The Rural Voice, 1993-01, Page 25The sweet
smell of
farming
flowers
Like all forms of
farming there are
problems but Luke
and Shirley Bouman
just love their work
By Keith Roulston
Jn the cold of winter, Shirley and
Luke Bouman can hardly wait to
do the chores. Work around their
farm, even in January, means the
sweet smell of flowers and the lush
green of shoulder -high plants.
A little bit of summer lingers all
year long in the Bouman's
greenhouse operation near
Londesboro. The couple have been
growing Alstroemerias for six years
now, filling a niche market for this
unique, long-lasting cut flower.
Looking like a cross between a lily
and an orchid, the flowers last far
longer than roses or carnations.
Alstroemerias make an ideal
greenhouse crop for a northern
climate because they like cooler
temperatures, in fact they are their
least productive during the heat of
summer.
The Boumans operated a pig farm
when they first became interested in
the flowers. Today the barn is empty
and two large greenhouses are full of
flowers.
It all started with a 20 by 24 -foot
greenhouse. Luke says Shirley had
always wanted a greenhouse because
of her love of growing flowers . "She
thought she was going to get an eight
by 10 one," Luke smiles. But acting
on the urgings of Luke's brother Ed,
who managed a large greenhouse
operation in Dunnville, the couple got
involved in an emerging crop:
Alstroemerias. The flower has only
been grown in any quantity in
Ontario for eight to nine years.
Alstroemerias grow from a
rhizome and growers must buy the
started plants which are patented. The
plants originate with Holland plant
breeders who have worked to develop
new colours and varieties through
grafting. A grower is licenced only to
have as many rhizomes as he or she
has paid for. It is illegal to reproduce
the rhizomes; greenhouses are subject
to inspectors who may make an
owner show he has
ownership for each plant.
The Boumans, although
they started small, found it
impossible to stay small.
Their initial greenhouse
(now used as a boiler room
and workshop) couldn't
hold enough Alstroemerias
for them to have the volume
and variety needed by wholesalers.
They built a 20 by 120 foot
greenhouse and filled it with plants,
then built another 20 by 120 foot
greenhouse and filled it too. Two
Shirley and Luke Bowman in their
greenhouse: going to work can be
almost like a winter vacation.
years later they split one of the
greenhouses and increased its size to
41 by 120 feet.
The latest expansion set the
greenhouse up so it could
economically be expanded again if
the couple decided they wanted more
production. Once their children are in
school (they have six children, three
who aren't yet in school) and Shirley
has more time, they might expand.
She loves working with the flowers.
Luke helps nights and weekends but
works at a sales position with Farmix
of Mitchell during the day. The skin
of the greenhouse is a
double thickness of thick
plastic with air blown
between the layers, a
combination that has less
heat -loss than a single
layer of glass.
"In the winter it's a
beautiful place to work,"
Luke says, the pleasure
evident in his voice. "It can be
blasting cold and you're working in
your shirt sleeves. It's my favourite
time of the year except when the
hydro and heat bills come in."
JANUARY 1993 21