Do You Know How To Tango? ...Tango Lily that is!

Do You Know How To Tango? ...Tango Lily that is!

Lane DeVries Orange Art Orange ilex tango lilies

“All the freaky people make the beauty of the world.”

                                                                                                                -Michael Franti

Lane DeVries loves to grow flowers. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Lane DeVries’ favorite flower is a soil grown tulip, I swam against the tide to admit that my favorite flower is a lily. What may have gotten lost in translation is how much Lane loves to grow all sorts of other flowers.  Lane is constantly searching out new and different varieties of flowers. There are always several test varieties in the ground, and the growers are always whispering about a new flower they have growing out in the back greenhouse.

Do you know how to Tango?

Flowers not only take time to grow, but they take much more time to understand.  For about the last five years we have been growing larger and larger crops of a really wild Asiatic hybrid lily. Have you heard of the “Tango Series”? These lilies are the new comers to the Asiatic scene, and we are still getting our customers saying, “Whoa, what’s that lily?”

Autumn is in the air... and in a vase!

Today I would like to introduce you to a Tango variety called “Orange Art”.

 

Tango’s are bred in Holland using “Latvia Promise” as a base. Latvia Promise is an Asiatic originating in Latvia with slightly up facing blooms and most notably a multitude of dark speckles and heavy brush strokes.  The substantial amount of dark speckles and thick brush marks, against very vibrant colors is what makes the Tango Series really stand out.

Orange Art is a wonderful fall lily featuring stunning orange with dark burgundy, brownish tones in the throat. The dramatic color scheme can work in all sorts of autumn themed bouquets.  The gorgeous colors match pumpkins, scarecrows and all the fun of the Halloween season.

   

This lily however isn’t for the faint of heart; it could be paired with a witch and a haunted house to look very frightening.  Such a deep contrast all in one flower can be pretty scary.

Spooky!

Orange Art is painted with all the feeling of September, October and November; however, it is more than just a nice fall lily.  This lily has depth and personality that show off its sophistication. This is very modern flower, not just because it is a relatively new hybrid, but its whole feel.  This lily would stick out like a sore thumb at your grandmother’s house, unless your grandmother is Carrie Donovan . 

Orange Ilex and an Orange Art Tango lily.

The flower world gets so caught up in “tradition” and I am guilty myself.  The Ile de France tulip, the Stargazer lily and the American Beauty rose, these flowers represent a great tradition in the world wide cut flower industry. 

Tango Lilies, framed by a 125 year old Black Walnut Tree.

Make a new tradition today.  Break the mold and experience the entire Tango Series.  These lilies are making waves and their wild brush strokes are shaking up the floral establishment. Check out this short film from our new "Field in Focus" Series about Orange Art.

Floral "Jewel Tone" Primer

Floral "Jewel Tone" Primer

Asters delphinium Jewel Tones Lilies Pantone Sumatra lilies tango lilies

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

                                                -Albert Camus

Now that it is officially autumn, it’s time to dig into the hot colors of fall. The fashion world dictates the color schemes we will see from the runways in New York and Paris right down to the colors a bride requests for her fall wedding. The name of the game this season is “Jewel Tones.” Jewel tones are the rich, saturated colors associated with jewels, such as emeralds, rubies, amber and sapphires.  These tones aren’t the bright and shiny side of the precious stones, but the dark, warm interiors of the stones. According to the trend setters at Pantone, the jewel tone palette will be accented by neutrals, such as browns and taupe.

So let’s investigate the flowers and botanicals that represent jewel tones.

Sumatra is a jewel toned delight

In the lily department, the Sumatra Lily will be a stand out this fall. This beautiful Oriental is big and dark; the saturated colors will ensure that this lily will be the focal of many autumn floral events.  For our Royal Lilies, which is what we call our LA Hybrids, the Sunset Royal lily has all the warmth of a vibrant autumn sunset.  Sun Valley has the exclusive North American rights to grow this lily, and there will be big numbers coming to harvest every week.  The other lily to keep your eye on is Orange Art. This stunning lily is from the Tango Series, so it is part Asiatic and part LA Hybrid.  This is one of our lilies that the average consumer hasn’t experienced; the gorgeous contrasting hues make this a show-stopping fall lily.

Orange Art from the Tango Lily Series.

The ever popular Matsumoto Asters we grow are a natural match for the jewel tone theme. Purple, red and our hot pink fit the bill nicely.

Fall color Matsumoto Asters

 A flower that grows beautifully at our Oxnard farm that we don’t mention nearly enough is our Delphinium Sea Waltz, now this is a rich sapphire blue.

Delphinium Jewel Tones

One of my favorite items we grow on the farm is Ornamental Kale, often called Brassica.  J Schwanke from uBloom just completed a great video showing off our product. Have a look, the dark purples and emeralds of our brassica will be hot this autumn, so you need to see this video!

Not all jewel tones are necessarily dark; our gerberas are bright, yet saturated. Some varieties which will be hot this fall are: Maya, Shania, Carambole, Intensa and Malibu.  I recently took a walk through the Oxnard gerb greenhouse, the crop is looking pretty spectacular.  The colors are popping and the plants are looking very healthy.

Our Gerb greenhouse in Oxnard, CA

The last crop I need to mention to give you the inside track on jewel tones are our Fall Tulips. The great part of growing bulb crops is we can grow the color mix you need on demand.  We often say, “We grow it, when you need it.”  This is the epitome of our year round tulip program.  We keep the tulips in coolers just until we are ready for them to burst into action. The crop is carefully planned, so we grow the colors that any given season requires.  Its fall, so we have the oranges, yellows, red and bi-colors that will be the color splash in your autumn arrangements. The bulbs are from the Southern Hemisphere so they are “spring fresh”, which leads to the best quality and the best vase life.

Jewel tones are the theme of this season, and Sun Valley is growing just what you need.