The light at the end of the tunnel

The light at the end of the tunnel

Around the flower farm CA Grown California Flowers Flower farm lily's boots Soil Grown Tulips Sun Valley Tulips

This week has been a bit darker than most. Consider the course of events:

Halloween

Folks dressed as witches, ghosts and goblins (or a sports fan if you were me - hey, I thought it was scary), haunted houses on every block, punch served out of skulls. A dark holiday indeed.

Dia de los Muertos

Skeletons on parade, celebrations in graveyards, the living emulating the dead. Although it makes light of death (and makes very good use of flores), I would still call this a dark celebration.

And then, the light at the end of the tunnel....


This "tunnel" is the  pathway through on of our coolers!

Daylight Savings Time! 

Some groan at the thought of darkness coming earlier in the night, but I bask in the impending sensation of waking up to a little sunlight! Hardly the morning person, I've been impatiently awaiting this moment since we had our first near-frost at the farm.

If you're like me and love that first whole week's feeling of "sleeping in," then I'd say you're already aware of the perks of Daylight Savings Falling Back. But who, if anyone, appreciates it at the farm?

As it turns out, there are a few people at Sun Valley who love DST almost as I do. For one, our Greenhouse picking crews, who start the day early, enjoy that extra hour of natural sunlight in the Greenhouse. Picking flowers in the Greenhouse or anywhere is a lot easier when you can see them!

Speaking of the Greenhouses, there's one major perk that I'm reminded of when we Fall Back on our clocks: Once that NorCal winter weather starts coming in - ahem, rain - our team has rows upon rows of balmy Greenhouses to stroll through in order to escape the torrential downpours. We had a few readers over the past couple weeks say they'd love a job that allows them to walk through our beautiful farms (inspired in part by these posts: click here and here). Well, when it's raining, you'd certainly love our Greenhouses!

To illustrate what I'm talking about, these are a few images I took today whilst walking the Arcata farm...
 

Since it was sunny and didn't quite capture the "torrential downpours"
that I wrote about, I thought I'd show you a picture of one of the many
puddles that remind us of yesterday's rain. Look closely, you can see
a reflection of the Greenhouses in the puddle!



A row of Greenhouses



Seedlings that will become the rich burgundy Sumatra Lilies



Orientals nearly ready for harvest



Tulip pickers



A full load of Tulips ready to be graded



Freshly steamed soil. Because we reuse our soil, we steam it in
order to remove unwanted pathogens and weed seeds. 

Aside from the picking team, there are a few others who get an extra pep in their step from the time change: 1) The Farmers. Although they have to be somewhat hardened to the elements, I'm sure our farmers enjoy the extra warmth from the sun first thing in the morning. 2) The Sales Team. Your helpful Sales reps are here dark and early each day so they can help you out, whether you're down the street or on the other side of the country. After Sunday, that'll be bright and early! 3) Anyone else with an early morning start. You get the idea.

I could go on more about why Daylight Savings Time is great, but I have a feeling I'd start talking in circles. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Monday!

If you've got anything to add to my one-sided conversation on DST, please share it in the comments below!



Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies - Part 2

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies - Part 2

Asiatic Lilies CA Grown California Flowers lily's boots Love Lilies Royal Lilies Sun Valley

Freshly harvested Royal Lilies

In my last Lily's Boots post, we followed Love and Royal Lily bulbs all the way from the bulb coolers to the soil, thanks to Tim, our informative tour guide. Today, we'll complete the journey from the sprout to the shipping cooler, thanks to a handful of knowledgeable Sun Valley Team Members.

Starting where we left off...

Once Loves and Royals are planted in the ground (which Tim and I got first-hand experience with), they take about 12 weeks to reach their blooming point, taking somewhat longer earlier in the season. Similar to Tulips, the Lily bulbs that hang out a bit longer in the coolers are the ones that hang out the shortest amount of time in the Hoophouses. Because they really enjoy the regular weather patterns of Arcata during this season and Oxnard during the alternate season, Royal and Love Lilies do not require a Greenhouse to grow in, unlike their Oriental Lily counterparts. (We'll explore Oriental Lily growing in the future.) For this reason, they're somewhat of a Grower's dream!

Although they're grown year-round between Arcata and Oxnard, we're in the midst of the peak planting season for Love and Royal Lilies since they provide a full spectrum of Autumnal colors. Also, because our Lily bulbs are used only once, as opposed to Gerberas or Roses, which grow from the same plant for three years, we are able to exercise a significant level of control over our Lily color programs. (Check out the range of Love and Royal Lily colors by clicking here and here.) So at any given time during this time of year, if you take a trip over to the Hoophouses, you can see the Loves and Royals being planted, tended to, and harvested - a whole life cycle happening right before your eyes!



At one part of the farm, a Team Member harvests Royal Lilies

Once the Lilies have been hand-cut by the Asiatic Lily Picking Team, they are wheeled a short distance over to a nearby Hoophouse, where they are bunched, sleeved and put into buckets of water. As it happens, I got a little bit of hands on experience with the sleeving the other day. I regret to inform you that I did not catch it on video, but here are some photos.

My bunching station: Grade 1 Love Lilies on the left, sleeves in the middle,
sleeved bunches on the right



Lily putting Lilies in a sleeve, taking about double the amount
of time as the Team Member to my left (not pictured), I might add

You might think that bunching and sleeving is as simple as putting a few stems together and sticking them into a sleeve, but the process is actually much more complicated. At least, I found it to be! For starters, each Lily has to be graded and then separated into its respective grade. The grading is made clear with color-coded rubber bands. Blue = Grade 1, and Red = Grade 6.



Blue and red rubber bands identify the Lily grades



Then each bunch of Lilies must go into its own sleeve. Every sleeve is coded with the brand and name of a Lily, and a color ring around the top of the sleeve indicates the color of the Lily - a helpful measure since we ship our Lilies closed.



"Santa Cruz" Love Lilies



"Champagne Diamond" Royal Lilies



"Tiger Play" Tango Lilies

Once the Love and Royal Lilies have been graded, bunched and sleeved, a Team Member ties them, trims them and puts them into a bucket of water on one of our Dutch auction carts. (You may remember the carts from IFE.) The team member carefully maps each cart to show exactly which variety or varieties are on the cart, how many bunches are in each bucket, and how many buckets are on each cart. This data is then entered into our computer system so the Packing Team in the Warehouse (the Love and Royal Lilies' final destination at the farm) will have an accurate inventory to pull from.



A Team Member ties and trims Love Lilies



Next the Team Member draws out a cart map by hand,
which he will later enter into a computer.



Finally, the Team Member wheels a full cart to the edge of
the Hoophouse where another team member will collect it
and pull it into the Warehouse.

And this completes our Sun Valley tour of the Love and Royal Lilies. The rest of the story, as you know, continues with a little Cold Chain Management, a wholesaler, retailer or florist, and ultimately, a smiling recipient of Loves or Royals.

The next time you're sticking an orange Love or a burgundy Royal into your cornucopia, you'll know exactly where your Lilies came from!

For even more information on Loves and Royals, visit this Resource Pages:
Love Lilies and Royal Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_LiliesRL.pdf
Love Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_LoveLilies.pdf
Royal Lilies: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_RoyalLilies.pdf

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies (Watch the Video!)

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies (Watch the Video!)

CA Grown California Flowers Lilies lily's boots Love Lilies Royal Lilies Sun Valley

Love and Royal Lilies fill out a fall arrangement (along with Tulips, Gerbera and Sonata Lilies)



This week, I spent some time getting to know some of the other Lily(s) on the farm - the ones that go by the names of Love and Royal, to be exact. (Love Lilies are Sun Valley's Asiatic Lilies, and Royal Lilies are our Asiatic Longiflorum Hybrid Lilies - LA Hybrids.) On Monday, I came to the realization that I knew quite little about the complete growing process of these flowers that share my name. So yesterday, I arranged to meet with Tim, one of our lead Growers. What I thought would be more like an informational interview turned into a full-blown tour of the entire Love and Royal Lily growing process, from bulb cooler to warehouse, complete with a hands-on planting experience! I captured most of the experience in pictures and video, so enjoy the tour!



Tim, the tour guide



We started our journey in the Lily coolers, where the bulbs, which come in from Holland throughout the year (but mostly in the fall), are stored in peat moss, which is a perfect medium for keeping the bulbs moist, but not too moist, and for keeping the bulbs oxygenated while they slumber in the winter-weather coolers.

Crates full of Lily bulbs in the cooler



Tim displays the bulbs in peat moss

Each week, the bulbs are pulled out of the coolers about three days before they are ready to be planted in Hoophouses so they can thaw. Royals and Loves love growing in the ground and have an affinity for warm days and cool nights, which is why they're grown in Arcata Hoophouses in the summer and Oxnard Hoophouses in the winter. These Hoophouses, called "Cold Frames" in grower speak, actually have to be "pre-watered" before the bulbs can be planted (more on planting in a minute). Tim can actually power the irrigation system from his phone, albeit not as easily as doing it in person. Ah, modern technology! 



A misty Hoophouse being "pre-watered"

Once the soil has the right level of moisture, the Love and Royal Lilies are planted right into the ground by quick-handed Team Members and the "Planting Machine." (We love our technical terms here at the farm!) As it moves along a pipe track, the machine drills a line of holes across the dirt, which the team members quickly fill with bulbs. A horizontal bar at the back of the machine sweeps dirt into the planted holes. This machine enables the Team to plant literally thousands of bulbs each day!



The "Planting Machine"



A Planting Team Member - ready for his close-up!


Always up for a challenge, Tim and I tried our hands at the planting machine during the Planting Team's break. You can see us in action in the video below!

It turns out I'm not quite as coordinated as I had once believed. (Nor was Tim!) It was a great learning experience nonetheless!

Finally, the Planting Team lay drip tape, which supplies an appropriate amount of water and fertilizer directly to the Lilies' roots systems, and then they lay a wire grid, which will be raised with the Lilies as they grow to help keep them growing tall and straight.


Baby Lilies peeking up through drip tape and wire


And that, my friends, is the first part of the Love and Royal Lilies story. At this point, you've probably got enough to go on for the weekend. Please check in next week for the rest of their journey at Sun Valley - growing, harvesting and bunching!

Lily's Boots: Willow Creek Part 1 - Avenue of the Giant Cotinus

Lily's Boots: Willow Creek Part 1 - Avenue of the Giant Cotinus

Around the flower farm Avenue of the Giant Bigfoot CA Grown Farmers market flowers for delivery Growing Flowers Humboldt County Lane DeVries lily's boots

Willow Creek, California, once a logger town boasting more sightings of Bigfoot than tourists, now hosts scads of heat-seeking Humboldtians during the summer months. The sun-drenched mountainous climate offers at least a 10 degree temperature boost (sometimes over 30 degree increase!) over the sea-level coastal towns in Humboldt during the summer, hence the massive influx of vacationers this time of year. It also hard-freezes in the winter, hence the very low incidence of vacationers during that time of year. This climate provides one of our Sun Valley farms, which is nestled in a, well, sunny valley just up the hill  from the Trinity River (elevation 640 feet), perfect growing conditions for some of our seasonal crops.

This week, I was fortunate enough to accompany Lane on his Sunday afternoon ritual visit to the Willow Creek farm. I didn't bring my boots, but I did bring my dog Pearl, who was happy to ride in the back seat of Lane's extended cab, four-door truck with Lane's dogs Mae-Mae and Grizzly. The farm is about 40 minutes drive (or 30 minutes riding with Lane!) from our Arcata farm via the curvy SR-299, which takes you past magnificent views of hills, rivers and Redwoods. This route is a far cry from the straight-as-an-arrow I-39, which pierces endless miles of Illinois cornfields, that I used to travel by!

Once the five of us arrived in Willow Creek, which has one main drag dotted with a few restaurants, a gas station and a museum/gift store that sells "Bigfoot stepped on me in Willow Creek, California" t-shirts (I know this because I now own one), we turned towards the river and drove past summer cottages and local farms, several of which are organic and sell at local restaurants and farmer's markets, until we reached our farm gate. The first thing I noticed when we began our plummet down the steep gravelly road leading to the farm was the absolutely breathtaking view. In every direction there was something worth seeing: wildflowers and berries to the left, blue skies, trees, the river, and our crops and to the right - simply beautiful!

View of Willow Creek farm from top of the road

When we got closer to the farm, I was overwhelmed by the amazing scent  of rose bushes (from which we harvest rosehips) permeating the air. I don't know if it's because I'm a girl or if it's the same for everyone, but strolling through a mountain valley under blue skies while immersed in the aroma of roses makes me want to run around singing at the top of my lungs. Um, anyway...

I strolled with Lane through Virbunum, Rosehip, Ilex, Photinia, Chinese Lantern and Cotinus crops on this journey to Willow Creek, so there is no way I could share all of the information I learned from Lane in one blog post. Lane is a walking floral encyclopedia, and I think Blogger might have a policy on post length. So, I'm going to break the experience up into a series of posts in order to give you the fullest detail possible on each crop. Since we have a small bit of Cotinus being harvested now, that seems like a good place to start.

Lane and Mae-Mae, checking out Cotinus



Cotinus, known as smokebush by the landscaping trade, simply loves to grow. I don't know how else to put it. From our grower's standpoint, Sun Valley's four acres of "Royal Purple" Cotinus are a dream to grow and maintain, since the crop seems to have an insvisible shield against all kinds of diseases and pests. And its growth rate is nothing short of amazing! Our team trims it down to the ground at the end of its season, and from early spring through September, it reaches about eight feet, which is when its new growth stops.

To illustrate the growth rate... While we were at the farm, Lane showed me pictures he took on previous Sunday expeditions: On April 10th the Cotinus were only sprouts; on May 15th, they had reached six inches. The crops I saw on Sunday were about up to my shoulders in some places (I'm 5'6")! Incredible! I hope I get an opportunity to walk these fields again when the Cotinus is towering over my head!

 

Cotinus Sprouts on April 10, 2011



Six inch Cotinus on May 15, 2011



Shoulder-height Cotinus on July 10, 2011

There is an exception to this amazing height rule, however: Sleepers. When an individual Cotinus plant has too many stems, which can vary from plant to plant, it eventually becomes unable to to support the growth of each stem. On these plants, new growth on some of the stems stops much earlier in the year. These stems are called Sleepers. Fortunately, they are still pretty tall by the time they stop growing (when you consider vase standards); and the lack of new growth means the stems will not wilt anytime soon; and we're able to start harvesting them as early as right now! (Whew, taking a breath!)

 

It's somewhat difficult to see, but the Sleepers are on the bottom left of this picture.
Notice they do not have any new growth at the top.
Not sure what new growth looks like?
Scroll down...



The small reddish bloom at the top of the plant is the new growth.



Continus with new growth - still growing!



I was thoroughly impressed with our Cotinus crop, and I will certainly have a new appreciation for it when I use it in arrangements this coming autumn. (By the way, cut the stems and place in tepid water with flower food when you bring cut Cotinus home.) When you're using Cotinus in fall arrangements, remember you're in the presence of a giant!

The avenue of the giant Cotinus was just one small (well, technically large) part of my overall Willow Creek experience. Be on the lookout for upcoming posts on the other fantastic Willow Creek crops: Ilex, Viburnum, Rosehips... So much fascinating information - so much to learn!

To learn even more about Cotinus, visit our Resource Page: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/pdf/SV_RP_Cotinus.pdf

Lily's Boots: Drawing names out of a boot

Lily's Boots: Drawing names out of a boot

Around the flower farm Floral industry IFE 2011 lily lily's boots

It's not always easy returning to work right after a three-day weekend, but we've made it to Friday, and now some of us will be glad we did! We've finally chosen the three Ipad2 winners, and I'm announcing them right here, right now. Watch the video below to find out if you're one of them!

(I sincerely apologize if I butchered any names in the video.)

In case you have trouble uploading the video or understanding my Chicago accent, the winners are:

Joe Don Zetsche

Peter Hrycaj

Lilly Dwyer

Congratulations, folks! We will be in contact with you in the near future for shipping information.