“About six years ago, I happened across a flower farm on Instagram — I had never seen a dahlia before,” said Schultz, who lives on a grain operation near Strathmore with husband Jay and their three sons.

“I was instantly hooked and captivated by these amazing and unique flowers.”

It was a modest infatuation at first — she only set aside a small part of her vegetable garden to plant a variety of flowers.

“At first it felt really weird to cut a flower,” she said. “It just felt so foreign to me to cut a flower from my garden and put it in a vase. I did and I was hooked. The next summer, I carved out about 25 per cent of my garden.”

She no longer grows any vegetables, but has about three-quarters of an acre of flowers.

That’s a lot of flowers — and a hefty gardening bill would eventually lead to the creation of Sarah’s Cut Flowers.

“Growing flowers can be expensive,” said Schultz. “That was actually a big factor in me wanting to start selling them, so I could afford this hobby, that had become, quite frankly something of an addiction.”

The first year she grew a large number of flowers, she didn’t sell any, but had friends come over for a U-pick afternoon. She began selling flowers in 2020, while she was still working sporadically as a nurse, taking night shifts in the emergency room.

“Most flowers I grow are annuals in the form of seeds — that cost isn’t terrible,” she said. “Where you are going to run into a lot of cost for your inputs are dahlia tubers. That is my main crop.

“Tubers can get quite pricey, but now that I order enough and sell my extras, I can order wholesale and it’s a lot more affordable that way.”

Schultz first started selling flowers online as she had a strong social media presence and a well-known (but now defunct) blog, ‘Nurse Loves Farmer.’ She is active on Facebook and Instagram and relied heavily on word of mouth. In addition to selling at the Strathmore Farmers’ Market, she had a “bouquet subscription,” which included delivery in the local area.

“I kind of did a little bit of everything just to see what would work best,” she said.

The short growing season (from the end of May until fall frost) prompted her to find other ways to make money. She sells dahlia tubers in April, which is a big source of income for her and in 2020, began buying flowers from a Calgary wholesaler for both flower arrangements and wreathes for fall and winter.

“It’s been very well received, and I love making them. It’s a really good pick-me-up in the wintertime, to be able to work with fresh flowers and Christmas greens, even if they aren’t my own.”

And then last year, she decided to become a full-time flower farmer.

“It was about happiness and fulfilment,” she said. “It wasn’t a decision made lightly or quickly. This was years and years in the making.”

Schultz has shifted her business to sell wholesale to florists in Calgary, although she does still offer some bouquet subscriptions.

“I got to know some florists and designers last year,” she said. “There is a big need and they’re so supportive and encouraging and they want to buy local. With COVID, there was an imported flower shortage and a lot of flower farms in South America and other places they import from had to shut down due to the pandemic.”

A lot of her flowers are ones that can’t be imported. She grows specialty varieties of sunflowers, zinnias, as well as tulips, ranunculuses (a cool-season flower sometimes called ‘the rose of spring’) and anemones (a wide variety of perennials also known as windflowers).

“I grow a little bit of everything. I’m still honing my growing plans and seeing what works best for me, for our climate here and what florists really want from me,” she said.

“I’m finding my niche with flowers and finding what works and doesn’t work and finding ways I can find income in the off-season.”

She is also raising chickens, and selling their eggs.

“I feel grateful to have a husband and family who really supports me following this dream and passion of mine,” she said.

“I can be outside for 16 hours a day with my flowers and my chickens and my kids. I didn’t know what a dahlia was six years ago, and now I’m obsessed. Cut flowers bring so much joy and happiness. Being outside and in the dirt, I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Her website is sarahscutflowers.com.

The post Former nurse finds joy in her blossoming flower business appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

And guess how popular you are these days when you have a landscape full of flowers that you’re willing to share?

“The internet, and in particular Pinterest, have created digital envy,” said Cory (who uses Christopher for his business name), adding there’s also a whole lot of people who have become equally enthusiastic about gardening, with some viewing their plants the way many people view their pets.

“A whole generation is very interested in gardening. We have the whole ‘plant baby’ phenomenon. Plants are a big thing for millennials.”

And with the pandemic putting the gardening trend into overdrive, it had a big impact at Birchwood Meadows, located east of Morinville. Business was brisk last year even though, of course, COVID protocols changed how the family operated its U-Pick, Christopher’s floral workshops, and the booking of gardens for photo and video shoots.

“Our weekends were quite steady, we decided to implement an appointment structure,” he said. “We would allow a certain amount of people in — to allow for careful social distancing and to allow people to feel comfortable. That was a really important component for us.”

The move into flowers (about 40 varieties are grown on the farm) was sparked by changes in the tree nursery business.

“The industry for tree growing and nurseries had changed a bit,” said Christopher. “Box stores were starting to become a much more competitive market for farmers. You sort of saw a lot of the smaller farms not being able to keep up.

“We sort of decided to take the farm in another direction.”

Christopher, who owns his own design and events company in Edmonton, works closely with his parents, who started Birchwood Meadows about five years ago.

“The flower-growing process is very fascinating,” he said. “As we do live in Alberta, our growing season is short. We have to get things started in advance, sometimes almost a full year in advance.”

Seeds and bulbs need to be ordered well ahead of time, especially during the pandemic, when there are a lot of people wanting plants and flowers.

By late January, the Cherdarchuks are in the greenhouse, seeding those varieties that need extra time to germinate or require an extended period of growth. In March, the family grows plugs and then pots them, and when the May long weekend rolls around, it’s time for transplanting.

“When we’re finally getting them into the ground after the frost, we’re able to see blooms on them within a month,” said Christopher. “Without this, a lot of the blooms that we love wouldn’t really flower until the end of August or beginning of September.

“Because our weather can always be so temperamental, we can always have a little frost at that point.”

In mid-July, Birchwood Meadows opens up to visitors, who can come and pick their own flowers until the fall. Many are annuals such as snapdragons, sages, amaranthus and lavatera.

“We find things that need a little bit of heat — and will take a little bit of cool — are also helpful as we head into fall,” he said. “Last year, we got a light frost in the middle of September and our heavy frost wasn’t until Thanksgiving.

“We were really able to expand the season in ways that we haven’t been able to in past years. We were able to see more fall-inspired things like grasses and wheats and things like that, which people could also add into their arrangements.”

The farm also offers a flower subscription program during the summer.

“Because our weather can be inconsistent or the season can vary from the previous years, that gives us a surprise as to what can be available,” he said.

But what is really changing, especially in the past year, is how people, and especially families, view an operation like Birchwood Meadows.

“They can get flowers anywhere, but to say they went to a farm and had an experience — a lot of people are looking for those engaged experiences,” said Christopher. “I think the millennial generation is being very mindful of how they are spending their time and their money.

“They are looking for those experiences that don’t always result in a product, but something they can feel that they’ve learned from or grown from.”

The post New enterprise blooms on former grain farm and tree nursery appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The country grew wealthy selling tulip bulbs in the 17th century during the so-called Dutch Golden Age and remains the second largest agricultural exporter behind the United States.

For decades the FloraHolland cooperative has acted as the hub from which planeloads of flowers from around the world are distributed from vast, air-conditioned warehouses in Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam airport.

The company says it distributes almost 50 per cent of all flowers sold worldwide and last year it reported sales of 4.6 billion euros (C$6.7 billion), mostly from matching growers and buyers at its famous early-morning daily auctions.

But worryingly for FloraHolland chief executive Lucas Vos, sales of flowers by growers directly to buyers have overtaken those sold through FloraHolland’s auctions.

Direct sales from members of the cooperative bypassing the auctions rose by 3.8 per cent to 2.3 billion euros last year.

Auction sales stood at 2.1 billion euros, down one per cent.

“We need to realize that if, for instance, we want to get flowers into China or India… the logistical system we have built for ourselves probably does not fit,” said Vos, who was brought in from shipping firm Maersk in 2014.

In response, FloraHolland is looking to make changes to an auction system that dates back more than 100 years.

It is investing up to 90 million euros over the next five year and plans to develop a 24-hour online dealing platform.

It will be like “a Tinder or AirBNB” for flowers, Vos said.

That could eventually lead to the Dutch auction halls, where some 3,000 work, falling silent, but change is already apparent; some 70 per cent of sales come from remote bidders.

Vos remains confident, however.

“Most producers grow one type of flower, and if you’re a consumer, you want a bouquet,” he said. “There will always be a need for a hub.”

Overseas sites

For European markets, it makes sense to gather flowers in Amsterdam before trucking them to Britain or Russia.

And for growers in Kenya or Ethiopia, for example, being among FloraHolland’s 4,600 members helps maintain stable prices in the face of powerful buyers such as Europe’s top supermarket chains.

Some 50 per cent of Kenya’s flower exports are sold via FloraHolland, and 70-80 per cent of Ethiopia’s.

But being members also means they must commit to sell all of their output via FloraHolland and that can be a handicap when trying to reach Chinese or Indian markets.

Vos said FloraHolland plans to open logistics sites overseas, either near growers in Europe or Africa or near Asian buyers, to preserve the company’s central role in a more devolved global flower trade.

At stake is the Netherlands’ dominance in the global flower trade, which is slipping.

The Netherlands exported 52 per cent of the world’s cut flowers in 2013, down from 58 per cent in 2003, according to Rabobank.

— Thomas Escritt is a senior Reuters correspondent based in Amsterdam.

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Earlier this summer, volunteer judges toured participating Alberta communities to evaluate them on six criteria: tidiness, environmental action, heritage conservation, urban forestry, landscape, and floral displays.

Each category is worth 150 to 200 points (for a total of 1,000 points), but evaluated communities are assigned a “bloom rating.” It takes a score of 55 per cent just to get one bloom, and hitting the 5 Bloom level requires a score of 82 per cent or better.

The village of Delia won 5 Bloom honours and first place for communities of 500 or fewer residents. Glenwood and Rosalind each scored 4 Blooms.

Coronation, Bon Accord, and Spirit River all earned 5 Blooms for towns of 501 to 2,000 residents, with Coronation earning the title of category winner. Irricana had 4 Blooms.

In the 2,001- to 6,000-resident category, Provost edged St. Paul, with both earning 5 Blooms. Barrhead had 4 Blooms and Fox Creek had 3 Blooms.

Cold Lake had 5 Blooms and won the 6,001- to 15,000-resident category.

Several communities wanted to be evaluated — which means paying the judges’ travelling expenses — but didn’t want to compete. Redwater had 5 Blooms while Morinville, Ponoka, and Wabamun all earned 4 Blooms.

For more information about the Communities in Bloom program, visit cib.arpaonline.ca.

The post Making Alberta beautiful: It’s a blooming good idea appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

This plant contains a bitter, irritating oil that is toxic and can harm grazing livestock, especially cattle.

This weed is an invader of wet areas, preferring humus soils, but also surviving in coarser soils, if enough moisture is available. Livestock tend to avoid eating it, but this can allow this weed to take over.

It has erect stems, highly branched in the upper part of the plant and can grow to 90 centimetres tall. It has bright-yellow flowers and five petals with a shiny, waxy appearance on the upper side. Leaves are deeply divided, three to eight centimetres long towards the bottom of the plant and smaller towards the top of the stem.

Herbicide is the most effective way to control an established infestation, while a healthy strong stand of grass will outcompete tall buttercup.

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Having a strong pollinator population can offer a benefit to crops, said Mark Wonneck, an ecologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Calgary.

Bees are an important part of both alfalfa production and hybrid seed production in canola. And some studies have found commodity canola is also pollinated by bees. Pollination service has been used in canola production, haskap and saskatoon production. Even though alfalfa production is usually supported through the use of leafcutter bees, other bees pollinate alfalfa seed.

Some research has shown that healthy pollinator populations can boost yields of some crops.

“In the case of commodity canola, when you have more complete pollination, you will get more seeds produced,” said Wonneck.

“Whether you get increased yield is sort of a debate that is going on around out there. You may get more seeds, but the seed size may not be as big. But one of the other possibilities is more complete maturation.”

About 75 per cent of flowering plants depend on insect pollinators, and other crops that benefit from them include borage, canary seed, sunflowers, soybeans and small fruit crops

In order to keep pollinators around your place, it’s important to maintain diversity in the natural areas. Having native plants like asters and goldenrods along the edges of fields can help them survive.

“When you have rich field margins, you’ll be conserving or benefiting pollinators — but in addition to that, there’s more research coming out on beneficial insects in general, such as the natural enemies of pests,” said Wonneck. “They get more natural enemy pest control with diverse habitat around fields. So there are indirect benefits to the farmer as well, instead of just to the environment.”

Agriculture Canada has information on how to create and protect habitat for pollinators in a booklet entitled Native pollinators and agriculture in Canada.

Pollinators need access to nearby flowers, as well as overwintering and nesting sites, which can include untilled areas, deadfall, trees, hollow-stemmed plants, mud and water. Native plants are of special importance to wild pollinators.

Honeybees play an important role, but so do wild bees. There are more that 323 wild bee species, with 299 found in the Prairie ecosystem. All of Alberta’s 28 species of bumblebee are native and can be identified by their large, hairy appearance. Other types of native bees range in size. Western leafcutter bees and andrenid are the same size as honeybees, but there are also tiny little bees about four millimetres long. While some live in small colonies, others are solitary.

All of the bees require some sort of flower for pollen and nectar, but the amount of time they require flowers can vary.

Bumblebees need flowers from April to September, while others only need flowers for a few weeks in the summer. Some types, like bumblebees, are generalists and can feed on any flower, while others need a specific type of flower in order to be able to survive.

Bees aren’t the only insects that can act as pollinators. Adult wasps are vegetarian and collect pollen and nectar for food. But their pollination capacity is limited.

“They do a lot of pollination, but they’re not as efficient as bees,” said Wonneck.

Hoverflies, which dart about like small helicopters, are important pollinators for shallow-bowled flowers. Beetles, butterflies and moths are not highly efficient pollinators, but all of them have some pollination ability.

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