Greene's Farm

I’ve been reminded this week of why I love my job. The warm weather and the influx of flowers has brought me joy, but it has also lifted my spirits to share my love of flowers with others. Reconnecting with some of my customers has made me feel so lucky that my business has brought so many amazing, kind people into my life. I’ve missed you all! Looking forward to seeing everyone again on the regular!

Fun fact: if left on the plant, anemones flowers will open during the day and close at night. To maximize bloom size, you should allow anemones to open and close once before cutting. However, doing so will reduce the vase life of the flowers, so growers must decide whether this is a worthwhile trade off.

Narcissus, a flower named for a character in Greek mythology so beautiful he fell madly in love with himself. A very fitting name, if you ask me! Here’s the variety ‘Art Design,’ which reminds me of ruffled petticoats

The first of the anemones! Some of my anemones and ranunculus were set back by a pesky mouse, who, I believe, met its demise at the paws of Alice the camera-shy farm cat. But the flowers are still coming! This variety is ‘Rarity,’ which comes in soft pastel pinks and purples

I know it’s a cliché to talk about spring as a rebirth or a fresh start, but this year it rings true more than ever. As the soil warms and fills up with seedlings, I feel the promise of brighter days ahead. The hope I feel as I watch seeds germinate and as I plant out new crops mirrors my optimism as the vaccine rolls out and the restrictions here in BC are slowly loosened. Before we know it, this long winter will be over and we will have flowers again!

The first bouquet of the year! Confession: these are actually my neighbour’s narcissus. Clearly I need to grow this variety because I’m still waiting for my first narcissus to bloom, meanwhile they’ve had these pretty ivory narcissus next door for over a week

This International Women’s Day I’m thinking about the international part, and the women working in the floral industry worldwide. . Let’s talk about Ecuador, one of the largest flower exporters in the world, where about 70% of the labourers growing flowers are women (Thompson). . As a result of the chemicals they are exposed to at work, two-thirds of these workers experience health problems, ranging from miscarriages to headaches to nausea (Stewart). Ecuador’s lax environm...ental and labour laws mean that these plantations use chemicals that are illegal in the US and Canada, and are deemed highly toxic by the WHO (Thompson). . Moreover, workers unknowingly bring home the chemicals on their clothes and hair, exposing it to their children, who also experience health problems without ever having set foot on these plantations (Suarez-Lopez et al.). . But has this industry at least given these women steady jobs? No! Typical wages on these plantations are about $150 USD a month, keeping these women living in poverty (Stewart). . Even if these jobs paid these women well, it wouldn’t matter because most don’t last more than six months, either because the health effects are so unbearable or because their labour conditions are otherwise unsafe (Korovkin). In a situation where powerful men are overseeing the work of low-paid women who are seen as replaceable, sexual harassment is rampant. About half of the women report having experienced sexual harassment at work and a tenth report sexual assault (Stewart). . The reality is, as long as these dealings are going on thousands of miles away, there will be no transparency or accountability. We can never truly know what we are supporting. . I usually try to keep things light on here, but behind the scenes, I’m fuming that these women of colour are being exploited so we can have cheap roses on the table year-round. So many amazing local farmers are growing flowers using ethical practices and are struggling to compete with the cheap imports; there is no excuse for people to undergo these horrific conditions to produce a luxury product. We must do better. . (DM me for my Works Cited) See more

The countdown is on! Spring bulbs are about a month away and I am very impatient to have them again! I think we could all use a bit of colour and beauty after nearly a year of social distancing and quarantining. Brighter days are ahead, my friends!

The very first seed I start each year is stock (Matthiola incana). Known for its wonderful, clove-y scent and its long vase life, stock’s popularity as a cut flower is well-deserved. However, it’s not without its challenges, growing-wise. I’ve heard new growers express frustration with stock, so I thought I’d talk a bit about what I’ve learned about it in the past couple years. Stock is related to brassicas (hence why the smell of its stem and leaves always remind me of br...occoli). And - like broccoli - it’s a cool-season crop. While it likes warmth for germination, it tolerates frosts like a champ, and prefers growing on at temperatures of around 10 C/50 F, making it well-suited for regions with long springs. Importantly, it will refuse to flower if the daytime temperatures are consistently above 18 C/65 F. So timing is key with these babies! It’s important to recognize that most cultivars of stock are single-stem (do not pinch!), so you will only get one stem per seed. This is part of the reason the flowers cost more than some cut-and-come-again flowers. Additionally, most stock is only about 50% doubles. There’s nothing you can do to increase the percentage of doubles, since it’s pre-determined within the seed whether or not it’ll be a single or a double; environmental conditions do not affect the percentage of doubles, like they do with zinnias. The singles (swipe to see!) are cute and still smell lovely, but are ultimately nowhere near as showy as the doubles. But stock has its upsides too! There’s lots to love: its scent, its multitude of colours, its vase life, its great germination rate and speedy germination time, its frost tolerance, its resiliency in wet conditions, its early harvest, and its relatively short length between sowing and harvest (giving it its nickname ten-week stock). But in my eyes, the best thing about stock is that the slugs don’t touch it!! See more