Valentine's Interview with Lane DeVries

Tracking down Lane DeVries18 days before Valentine's Day is tough. He is walking the greenhouses, talking to the logistics team and making sure everyone is on the same page. My goal was to ask him some questions about our Valentine's prep and get his outlook on this year's holiday.

I caught Lane as he was heating up a mug of tea, and he had to remain still for a few minutes while his tea steeped. I saw my opportunity, and I took it!

Our lilies are loving the January sun.

 Lily: "How are you feeling about the crops with less than three weeks before Valentine's Day?"

Lane: "We are right on time. Everything looks great."

Ray is picking your tulips.

Lily: "What are your feelings on the weather?"

Lane: "Lilies love the sun. It is unusual to have all this sun in January. Especially the Oriental lilies, they are spectacular right now.  The tulips like the sun as well, we've been using the shade cloths a lot, but if you look at the foliage it is phenomenal...and nice green foliage leads directly to great vase life.

Lily: "What about the rain?"

Lane: "No doubt about it that we need rain in California, but all this sunshine has been great for the flowers. Also, we are watching the weather across the entire nation. We really hope for some calm weather in the next couple weeks to keep the roads open so our flowers can get where they are headed."

Lily: "Valentine's Day is on a Friday, with the holiday weekend in the mix. Some people are speculating sales may be off, what's your sense on this?"

Lane: "It is what we as an industry want it to be, people are going to be buying flowers regardless of the day of the week. I've seen buyers cut back their numbers because of the day of the week, then surprise...their sales are off. Really, I think having enough flowers for this holiday is a bigger issue than having too many. And as far as the day of the week...look at the biggest flower day of the year, Mother's Day. What day of the week is Mother's Day?"

Lily: "Sunday."

Lane: "Right."

Lily: "OK, I see your point. What do you get your wife for Valentine's Day?"

Rich wonderful Valentine's Day color. #CAGrown

Lane: "You know it's funny, over the years I've done all sorts of flowers, I've tried the roses, but really the bulb flowers we grow here are her favorites. Last year I did a bouquet of tulips, hyacinths and iris, and she loved it.

Lily: "Any other traditions?"

Lane: "A card... If I don't show up with a card, it will not be good."

Lane out in the tulip greenhouse.

Lane's tea was cool enough to drink and I heard the growers footsteps coming down the hallway, time to scoot!

Stay tuned as we ramp up into Valentine's Day.