Flour to Flowers

Sun Valley’s “Flower Talk” blog is transitioning, just as spring turns into summer. Ms. Lily Boots has headed south and I will be taking on the task of filling her flowery shoes. You can keep calling me Lily, since Lilies are what put Sun Valley on the map as America’s premier cut flower farm.


The Starfighter Lily

I am relatively new to the flower biz, but excited to share my experiences as I dig in at ground level. I come from the bakery business, where our flour came from wheat and rye, grown in boring straight lines across the Midwest. I am thrilled to trade in that plain white flour for the vibrant array of colors streaming out of Sun Valley’s green houses.
As an avid gardener, I am gaining a huge respect for the growers, planters and staff at Sun Valley. I ‘m very proud of the roses, montbretia, kiwis and the Myer lemon tree in my yard, but to walk through the farm here is to experience a sort of flower nirvana. It is tempting to just run through the 5 foot tall Starfighter Lily stalks, as they bulge with bloom or lay down among the deep blue Telstar Iris and watch the clouds zoom by.


Telstar Iris bursting with color

I get my love of flowers from my grandmother on my mother’s side, Opal Hanson. She lived in suburban New Jersey in one of those classic planned developments where little sidewalks link all the homes to a beautiful park. She lined the section of the walk that went by her house with a dramatic display of colorful tulips; she meticulously kept her own stock of bulbs and people all over the neighborhood made a point of seeing her springtime tulip flourish. She used to toss all her coffee grounds out into a circle in the yard where she grew huge roses, as a little boy I remember looking up at them, mystified how these big blooms managed to stay supported on that tiny, thorny stalk.

Opal’s favorite flowers though, were cosmos, those playful summer blossoms were growing in all the nooks and crannies of her yard. Although her approach to gardening seemed kind of random and unscientific, if you asked her about a particular plant she would explain the Latin name of the plant, the particular strains origin and her history in growing it.

If Opal could see me wandering the vast green houses, hoop houses and fields of the Sun Valley Floral Farm, she would be very proud indeed.

I invite you to like us on Facebook, follow us on Pintrest and Twitter, subscribe to this blog, share pictures of your bouquets, your blooms and your flower beds. I plan on having some great guest voices, some chats with Sun Valley’s President, Lane DeVries and definitely a lot of fun.

You can email me at lily@tsvg.com, so send me your stories, photos, videos and I will share them with the ever expanding Sun Valley Farm Community.

-Lily

“The earth laughs in flowers.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson