Journal

Organic Flowers On A Mission!

[Your Name Here] — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:02:10 +0000

A seed is planted. Carefully placed in the soil, lovingly watered and weeded, pruned and supported, a flower grows. Each flower on our farm is raised from youth to be ready at a moments notice for a important emotional mission. They proudly wait to be selected and packed into a box with a message of love, or hope or grief or joy. Flowers are sent to people we love, because we wish to express joy for their new job, house, or baby. They are sent to show we care about their sickness, injury or loss of loved one. Flowers are sent to encourage a friend to carry on in times of turmoil and they are sent just because we remember how important that person is to us and we just want them to know that we think of them from time to time. When we choose individual flowers on our farm, we tell them (yes, we really talk to your flowers!), ‘this is an important mission you have, travel proudly and be your best upon arrival.” We imaging our tears flowing, and smiles upon faces when a box of our flowers is opened. That is why it is important to us that our flowers we grown organically and they be grown on our farm where we can see every single bloom before it is packed for shipment. We are a small farm, we plant every seed ourselves, harvest every bloom by hand. We understand that personal messages of love and grief deserve personal attention. Yes, growing flowers is a fun way to make a living, but we also understand our job is important, we have a responsibility to those sending and receiving our flowers, their message is important and our flowers have a mission worthy of our loving attention. When walk our straight rows of flowers on our neat and tidy little farm, we see proud flowers growing strong in a healthy farm ecosystem waiting to be selected for your mission.

The Story Behind Flowers

[Your Name Here] — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:48:51 +0000

Every child knows the story behind a gift is just as important and the gift itself. That is why your children will tell you every detail of how they made that cute drawing of a butterfly. They will describe which crayons they used, where they drew it and how long it took. Kid’s know it is the history, the hard work, the thinking of the recipient that is the real value of a gift. As adults we can forget this and fall into the habit of buying faceless products from faceless stores and pass them off as gifts. Worse yet the ‘gifts’ we buy for others may be made on the backs of child laborers in developing countries or at the expense of our environment. Of all the gifts we give no other gift has as much emotional significance as flowers. We give them in love, in forgiveness, in gratitude and in grief. Then it would seem that if any gift must have a good story behind it’s creation, it would be flowers! Flowers are grown on lovingly tended farms with picturesque fields and happy workers harvesting the sunshine...right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Recently on a tour of Dutch tulip growing operations (notice I said’ operations’, not ‘farms’) the conditions in which they were grown was so deplorable and industrial, my cousin who was along to see the ‘beautiful fields of flowers’ swore to never buy a tulip again. And she is Dutch! The bulbs are soaked in toxic dips, put in crates shoulder to shoulder and grown in water (no soil!). Tens of thousands of crates are constantly moving slowly on conveyer belts from chiller to growing room to harvest to packaging. They never see the light of day, and are only handled by humans (poorly paid Polish immigrants) when they are pulled from the crates and placed in sleeves for sale. So why is this important? We don’t eat flowers, so who cares how they are grown? Remember the story behind the gift is important! Amazingly, the Dutch flower operations are considered state of the art compared to their South American and African counter parts where the health problems of the workers due to pesticide exposure have been well documented.
At California Organic Flowers we strive to bring the good story back to flowers. We are a small family farm in the Northern Sacramento Valley of California growing flowers outside in the fresh air. We are certified organic by the USDA and believe the best flowers are grown in a healthy farm ecosystem. Flowers that are grown outside have stronger stems, dark green foliage and rich colorful blooms, they are healthy, happy flowers. We work hard on our farm, but we have fun, take care of our bodies and always remember that the flowers we grow will end up on someone’s dining room table as a gift with a very happy story behind them!

www.californiaorganicflowers.com

Organic Summer Dahlias

[Your Name Here] — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:23:58 +0000

Organic Summer Dahlias

Often at our local farmer’s market a customer will ask, “what is that pretty pink flower?”. “Oh, that is a dahlia”
we will answer. “How about that red flower?” “That is also a dahlia” we answer. “But they don’t look alike at all, how can they both be dahlias?” Amazingly over 50,000 named varieties of dahlias have been hybridized from the original three varieties that were found in the Mexico highlands by Spanish explorers. So beloved is the dahlia that it now is available in almost every color and shape imaginable. From the gigantic dinner plate dahlias to the orchid and pom pom varieties, dahlias offer an endless array of textures and colors. Dahlias are the quintessential summer flower, requiring lots of warmth and long summer days to coax their blooms to open. And the slightest hint of frost turns the plants into a pile of black mush, graphically displaying this plant’s preference for summer conditions.

Dahlias have always been a wonderful garden flower, but have often frustrated the gardener who wants to bring their blooms in the house and arrange them in a vase. All too often the blooms will droop and die within a few hours. All sorts of advice is given to encourage the success of the cut flower dahlia, including burning the bottom of the stem or placing in boiling hot water. After years of trials we have developed a line of dahlias and a method of harvest which yields beautiful cut flower dahlias which confidently last 3-5 days in a vase. We find that time of harvest, quality of water, immediate chilling and careful harvest techniques all add to the success of our dahlias. We predominately grow water-lily and incurved cactus forms of dahlia because they work best for us and in our opinion are the most beautiful. We are also experimenting with informal decorative dahlias with huge blooms. We offer our dahlias on our website at www.CaliforniaOrganicFlowers.com as individual bouquets or in our 12 bunch Dahlia Party Pack which is perfect for decorating a summer party.

When you receive dahlias from California Organic Flowers, they will come with a packet of flower food. Adding flower food is optional but our tests have shown that it adds a day or two to the vase life of our dahlias. Flower food basically contains sugar to feed the flowers, an acidifier to help with the uptake of water and a biocide to control bacterial growth in the sugar rich solution. Some customers have had success with their own flower food concoctions of sugar, lemon juice or vinegar and a drop or two of bleach. Upon arrival simply remove your flowers from the box cut an inch of the bottom of the stems and place in a clean container with fresh water and flower food. With in a few hours your dahlias will puff up and shake off any of the crumpled look they they may have acquired during transit. As with all flowers they will last longer if kept in cool conditions (less than 70 degrees) and out of direct sunlight. Also, changing water every day or two will greatly increase vase life as it reduces the bacterial contamination which can clog flower stems. To view our beautiful Summer Dahlia Collection, go to our Organic Flower Calendar accessible from the home page of our website and look under ‘Summer/Fall Flowers’.

Organic Roses

[Your Name Here] — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:24:34 +0000

You would think with the plethora of advertisements for rose fertilizers and rose pest control compounds, that it would be impossible to grow roses in your garden organically. But worry not, roses are very hardy plants and given a chance to wean themselves of their dependency on chemicals, they will not only survive but will thrive and bloom with very little care. Roses have humble roots as a wild plant in many parts of the world. They are well adapted to protect themselves from bugs, disease, and of course herbivores.... hence the thorns. Some varieties of roses, particularly Hybrid Tea Roses, have become a little weaker due to extensive breeding work, but they will still thrive under organic cultivation.
   Soil is the most important part of any organic system. So in order for your roses to thrive we need to give a fair amount of attention to your soil. If your roses are already planted and have been cultivated with chemicals, your soil is probably devoid of beneficial microorganisms as most chemicals are toxic to microorganisms. With already established plantings, add 2-3 inches of good organic compost mixed with one pound of alfalfa meal and one pound of cottonseed meal to the surface of the soil around each rose bush. Use only good quality compost, if it has bark or sticks in it, it is not compost. Look for compost that looks like coffee grounds and smells sweet like a forest floor. There are many composts out there that do more harm than good so buy from a reputable source. The alfalfa meal will add organic matter and growth compounds, and the cottonseed meal will add slow release nitrogen and is slightly acidic which roses love. If your soil is already naturally acidic (high rainfall areas of the Eastern US and pine forested areas) use canola seed meal instead of cottonseed meal, or just add some ground calcium with your cottonseed meal to buffer the acid. Now, believe it our not you are going to add this mix to your roses 2 or 3 times a year, and boy are they going to love it! The best time to top dress with this organic compost/fertilizer mix is in the spring before bloom and in the fall before the winter rains begin in earnest.
   The good news, is that with healthy soil your roses will have very few pests. A healthy plant, like a healthy person, is not prone to diseases and is rarely sick. Since you are feeding your plants a good healthy organic meal they will be healthy and strong. What to do if your roses do get some pests? The most common rose pest are aphids. Oh yuck those nasty aphids! Now, what does everyone do when they see aphids on their roses? Well, they freak out and run around with pesticides and spray the leaves with high pressure hoses. My advice with aphids is simple. Do nothing. In fact be happy that you have aphids, because in an organic system pests attract beneficial insects (think lady bugs) which will voraciously eat up the aphids and then go on to other plants in your garden to find more pests. You see, you want pests in your garden. You want a healthy happy ecosystem doing all the work for you. Once you spray and kill the pests, the beneficial insects will leave and you are left with all the work! What about aphids spreading disease? Remember, you have healthy plants so they will fight off most diseases, just like a healthy person will survive a few mosquito bites. I know, it is a bit of paradigm shift to allow pests in your garden, but just watch, they will come and go and your roses will be no worse for the experience.
   There are a zillion ways to prune roses and most methods work well depending on the look you want your rose bushes to have. The one thing I can add is that it helps tremendously to prune your roses so they have adequate air circulation. Fungal diseases breed in humidity, so remove any crossing branches and keep your bushes nice and open and airy.

   So there you have it, feed your roses a good meal twice a year, let the bugs do their thing, and watch your roses thrive like never before. Watch as your spindly chemical dependent plants develop nice green foliage and bloom and grow like mad. And enjoy the natural system which takes care of itself, while you relax in a nice healthy garden and enjoy the show.

Spring Flowers!

[Your Name Here] — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:50:27 +0000

Spring is a lovely time on the farm. The cold winter rains have quenched our fall plantings of ranunculus, anemone, narcissus, tulips, dutch iris and freesia for many months and now they
are ready to explode with color with the first warmth of the new year. Spring in California is like spring in most of the country, in that it is fickle and sometimes greets us with a sunny smile and at other times sends us scurrying for warm soup. Most of our spring flowers require a long cool (but not cold) period of wet weather to slowly develop their roots and foliage to prepare for warm weather blooming. Like a magicians wand, the warm spring sun encourages the plants to extend their stems and open their buds and reveal the hidden colors that have been hidden in green foliage all winter. As if mother nature knows we need bright colors after the sense dulling colors of winter, spring flowers tend to posses the brightest, purest color of all the year’s flowers.

Ranunculus is a member of the buttercup family which come in a rainbow of brilliant primary colors. Bright red, rich orange, sunny yellow and pure pink radiate from a multi-layered bloom of petals so delicate they look like crepe paper. The delicate petals are deceiving though as ranunculus are very long lasting once cut and arranged in a vase. We grow a lovely ranunculus that is deep dark red and has a wonderfully subtle rose fragrance. In fact, many times, ranunculus is confused with roses because their shape and fragrance is so similar.

Narcissus is the latin name for the genus of all flowers commonly known as daffodils. But, when the name narcissus is used it usually refers to the little fragrant winter flowers more specifically known as tazzetta narcissus. The most common tazzetta narcissus are the beautiful, but somewhat offensive smelling ‘paper whites’. Since ‘paper whites’ have a ‘some love it, some hate it’ scent, we focus on growing the yellow and cream tazzettas which have a lovely fragrance reminiscent of spring hyacinths. Narcissus is best displayed in small clear or silver vases and are perfect for the bedroom or bathroom. I just love the idea of someone in the frigid North East receiving a box of super fragrant Narcissus. Imagine the joyous look on their face when they open the box and are greeted with a blast of that sweet, spicy, earthy fragrance of Narcissus. The perfect cure for the winter doldrums!

Anemone is so beloved on our farm. This lovely member of the buttercup family continues to grow and bloom even when cold rain is falling and the temperatures are struggling to reach 45 degrees. And the colors are so enchanting! The deepest darkest royal purple, dark fire engine red, bright florescent pink, rich merlot and pure white. We ship our anemone ‘in bud’ so that the delicate blooms will not get damaged during shipment. When they arrive they will take 2-3 days to open in a warm room ( they will open very slowly if your house is less than 60 degrees...burrr!). When anemone open they provide you with a dazzling show! Anemone is one of the only flowers that will actually grow in the vase getting taller every day (tulips will also do this). Be sure to add water to anemone every day because they drink LOTS of water, sometimes they will empty the vase every day. But they are very forgiving, if they do run out of water and get a bit wilted, just re-cut the stems and put them back in water and they will perk right up.

Tulips are a flower that everyone knows. Native to Central Asia and made popular by the Dutch, tulips are wonderfully simple in form and perfect in contemporary settings. We like to grow the taller more elegant ‘French’ tulips. The Dutch prefer to call them single late tulips and are a bit perplexed as to how the French were able to get their country’s name on
a Dutch bred tulip! But whatever the name, they have magnificent large blooms with long willowy stems that will announce ‘spring’ to all that are graced by their presence. Tulips will move and grow in a vase creating an ever changing display. Expect tulips to grow in length by 50% during their life in a vase.

Dutch Iris are very popular with our customers at the Chico Farmer’s Market as well as on our website. We sell them in ‘pencil stage’ with just a tip of color showing at the top of the stem. Over the course of several days, the tip enlarges and then unfolds into a dramatic orchid like bloom. Many times a second bloom follows the first creating a long lived display. We grow the classic dark blue iris as well as yellow, and our favorite ‘eye of the tiger’ which has a bronze tongue with royal purple petals and a yellow highlighted throat.... very exotic!

The winner of the award for best fragrance in a spring flower must belong to Freesia. I describe the fragrance as apricot jam with a touch of black pepper. It is a gentle pleasant fragrance which everyone (even the fragrance sensitive folks) seem to enjoy. We only grow bright yellow freesia called ‘dukaat’ because in addition to a having a lovely color, it is
the most fragrant of all the varieties. Freesias have many buds on each stem which bloom in succession creating a
long lasting display.

Spring flowers love cool spring weather and loath the onset of summer. Generally they are only available during February, March and April before the hot days have arrived. So enjoy them while you can, they are Mother Nature’s way of rewarding you for enduring the long grey winter! www.californiaorgnanicflowers.com

Planting an Organic Cut Flower Garden

[Your Name Here] — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:28:57 +0000

Most of the time we plant gardens just to look at them. We go to the nursery and find little 6 packs of garden plants and organize them in the garden to grow and bloom in an artistic pattern. This works well, but it is so hard to bring those beauties inside and put them in a vase when they look so nice outside. With a cutting garden you are not trying to create a perfect landscape, rather you want a garden that will work for you and produce copious amounts of cut flowers. You can place your cutting garden in an unused corner of your yard, out of the way, so you do not feel like it
needs to look perfect.

Why are my plants so short?
You will notice that most of those nursery 6 packs produce neat compact plants with stems too short to make large floral arrangements. What you don’t know is the nursery industry has spun a conspiracy against tall plants. It seems gardeners like nice neat gardens, not sprawling tall plants that require a constant effort to keep them from flopping over in the slightest rain or wind. But, the best cut flowers come from tall plants not ‘dwarf’ plants so commonly found these days. If you want to find the best cut flower varieties you will have to ask for them by name. They are still out there, but you will probably
have to avoid the big box stores and shop at your local nursery or online.

Here is our Top 10 list of excellent cut flower varieties:

Dianthus Amazon Series (neon purple, cherry and pink)
I can’t say enough about this plant, it is essentially a 'super charged' sweet william! It is incredibly hardy, it blooms in very cold weather and blooms all summer even in temperatures above 100 degrees! Bright, showy, tall with handsome foliage. As a cut flower it will last for weeks in a vase. Unlike most Sweet Williams, this dianthus blooms the first year and is perennial rather than biennial.

Rudbeckia Indian Summer:
Big beautiful daisy like black-eyed susan flowers on straight sturdy stems. Blooms all summer, and has excellent vase life. Re-seeds freely but is not invasive. Not really a consistent perennial, but with its re-seeding characteristic it comes back
every year.

Godetia Grace Series:
A spring bloomer only, but what a show! Tall stems that need support. Plant in early spring for late spring/early
summer bloom.

Foxglove (digitalis) Camelot:
Unlike most foxgloves, this series blooms the first year. Tall stems with graceful tubular flowers. Much more tolerant to
heat than most digitialis, blooms most of the summer for us.

Peony Coral Charm:
Expensive and hard to find, but worth every penny! Magnificent large coral pink blooms which fade to white in the vase. Pick in bud to enjoy the entire show. Peonies take about 3 years to become established enough to where you can start
to cut flowers, so these take some patience.

Freesia Dukaat:
Bright yellow with a lovely fragrance of spicy apricot jam, this spring blooming bulb flower is amongst our favorite on
the farm. Zone 5 or above only.

Sunflower Sunbeam:
An unusual green centered sunflower with sturdy tall stems. Blooms are medium sized for a sunflower and long lasting making them perfect for bouquets.

Zinnia Uproar Rose:
Tall zinnia with huge purple pink blooms. Ever blooming all summer and long vase life.

Snapdragon Rocket:
Snapdragons are an excellent example of the nursery industry’s desire to dwarf garden plants. Rocket is a superb cut
flower growing 3 feet tall and providing excellent vase life. Remember to provide support.

Larkspur:
A great spring bloomer with long stems. Plant by seed in cool soils. Best to plant in the fall or late winter before soil gets above 60 degrees. Re-seeds freely. Available in purples, pinks and white.

Providing Support:

Okay now that you have found your excellent cut flower varieties and have lovingly planted your garden, don’t forget that they will grow tall and will need support. It is always easier to provide support for your plants before they get tall than to wrestle them after they are blown over. You can support plants with sturdy bamboo poles, tomato cages or a grid of poly netting. In the cut flower business we use a grid of netting called Hortonova Plastic Trellis (www.groworganic.com) supported by 4’ pieces of 3/8 inch rebar driven into the ground. You essentially create a horizontal plane of netting for
which the flower stems can grow up through, a bit industrial but very effective. Remember this is not your show garden,
it is your cutting garden, it is okay if it looks a little rough. The beautiful part will be in vases in your house!

Fertilizers and pests:

Growing flowers organically is easy, in fact most flowers prefer a moderately fertile soil. All those chemical fertilizers are just going to make your plants too tall, weak and susceptible to pests anyway. Start with well loosened soil mixed with
lots of well decomposed compost. Avoid those ‘pseudo’ composts with lots of bark. Bark is not compost and it will deplete your soil of nutrients. Good quality compost should be the consistency of coffee grounds. In most cases it is best to leave the pests in a cutting garden be. Many of them are beneficial and disrupting the bug/plant ecosystem with bug killers will just create more problems in the end. Be patient, let the critters balance themselves out and have some lemonade, your cut flowers will be better off without all that human intervention. However, you will need to do some weeding after you finish your lemonade. Be sure to pull all weeds, before they bloom and set seeds, to prevent a weed nightmare the next year!

Happy Gardening!

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Maximize Vase Life of Your Organic Flowers

[Your Name Here] — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:55:53 +0000

Flower Care Instructions:

The goal of caring for your flowers is to provide the hydration and nutrition necessary to allow your flowers to look beautiful and last long.

START WITH:

Water Quality: In general tap water is just fine, but avoid very hard or salt softened water

Clean Vases: Bacteria is the enemy of flowers, always start with impeccably clean vases. Use bleach to clean vases between uses.

Strip those stems: Leaves breed bacteria, remove all leaves that will be under water before placing flowers in a vase

More Water: Use large vases that hold lots of water. If you stuff many stems in a small quantity of water it will be very hard to keep the water clean and the flowers will not last as long. In our tests a single flower in a vase always out lasts the big mixed bouquet stuffed tightly in a vase

Keep them Cool: Keep your flowers in a cool part of the house.

Avoid Direct Sunlight: Flowers love the sun in the field, but once in a vase direct sunlight is very hard on them.

Flower Food? Most flowers last perfectly well in plain water, but some need some extra sugar to allow them to thrive. We recommend flower food be added to the vase water for Zinnias and Dahlias. (By the way, flower food is mostly sugar with some citric acid to lower water PH and a powdered bleach to prevent bacterial growth in the sugar rich water)

FINISH WITH:

Change the Water: If you wouldn’t drink the water, your flowers won’t either! Some flowers are ‘clean’ (lisianthus, anemone) and will not require many water changes and others (sunflowers, zinnias) are ‘dirty’ and may require daily water changes to keep the water clear.

Re-cut the Stems: After several days it may be hard to keep your vase water clean because the bottom of the flower stems are starting to get soft. Simply cut off the bottom inch or two of stem to get to ‘new’ stem and change the vase water.

Creating a beautiful wedding with Organic Flowers

[Your Name Here] — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:13:54 +0000

Imagine walking through a wildflower meadow filled with every imaginable type and color of flower. Now imagine being able to dance through that meadow picking out your favorite flowers in any combination you want. As a florist, our job is to provide you with that meadow of choices and let you dream up your favorite bouquets. You may want to pick out all the red flowers or just white flowers or maybe you want a rainbow of all the colors and flowers available. When you start the process of choosing your wedding flowers, avoid the temptation to choose one or two specific colors. Rather, think of color ranges that your florist can work with to develop a mosaic of color that represents you and your wedding. Bridal flowers, like a sunset are not one or two colors, but hundreds of different subtle hues and shades which blend to create an overall image of beauty.

Begin the process of choosing bridal flowers by getting to know yourself. In the end, your wedding flowers should represent you, the bride, in style and sprit. Ask yourself, what are your favorite colors and color combinations, what are your favorite flowers, which seasons do you prefer? Just as importantly, what kind of person are you? Do you like your world to be exacting and organized or a little loose and free. Do you like exact symmetry or a bit of asymmetry? Look at the clothes you like to wear. Do you like solid colors, patterns, loose flowing clothes or snug figure forming clothes? Once you determine what you like and most importantly what styles and colors represent you as a person, you are ready to choose your flowers. Start by looking at wedding magazines and books and highlighting the bridal bouquets that you like. Keep in mind that many of the flowers in wedding magazines will not necessarily be in season on your wedding day. Whenever possible choose in- season and locally grown organic flowers to ensure vibrancy and freshness. When you meet with your florist, it will be very helpful to them if you bring some photos of the bouquets that you like.

When you choose your florist ask them a few questions before you schedule your consultation. Ask if they have photos of their work which you can look through. Being able to look photos at of bouquets your florist has created will give you an idea of their design style and the types of flower with which they like to work. If you already know what kinds of designs you want, go ahead and tell them on the phone and see how enthusiastic their response is and if they are agreeable to your ideas. Some florists require a minimum charge for weddings so make sure that your budget meets their minimum. Since consultations are a significant time investment, make sure your florist has a fairly good chance of matching your style and budget before you schedule a consultation with them. Most florists offer free consultations, but some charge a small fee, ask up front so there are no surprises.

Now for the fun part! Once you have chosen a florist that you really like you can start to put together all the components of a beautiful wedding. I like to start with the bridal bouquet because it tends to set the tone for the entire wedding and it is the most personal of all the bouquets. Once the bridal bouquet is chosen you can start to brainstorm bridesmaid’s bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages. Bridesmaid bouquets can be similar to the brides or completely different. A common misconception is the bridesmaid’s bouquets must match their dresses. The bouquets should accent the dresses, but they do not have to match the color, in fact it generally looks better if they don’t. Boutonnières are for the groom and groomsmen and can be anything from a single rose to a beautiful dusty miller leaf. My favorite fall boutonniere is a clutch of purple, red and orange ornamental chilies with a camellia leaf! Corsages for the Moms are still very common, but the trend is to have them carry a small posy of wedding flowers instead. With the ceremony bouquets chosen, it is now time to decorate your reception.

Flowers for the reception can exactly match the wedding flowers, or for a more informal look you can choose entirely different flowers for your reception. Go for fun and bold centerpieces using a combination of seasonal flowers and accents. This will highlight the celebratory atmosphere of your reception. The reception is a great place to give your florist creative freedom to design bouquets that highlight their artistic style. For vases, anything goes, from galvanized and terra cotta pots to antique wine bottles. For a classy look, choose sterling silver pots or julep cups filled with flowers. Many florist have an inventory of vases with which they can design your centerpieces. After the wedding you can return the vases or pay an extra fee for after reception pick up. Let your flowers be an opportunity to have fun with your wedding and to express who you are and your creative spirit. www.californiaorganicflowers.com

Beautiful Organic Lilies!

[Your Name Here] — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:05:45 +0000

Ahh lilies! By far my favorite of all the flowers we grow! I suppose it is because of this love, that lilies have become a signature crop of California Organic Flowers. Lilies are bold, bright, fragrant (oriental lilies) and continue to bloom in the vase. The first difference you will notice about our lilies are the number of buds. Most store or florist lilies only have 2-4 buds mostly because they use small bulbs which are cheaper and because it is easier to ship and pack lilies with fewer buds. At California Organic Flowers, we choose the largest bulbs with the most buds to ensure that your lilies bloom and continue to bloom for as long as two weeks. We also truly believe that organically grown lilies are bigger, brighter and more vibrant than there chemically raised cousins. Sometimes for wedding work, we have to buy lilies from other growers and are generally appalled at their skimpy little buds and sickly green foliage. Proof once again that like people, flowers look their best when grown outside, and given a healthy diet and lots of love!

There are three main types of lilies, Asiatic lilies and Oriental lilies and Trumpet lilies. Asiatic lilies come in a rainbow of colors, yellow, red, orange, white, pink and salmon colors and are not fragrant. Asiatics tend to have smaller blooms than Orientals and have more buds. Orientals are large fragrant lilies that come only in pinks and whites. One of the most popular Oriental lilies is the Stargazer lily, which is a stunning crimson blushing to white. Trumpet lilies are mainly used as white Easter lilies and have a wonderful sweet fragrance and tend to be, well, trumpet shaped. There are literally hundreds of varieties with in each of these main categories so I won’t try to list them all, but some of my favorite Asiatics are: Elite (orange), Blackout (deep red) and Nello (tequila sunrise orange). In Orientals, I love red merostar which is a stargazer type with reflexed petals; I also love a deep magenta variety called Sumatra.

Now to confuse things a little, I am going to introduce you to two more types of lilies which are hybrids of Asiatics, Orientals and Trumpets. A Hybrid is basically when two or more plant varieties are reproductively crossed to highlight the positive attributes of each. Think of your favorite two bands and put them on stage together and you have a hybrid!

My favorite Hybrid is the OT or Orientapet. By hybridizing Orientals and Trumpets, the result is huge blooms and an unbelievably wonderful fragrance. I grow one variety called Conca d’ Or that has seven inch blooms! When I bring these to the farmers market, they shock and awe folks from miles away and sell out every time. Another benefit from OT Hybrids is they are available in more colors than Oriental lilies, including yellow, soft orange and bicolor red and yellows. The last variety of lily is the LA hybrids which are a cross between Asiatics and Trumpets (also know as long folium, hence the L in LA). Unfortunately, LA hybrids do not inherit the fragrance from the Trumpet side of the cross, but they are a nice large flower available in many colors and similar in many aspects to Asiatic lilies. t">www.californiaorganicflowers.com

Winter at California Organic Flowers

[Your Name Here] — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 04:25:31 +0000

Winter at California Organic Flowers.

Compared to most of the country, our winters hardly qualify as a ‘real winter’. When my wife Julia and I moved here from Eastern Idaho, where winter lasts seven months, we thought we had landed in the Bahamas. But, we soon learned that Californians consider it cold here and escape to Hawaii for relief from winter! To be fair, we do get this nasty cold fog that settles in the Sacramento Valley and it is as wet and bone chilling as anyone could need. But, for the most part, winters here are a bit like a long cool spring. In fact, the first rains in October trigger the growth of spring bulbs like narcissus (paper whites) that start blooming in January. Yes, that is correct, those cute little fragrant daffodils that most of the country forces inside in little pots grow perfectly well outside here in California. My favorite paper whites are not white at all. I like the Grand Soleil D’ Or, which is a Tazzeta Narcissus and blooms with yellow petals and an orange cup. But the best attribute of Grand Soleil D’ Or is its wonderful sweet fragrance. Unlike the 'white' paper whites which have a ‘some love it, some hate it’ fragrance, Grand Soleil D’ Or is deliciously reminiscent of spring hyacinths. Our Grand Soleil D’ or is generally available in January and February.

Even in our mild winters, a little help is needed to coax flowers into blooming in December and January. We plant some of our crops into 100’x20’ poly covered greenhouses to give them a bit of extra warmth and to protect them from frost. Our greenhouse is a nice toasty 75’ when it is sunny and 55’ outside. Of course, when that nasty valley fog roles in, the greenhouse is of little help! Fortunately we get more sun than fog most years and our happy sheltered plants prosper. Our main greenhouse crops are freesia, ranunculus, anemone, tulips and Dutch iris.

Anemones are always our first flowers to bloom in the winter. In fact it is a tradition of ours to bring the first anemone into our home and put it by itself in special hand blown bud vase. It is the first bloom of winter and very appreciated. With the help of our greenhouse, our first anemone bloom in early December. You can find bouquets of anemone on our website from early December until March. Anemones come in rich primary colors of royal purple, deep magenta, fuchsia pink and bright red. Very simple to care for, like most bulb crops, anemones have a long vase life and rarely cloud the vase water. Nonetheless, like all cut flowers, it best to change the vase water regularly to extend the life of your bouquet. Arrange anemones by themselves in mass in a clear glass vase so you can see their smooth graceful stems under water. My favorite vase for anemones is a simple ginger jar vase which affords just the right angle to display their bright blossoms.

By now most flower lovers are familiar with Dutch iris. With my Dutch heritage, I am partial to these lovely flowers. Deep primary blue and rich golden yellow are the main colors for Dutch iris. And it is fortunate, because those two colors compliment each other perfectly. Dutch irises express a wild grassy look and are a perfect compliment to any bouquet. They are not as long lived as many flowers, so we always ship them in bud stage so you can see their full transformation from pencil stage where just a tip of blue is showing to full bloom five days later. www.californiaorganicflowers.com