, new flowers, and hope for the future.

"I think of the garden after the rain;

And hope to my heart comes singing,

'At morn the [lily]-blooms will be white,

And the Easter bells be ringing!"

-Edna Dean Proctor

The Spectrum of Valentine Flowers

The Spectrum of Valentine Flowers

Hyacinth Lady Aster Lilies pink purple red Tulips Valentine's Day valentine's day colors Valentine's Day Flowers

It may seem too early to start talking about Valentine's Day, but here on the flower farm, we have been acting on it since last fall. We planted our Valentine lily and iris crops in October, and two short months later, we brought our tulips out of the coolers and into the greenhouse, ready to complete their growing cycle.  Looking into the future, what kinds of flowers and flower hues will be in demand this Valentine's Day? Let's find out...

Pink Hyacinth + Red Tulips = The Perfect Valentine's Day Combination

The Color of Love: Flowers

The colors of Valentine's Day haven't really changed since its inception--Red, pink and white reign supreme, representing a combination of passion, wealth of love, and purity of heart.  However, we mustn't forget the dark horse of Valentine's Day--Purple.  From dark purple to light lavender, this lovely spectrum symbolizes enchantment, originality, and love at first sight.  Very appropriate and in-demand. We, of course, have the gamut of colors in a range of floral varieties--the reddest of reds and the pinkest of pinks and everything in between.

Soil-grown tulips in all the romantic colors

The Reds

When I think about red flowers, I think of the tulip.  The red tulip is a chic and romantic Valentine's Day flower--lore tells us the tulip's dramatic black eye represents a lover's heart deepened by passion, a perfect symbol for this love-centered holiday.  How red you want to go is up to you; this primary color is represented by the bright orange-red vermilion, to the darker bluish-red crimson, all the way to the darkest burgundy (and we have soil-grown tulips in each and every hue).  Of course, lighten the shade of red and we get "baby red," better known as that other popular Valentine color, PINK.

Red Tulip Eye (photo courtesy of Veggie Plot)

The Pinks and Whites

Now, when I think about exceptional pink flowers, I think of the lily. My first thought goes to the iconic Stargazer, as its time-honored speckled pink face and signature scent is a perfect Valentine choice.  But then I think of ALL our Oriental lilies--all are veritable floral powerhouses which come in all of Cupid's colors and whose star-shaped blossoms are befitting for any romantic celebration.

A Pink and White Lily Collection

Oriental lilies' range of pink shades begins on the dark side with intense maroon (ie: Sumatra, above photo, center bloom).  Lighten it up to a still-saturated pink hue like Dynamite.  A little lighter, and a variegated pink shines through, such as with the candy-pink Sorbonne.  The hues get lighter and lighter--I especially love the pink edging and white ruffled petals of Hotline.

Clockwise from top left: Sorbonne, Dynamite, Stargazer, Hotline

We cannot talk about pink Valentine lilies without mentioning Roselilies.  Their growing popularity and lush double-petaled heads guarantee that they will sell out this Valentine's season, so get these decadent, premium, and romantic blooms while you can!

Roseliles L-R: Belonica and My Wedding

And of course, at the end of the red, pink, and white spectrum we get the beautiful pure white of White Cup lilies, Clearwater tulips and more. Their clean coloration signifies pride and devotion and never fails to put on a celebratory show.

Clearwater Tulips

The Purples

Ah, purple, how do we love thee? I consider purple to be the middle child of Valentine's day, always included but never talked about. By definition, purple is a range of hues between red and blue, and is often associated with royalty, mystery, and magic.  When combined with pink, it is associated with femininity, seduction, and eroticism (if that doesn't scream Valentine's Day, what does?).  If you want to think outside the box, yet remain romantically relevant this Valentine's day, think purple, lavender, and violet.  Mix purple with pink and you have yourself an extra special mix, my friend.

Valentine's Day marks the start of the Floral Industry's 5-month Holiday Season, and soon, we pass our flower baton to all the other flower professionals who are going to keep the V-day train running all the way through to the end. Now that you know what to expect....are you ready?

What's the Story Behind Your Flowers?

What's the Story Behind Your Flowers?

#americangrown dinner party entertaining field to fork field to vase flowers J Schwanke Tulips uBloom

"At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.
                                                                                                             -W.  Somerset Maugham

They say you eat with your eyes first. The appearance of food plated at a restaurant or at home is the first experience a diner has with the meal, long before smell, and even longer before taste.

Amber Waves

However, I would argue that the experience starts before that. The table, the room, the music, the conversation and of course, the flowers, all compliment or detract from the food. These impact our senses before the food or drink is served. It is ironic that people throw a “dinner party,” when really it could be an “ambiance party” or a “flower party” or even a “conversation party.”

Redwood Tulips

With the Field To Fork movement about as hip as dinner can get right now, and the Field To Vase movement close on its heels, we are lucky to experience this wave of farmers market inspired dinners and flowers, this didn’t exist ten years ago.

The interesting thing about flowers as a centerpiece, arranged around the room or in the kitchen is that as the food gets eaten, wine bottles get emptied, plates cleared and conversation creates its own path among friends and family, what stays on the table?

 The flowers.

Tulip Dream

Chairs get pushed back, napkins folder into odd shapes, candles burn down, but the flowers remain. It is the flowers that stay as the focal, starting before the food comes and remaining after the waiter has brought the check, or your host has stacked the plates in the sink.

The flowers often become a conversation piece in themselves, and especially now, as the story of where your flowers came from is just as important as who grew your lettuce or vinted your wine. Do you know your flower farmer personally? Do you know the farm where they grew?  Are they grown in the United States?

Hot Property

Perhaps a good dinner party is really a “story party,” since this is what we talk about, the story of the recipe you used on the wild caught California Salmon, or perhaps how you developed the drink recipe for your signature cocktail, maybe how you toured the vineyard of the wine you are pouring.  Sure, we talk about family, work and topics of the day, but when you throw a dinner party you are sharing your home, your passions and your knowledge with your guests.
 
Make sure you have the story of your flowers in your repertoire, your guest will surely ask where they came from.

A big thanks to J Schwanke of uBloom.com for all the wonderful flower arrangements in this post.