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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2001. PAGE A-15.
.: : 1
A love o owers now thrives as a business
A growing enterprise
A love of flowers brought with him as a child from Holland, prompted Arnold Wiegersma to start
a lily farm. The RR1, Bluevale resident, along with his wife Margy, here with sons Andrew and
Aaron, wholesale cut flowers and retail bulbs.
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
As a young boy in Holland Arnold
Wiegersma loved lilieS. Today, that
love has been turned into an agricul-
tural business.
Employed full-time at his father's
pig farm, across the road from his
RR1, Bluevale home, Wiegersma,
along with his wife Margy wholesale
and retail Village and Farm Brand
lilies and bulbs. Margy, though an
occupational therapist by profession,
shares her husband's love of horti-
culture, and the summer after mov-
ing into their house they started
growing lilies outdoors.
The next step, says Arnold, was a
decision to propagate them and sell
them through retailers. This meant
establishing contacts. "It was diffi-
cult to find wholesalers. It took two
years to find our way around the
business," he says which he
describes as "closed and very pro-
tected."
Once all the groundwork was com-
pleted a greenhouse was built. The
supplier of their bulbs from the
Cambridge area is an international
company so the bulbs they receive
come from all over the world, prima-
rily Holland and South America. All
are graded in Holland, however.
"The bulb supply helps us learn
about new varieties," says Margy.
The business at Wiegersma
Greenhouse is two-fold, those grown
indoors and those out. Their contract
for flowers is currently for Asiatic
Hybrid Lilies which are commonly
found in mixed bouquets.
They also grow the Oriental Lilies
which are used in bridal bouquets.
"These are very fragrant," says
Wrgy, "much more flamboyant."
As well, they have L.A. Hybrids,
the newest lilies, available just since
bed, I could cut three."
Arnold also monitors the green-
house for temperature and humidity.
"It's not a lot of work if everything
goes well. It's a pile if everything
goes wrong," he says.
There are 12 beds in the green-
house with flowers at varying stages
of growth. Each morning Arnold
goes through the ones furthest along
to pick out the blooms and trim them
close to the ground. The flowers
must not be opened yet. These are
then put into pails with water and
chrysal, a plant food.
Next the bouquets are sorled by
bud count as they are sold as one,
two, three and four plus. "The best
price is four and over. That's our
goal."
The flowers are then sleeved into
bunches of 10 and put in a cooler at
2°C to be shipped to the wholesaler.
Once a bed is empty it's tilled and
replanted.
Outside is a different story because
they multiply the bulbs, and wait for
new ones to come that they will
propagate. To do this they break off
the scales of the bulb or separate
them. These are then placed to root
for six weeks when they will grow
little bulbettes. They get transplanted
outside as soon as the ground is
wort able in the spring.
That year the bulb will increase to
the size of a marble, depending on
t' e pH level of the land. These are
hen harvested and put into a -2°C
freezer to be replanted the next year.
"If conditions are favourable, after
another season, the bulbs. might be
sellable," says Arnold.
The type of bulb that is useable in
the greenhouse, may not be out-
doors. "People like lots of blooms
which depends on the diameter of
the bulbs. In the greenhouse they
would be 12-14 cm, but the ones we
sell could be up to 20 cm," Arnold
says."
This year, the Wiegersmas expect
to have 30 varieties of bulbs in the
garden, which will be tended for
weed control, fertilizer, and the
removal of buds or blooms. This is
Chilled
Cut flowers are kept in a cooler
to keep them from opening
until transported to wholesaler.
done so the energy goes into the
bulbs rather than to the flowers.
About 40,000 of the bulbs will be
first-year. It takes roughly 20 hours
to plant 6,000.
Even though most of the lilies
don't flower, there is still enough to
make the garden a fetching sight for
passers-by. Margy says there will
Continued on A-16
1992. "These are my favourite out-
door lily," says Margy. The blossoms
last a long time, she says, and there
is more depth to the bloom because
of the trumpet shape.
The latter two varieties are sold
from Wiegersma Greenhouse as
bulbs to individuals, through orders
or drop-by traffic. The couple is also
doing a spring fundraiser for their
church, Huron Chapel Missionary in
Auburn.
The Wiegersma expect to have 15
varieties growing in the greenhouse.
On a Monday night, Arnold planted
1,000 bulbs. These are monitored for
disease and leaves are clipped. The
plants are irrigated and artificial light
is provided in the winter. "When the
sun comes out instead of cutting one