End-of-May Farm Update
Memorial Day harvest: peonies, campanula, snapdragons and more.
Welcome to the summer ramp up! Tater and the Forget Me Not crew are wrapping up the process of flipping Mother’s Day greenhouse crops over to fall lisianthus, specialty celosia and other fun treasures. We have approximately 10,000 heat-loving summer annual plants to plant out into plastic mulch.
It’s a little soon to be complaining about the weather, but based on the La Nina weather prediction, meteorologists are calling for a hot, dry summer. The unseasonably warm spring jump-started our peony season two weeks early, and our weather so far in May has followed this pattern. Except for this week, that is; it’s been raining nonstop, which presents a challenge laying plastic and prepping beds for our first succession of summer annuals. It’s one extreme or the other! I am hoping that the soil will be dry enough by the end of the week to start planting.
As soon as plug trays head out to the field to plant, we are sowing our next succession. That is my mantra this season: When in doubt, sow seeds. Tater and I spent the winter engineering a robust sow schedule, now all we have to do is muster the discipline to follow it!
In this edition of Bloom Beat, we’re talking about lisianthus research, a cut-flower webinar and more. With all that being said, let's talk shop!
Identifying the Scent Components of Lisianthus
Lisianthus from our farm last season. Could you imagine if these had a fragrance?!
I was incredibly excited when I read the headline on this article! Some breeders are breeding scent out of some flowers, such as oriental lilies. But me, I am a sucker for fragrant flowers. I think it would be awesome to have scented lisianthus.
Scientists at the
National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in Japan analyzed the existing scented components exuded by lisianthus blooms. This is the first research of its kind for lisianthus and will provide the foundation for breeding scented lisianthus varieties!
The folks at NARO analyzed the scent components of “New Lination White” lisianthus and found 36 different components in the fragrance. The majority of them are sesquiterpenes, irioids, and a compound called eugenol. Eugenol is a common aromatic compound in cinnamon, basil, nutmeg and bay leaves, as well as lisianthus. Irioid compounds, such as actinidine, were also found in the flowers. Actinidines attract cats; these compounds are common in catnip.
Moral of the story is, this is exciting research to lay the ground work for developing scented lisianthus. Tater and I are all for it. We are excited to see where lisianthus breeders take this information in the next few years.
This article was printed in the Japanese Society for Horticultural Science and the
Horticulture Journal in March 2024. Check out the full peer-reviewed article
HERE.
Webinar: Drones in Cut Flower Production
Hey, friends, be sure to tune in Dr. Christian Nansen’s webinar on The Use of Drones in Cut Flower Production, part the American Floral Endowment's Grow Pro Webinar Series. It's slated for June 18 at 1 p.m. Eastern/Noon Central.
Dr. Nansen is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis. In his work, Dr. Nansen explores how drones can also be used to assess plant health and detect stress.
In this webinar he will discuss how to adopt drone technology on your farm to help with pest and disease management, pesticide application and more.
Tater and I are excited for this one, especially since we are expanding our outdoor production this season, this may be the very tool to help us grow more efficiently and sustainably.
Be sure to REGISTER HERE.
Tater and I look forward to seeing you there!
And hey, how cool: This webinar is sponsored by our very own newsletter, Bloom Beat, and GrowerTalks/Green Profit.
That Flower Feeling Announces new Marketing Committee
CAL Flowers announced a new marketing committee for their That Flower Feeling (TFF) marketing initiative. The goal is to educate consumers on the benefits of flowers as well as promote fresh flower integration into daily life. The committee members are:
Joey Azout, Alexandra Farms
Ryan Black, Jet Fresh
Sam Bowles, Allen’s Flowers
Erin Brotherton, Denver Wholesale Florist
John Burke, DV Flora
Christ Drummond, Penny’s by Plaza
Oscar Fernandez, Rio Roses
Lisa Nason, Kennicott Brothers
Led by Steve Dionne, executive director of CalFlowers and That Flower Feeling, the marketing committee will focus on brand management, consumer-based marketing, market research and analytics. The marketing committee will work to develop additional brand assets for the future and monitor how previous ones are performing.
CAL Flowers started the TFF consumer marketing initiative in 2021 as a national marketing campaign to promote consumption of fresh cut flowers in the US. They market flowers as form of self care. It’s all about capturing “that flower feeling” and spreading the joy of experiencing the impact of flowers on a daily basis. CAL Flowers has continued to nurture this campaign by creating an advisory board in 2023 and a new marketing committee in 2024. The marketing committee consists of the executive director of CAL flowers as well as eight other members.
New FloraLife Handheld Dosing System
The folks at
Smithers Oasis have introduced something that looks handy: the new FloraLife QuickMix handheld flower preservative dosing system. The canister connects to any water source and has adjustable rates ranging from 2ml, 5ml, 10ml and 20ml concentrate per liter. Depending on the rate selected, one full tank can fill up to 250 vases or many buckets with a 1 liter solution. The canister is refillable and can be used multiple times.
According to Helen Helsop, Product and Digital Marketing Manager for FloraLife, “There has never been anything like this before, we identified a need in the market for something simpler for our customers to use. This new dosing unit is lightweight, portable, user friendly, affordable and accurately dispenses solution which reduces unnecessary waste. The customers who have used this unit have been impressed by how much time it saves and how easy it is to use, disconnect and bring to any events and shows,” she also added “this is the first time a dosing system can have any length hose from the water source, allowing free movement around the shop to fill vases and buckets. No more dragging everything to your injector and back out again”.
For more information, about the new FloraLife QuickMix Handheld Dosing System, check out the FloraLife
WEBSITE.
Tater and I are eager to try this. If you have implemented this on your farm, we would love to hear what you think of this product. Drop us a line at
ldaschner@ballpublishing.com.
Enthusiastically!
Lindsay Daschner (and Tater)
Editor-at-Large—Bloom Beat
Owner—Forget-Me-Not Farms
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