Springing Forward and Up

Today is the Vernal (or Spring) Equinox, meaning Earth's northern hemisphere is about to tilt towards the sun, thus prolonging daylight hours. In other words, we're leaving winter in our rear view mirror!

"Springing forward" brings on a few changes around our Sun Valley farms, as you might imagine. For example, longer daylight hours equate to less need for the use of growing lights in the greenhouses. More significantly, from today's Vernal Equinox to its counterpart (Autumnal Equinox), our core crops are essentially relocating from one California farm to the other.


Core crops are mostly grown in Arcata during the spring and summer

Over the next few months, our Arcata farm, nestled in the Pacific Northwest right in the heart of the Redwoods, will have an ideal climate for growing field, hoophouse and greenhouse crops, like Iris, Asiatic Lilies and Oriental Lilies respectively. Steady moderate temperatures, an abundance of moisture, and the right amount of sunlight are just what the farmer ordered this time of year!   

Most of the core crop production moves to Oxnard for the fall and winter

Alternately, the ever-warm and sunny - except for right now with the crazy weather patterns of late - Oxnard farm in southern California allows us to grow the flowers mentioned above during the winter, when Arcata tends to be under a constant blanket of rain clouds. Even with shorter days, the Oxnard farm gets plenty of sunlight and its winter climate is just right for crops that love a little warmth, like Freesia, Brassica and Dubium. (I'll be talking all about Freesia next week, so stay tuned!) 

Chasing the weather from our NorCal farm to the SoCal farm and back is one of the factors that allow us to grow our core crops year-round nearly seamlessly. (In case you're wondering, the other factors include ample cooler space and hardworking flower farmers!) Now that the days are getting longer than the nights, it's time for our flowers to head north!

(Note: the aerial pictures above are a little dated - I'll call them "vintage" - but they give you the general idea of our farms!)